I felt that everyone should share the story of Mum/Nans early years. Mum wrote this letter for Lucy when she had an evacuation day at school.
1st November 2008
Dear Lucy,
Nanny told me you are doing a subject at school about the 1939-1945 war and you would like to know what it was like when I was evacuated.
In 1939 when war was declared I was 11 years old and the eldest of 5 children. My Dad was in the army and my Mother (your great, great Grandmother) had 5 children to look after, three of us were at school. In 1940 the bombs were falling all around us, so the government decided that all the school children would be evacuated to the countryside, we would be going without out Mothers.
We were sent to Hertfordshire, we were told to take ‘1 change of clothing and our gas masks’, some children had small cases, some had brown paper parcels with a label attached that had our names and school on them, we also had a label attached to our coats.
When we got on the train my Mother told me that I was the eldest (I was only 11), I was to look after my sisters and we were to stay together and not be separated, everyone was crying because we didn’t know when we would see each other again! When we were seated on the train, we were each given a cardboard box which had sandwiches and an apple for our lunch on the journey. The train would not stop until we reached our destination. 
We left Hastings at 12 o clock and arrived at a little village in Hertfordshire called Letty Green. We were taken to the Village School Hall where all the grown-ups were waiting to choose us, when people came to choose me or my sisters I kept saying ‘I promised my mum we would stay together and not be separated’. When it was 5 o clock, we were the only children left, no-one wanted 3 children! As we were tired and upset, I had to give in! Myself and Mary went to one family who had no children, they looked after us and treated us as if we were their own. My sister Kathy went to stay with a lovely lady who lived two doors away and owned the Village shop. Although we missed our Mum and family very much we were happy to be with nice families.
We had to share the Village School with the local children and it was so small. The Village children went in the morning and we evacuees had to go in the afternoon and the following week, we changed over. We had become good friends with the Village children and all the grown-ups looked after us, I learned to ride a bike there!
We all got together every Sunday to pray for our families and loved ones, so that we would all be together again. I was lucky that my Mum and Dad were safe but many families were not so lucky.
I hope my experience helps you to understand what it was like for children during the war and for parents, God Bless.
From Lucy Woodhouse’s Great Nanny, Eileen Bate, 80yrs Old. Bexhill-on-Sea