Evacuee Nee Joan Waddington

A Memory of Polesworth.

I am now an 82 years old great grandmother and I have lived in Australia for many years. My family lived in Coventry, and when I was 12 my sister and brother and I were evacuated to Polesworth. At first the billeting officer, a Mrs Straughan who was running the local Womens Volunteer service, couldn't find anyone who could take all 3 of us, so she took us to her lovely home Pooley Hall. We had maids looking after us, 2 sisters called Ada and Edie. We were only there for two days then Mrs Straughan found a family who could take my 5 year old brother and me. My 10 year old sister went to a lovely family, the Wheatmans who owned tearooms in Market Place.
One night there was an air raid on Coventry and the bombers jettisoned some incendiaries on Polesworth. One of these hit the house where we lived and we were all rescued by the ARP and firemen. We all spent the night under one of the arches of the bridge. Our foster mother was Mrs Jones and she had a daughter named Margeret.
Afterwards my brother and I went to live at 19 Market Street with Mr and Mrs Adams (Uncle Albert was a fireman and also managed the cinema). Their daughter was Wendy.
My brother and sister and I travelled over from Oz in 1990 and went to visit them.
Sadly Uncle Albert had passed away but Auntie Ivy was still there although she lived further up Market Street and Wendy lived with her family close by.
We always have fond memories of our stay in Polesworth .