Evacuation Ww2

A Memory of Llansaint.

I recall being evacuated to Llansaint from London as a child of 7. I lived in a small sweet shop in the the village with a family named Phillips, or Philips. I am now 74 so my memories are not too sharp with regards to names and places
but I do recall going into Kidwelly one Saturday evening with some Welsh children from Llansaint village. It was the only cinema for miles around. The film was a Frankenstein one but we had to ask any adult to accompany us in as we were under age. As we were taken in by different adults we were not sitting together.

When I came out of the cinema in Kidwelly I got separated from the children I went there with and found myself lost in this strange town. I decided to start walking back home to Llansaint on my own. I had about sixpence in old money on me and never even knew where the bus stop was, or if there was a bus that went to Llansaint. I was terrified. It was getting dark and I had to walk. As I left the town of Kidwelly I had to pass through what I can only remember was an area of wasteland or a large park, and all I could see in my mind were very sharp images of the Frankenstein monster. I remember a man looming out of the darkness coming towards me from the opposite direction and asking me where I was going. I told him, Llansaint, and that I was an evacuee from London and didn't know the area at all and he said keep walking in that direction, pointing to a long pathway that led out of the parkland or wasteground.

It was by now very dark as there was no lighting anywhere.  All I could hear was the constant hooting of owls and the added fear of swarms of bats flying around, silhouetted against the night sky as they kept swooping up and down, sometimes just just above my head. This was a real nightmare for me at that age as I had never heard owls or seen bats in real life before, only in school books about the countryside.  I kept walking and then running and I finally arrived at a long lane which I had to walk along before I got to any houses, which were few and far between. I began to run by this time and before I knew it I was on the road to Llansaint. I got home about 11 o'clock that night tired and very weary.  The woman that I was billeted with was furious with the other children who I went to the cinema with for not looking after me when we came out. It was a huge relief to them when I arrived back home. Even though I was back in Llansaint it took me ages to find the shop I was billeted in as everywhere was so dark, especially in the village. I couldn't sleep that night as all I kept seeing was the monster with an iron bolt through his neck trying to get into my bedroom window.

When I returned to London before the war ended the Doodlebugs didn't frighten me as much as that nightmare journey on foot from Kidwelly to Llansaint.

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