Evacuation At The Time Of The V1 And V2 Attacks On The South East And London

A Memory of Coedpoeth.

I am adding to my brother's memory written today about our evacuation to North Wales in 1944. A fuller description has been written by myself on BBC North East Wales web site. In fact it is not yet complete. I, too, have always had a place in my heart for Mrs Emma Jones of 6 Roberts Terrace, Coedpoeth. She became our Foster Mother in May 1944 and cared for us until the end of the European War. We, in fact, were repatriated home from Coedpoeth by our own parents after the hostilities had ceased. We came back to Essex in June 1945.

We returned for the first time in August 1946 for a holiday with Mrs Jones. I think we stayed with her for about 3 or 4 weeks, which was very nice. The next time I saw her was when I was at grammar school and we were all in the CCF (a combined cadet force) and we came to Chester for a summer camp. The weather was foul to say the least, and one day my best pal, Dave Cowper, and I decided to pay Mrs Jones a visit. She was thrilled to bits to see me, especially to see us in uniform. That was the last time I saw Mrs Jones, although I know Bill, my brother paid her another visit when he was doing his National Service in the RASC and was on an exercise as a 'Don'R in North Wales. Must have been about 1957 I think.

In 1969, I took my own family to Coedpoeth during a touring holiday of North Wales and we all visited Roberts Terrace. Mrs Jones had died by that time, but I managed to trace her son Kenneth Jones who lived at Southsea over near the Brymbo Iron Works across the valley. He welcomed us and we stayed the night at his home. If there are any relatives of either Mrs Emma Jones or her son Kenneth, who was also a coal miner, who might read this memory you can rest assured that us 2 brothers have always remembered our time spent in Wales. I can still picture her now, a tall woman with iron grey hair who cared so much for us little evacuees who came to live with her. WE WILL REMEMBER HER!