An Evacuee During World War II

A Memory of East Clandon.

My name then was Babs Collins and my memory goes back to World War II, when I and others from my school in Victoria, London were evacuated to both East & West Clandon. We had been moved very hurriedly in July 1940 from Brighton where our school was first sent to in 1939.  This second evacuation was because the Germans had begun to bomb the south coast preparatory to invading us after Dunkirk.....
In the drama, I was separated from my two elder sisters (imagine). I was taken in with another little girl namrd Josephine by a very kindly Mr & Mrs Holt of 1, Sophy Cottages, and there I stayed until July 1945, when I returned home to London.
All I can say is I was made to feel completely at home; Mr & Mrs Holt had four grown up children, all in the war (more stories to tell), and I became part of them and the village as a whole. In fact, my claim to fame is, in 1945, I was the only evacuee left in the village.
I attended the village school of course, and thanks to Miss Lake I, and a boy called David passed the scholarship in 1945. The school was so small by then, I believe only 20 pupils at the most, but I recall plays and carol concerts were very much part of the curriculum. I remember too, a Christmas party given by Goodheart-Rendell to all the village children and he was there to give the presents to us.
All I can say is, thank you to the Holt family (I am very much in touch with Betty, the daughter) and to East Clandon.
We used in the summer go  for long walks, to Newlands Corner and beyond. They taught me a love of the countryside, also a great moral upbringing I have always been grateful for. My sisters often visit the pub and off I go down memory lane. Why and who got rid of the poplar tree outside Sophy Cottage? It used to lull me to sleep, hearing the wind in its branches.

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