Evacuation To Fonab Castle Sept.1939

A Memory of Pitlochry.

Evacuation - September 3rd 1939
The government decided that mothers and children should be moved to the countryside away from areas at risk from bombing. On the 3rd, parents and children all gathered at their local schools; we went to Saint Joseph’s Primary School. Some parents didn’t accompany their children and they were with teachers. We were all given labels with our name on them, tin mugs and gas masks. I remember that as our line of kids and mums walked along to the Central Station, I saw many other lines aiming in the same direction. My dad came to see us off. No doubt, many dads wondered if they would ever see their kids again. As we travelled north, there were trainloads of soldiers going south and the men all waved to us. When our train reached Pitlochry we were all lined up on the station platform and people were coming along picking kids who could stay with them. Mrs Kingslake Tower picked the four of us and said that she could take some more kids. There were three unaccompanied kids on the platform and mum; true to form, volunteered to look after them - their name was Hanratty. We all left the station and there were two cars outside driven by two young men in kilts and we were driven up to these big gates and as we drove up the drive we found that we were to live in an ivy covered castle. We had a small apartment in the basement and I remember that the walls were very thick and our window was on the level of the ground. Outside our door there was a small square window and every morning the cook left a large enamel jug of milk and a big bowl of porridge. Since the family had a gamekeeper, we were provided with eggs, chicken and rabbit for our dinners. I can still smell the scent of pine tar from the pine trees in the grounds. Our school was The Scotland Hotel (still there) where the dance hall was divided into classes with partitions. The headmaster had a table up on the stage. The Hanrattys were older than me and they took me to school each day. They were street-wise kids and they got into lots of trouble. One day as we were going through the Memorial Park (still there) they found a packet of cigarettes and box of matches lying on a park bench. They all lit up and they gave me one. As it happened, it was a warm day and as the school had a very narrow railed off area in front of the hotel as a playground. The headmaster decided to take the kids on a walk to the Memorial Park. The three Hanrattys and I were marched back to school and onto the stage where they got the big strap and I, aged 5, got smacked with a pencil. When I told my pupils that story, they loved it!
My mum used to make me wide ribbons out of white shiny satin and as I had short hair, they would slide off and get lost. One day a magpie flew down and took off with my ribbon... a likely story thought my mum. On the 23rd of September my dad came up to check us out and make sure that we were not suffering any hardship(out of a two roomed tenement). As it was their 6th anniversary, Mrs Kingslake Tower brought down a bottle of champagne on a tray and they celebrated their anniversary in style. The Kingslake Towers owned the Sandeman sherry firm and must have been worth a bob or two. The swing bridge in the town was built in the memory of an uncle called, George Sandeman, who had been killed in the First World War. That is about all I remember.
A. Jackson nee Burns