Childhood Days

A Memory of Romsey.

I together with my sister was "billeted" as an evacuee in this convent in 1941 at the age of 6. My first impression on seeing the photo was that the wall surrounding the "school yard" (not shown) was as high as I remembered it. I visited the convent in 1995 during a visit to the UK only to see that that wall was very much lower, also the swimming pool was gone, and the tunnel that we slept in during the air raids was much shorter and cleaner than I recalled. I still have the postcard sent to my parents by the Mother Superior in 1941 requesting that they present us to her on August 18th 1941. The picture on the card is of my class room
I vividly recall the class room, the dining room, the orchard, the walks round the back of the convent past the pool and past the statues down to the river. The chaple to was the same as I recalled and also the many times we as kids attended services there...my knees were so sore..I was confirmed there.
One memory stays with me is that of being taken for a walk up to green hill to see the bomb crater. Memories of a 6 year old.