Humans have been sharing information for millennia. Originally it was a cave painting of a hunt, an invoice on a wax tablet or a quick bit of Roman graffiti. Move on several hundred years and we have the introduction of printed books and works such as the diaries of Samuel Peyps (1633-1703) whose diary documented not only the great events of his age such as the Great Fire of London and the Plague but also the minutiae of life such as what he had eaten for lunch, the plays he had been to see and his arguments with Mrs. Peyps.
The internet age has made the sharing of information that much easier and through the medium of the ubiquitous "Facebook" we, like Samuel Peyps, can broadcast where we have been and what we have consumed.
In my view one of the best tools of the internet age is the blog which provides an easy way to share thoughts and information to a wider audience. Earlier this year as part of a campaign to raise awareness about 22q11.2 deletion syndrome , a condition that affects my daughter, I wrote a blog for 22 consecutive days describing the condition and how it has affected us as a family (22qwhatsthat.blogspot.com). Publishing a blog for 22 consecutive days was hard work but enjoyable and I will from time to time write other 22q related posts on that site.
However I also want to write about other matters and this long rambling introduction is really just an introduction to my new blog where I hope to share my thoughts on a variety of topics. I can't promise to be a regular contributor but I hope you will find my posts interesting.
The genesis of this post goes back to a discussion I had with my friend Mike Woods who has been writing a very entertaining weekly blog since January 2013. We were discussing his post of 5 June 2013 "Through France on a Cheese Sandwich" http://rulesfoolsandwisemen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/through-france-on-cheese-sandwich_5.html in which he describes the story of his father's participation in the D-Day landings. We discussed how we had grown up with the stories our fathers had told us and how they would be lost forever if not recorded for posterity.
My dad, Eddie, was born in 1932 and was part of the generation whose formal education was rudimentary at best. As you will read below his eduction was interrupted by the war and at the age of 14 he left school to start work at the Gas Light & Coke Company's Product Works in Beckton.
However I also want to write about other matters and this long rambling introduction is really just an introduction to my new blog where I hope to share my thoughts on a variety of topics. I can't promise to be a regular contributor but I hope you will find my posts interesting.
The genesis of this post goes back to a discussion I had with my friend Mike Woods who has been writing a very entertaining weekly blog since January 2013. We were discussing his post of 5 June 2013 "Through France on a Cheese Sandwich" http://rulesfoolsandwisemen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/through-france-on-cheese-sandwich_5.html in which he describes the story of his father's participation in the D-Day landings. We discussed how we had grown up with the stories our fathers had told us and how they would be lost forever if not recorded for posterity.
My dad, Eddie, was born in 1932 and was part of the generation whose formal education was rudimentary at best. As you will read below his eduction was interrupted by the war and at the age of 14 he left school to start work at the Gas Light & Coke Company's Product Works in Beckton.
Today (1st September 2014) is the 75th Anniversary of the start of Operation Pied Piper which saw around 3 million people evacuated during the first four days of the operation. Of which around 1.5 million were children including my dad. (source http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/evacuees_01.shtml)
My dad was never one for writing although after he retired he did occasionally put pen to paper. The following is his story of being evacuated first in 1939 then again in 1944 which he sent to the Evacuees Reunion Association http://www.evacuees.org.uk/index.html in 1999.
I think today is an appropriate time to share this with a wider audience.
"In 1939 I lived with my parents and younger brother at 4a Landsdowne Road, Forest Gate E7, a turning off of Katherine Road. I went to Shaftesbury Road School Forest Gate, London E 7.
I was six years old when the war started in September and had my seventh birthday in October. We were evacuated from Shaftesbury Road School which in those days was controlled by East Ham Council. We all walked in a line with the older boys and girls up the front carrying a banner, it was more like a march on the pavement. We went up Katherine Road, along Romford Road then up Station Road to Manor Park Station- about 1½ miles.
We then went on a train to Diss on the Suffolk/Norfolk border. When we arrived we were given a paper carrier bag with food in it which we ate in a field. We were then taken to the village hall in Palgrave just outside Diss. Three other boys and myself were put with a Mr & Mrs Noble opposite the village church- this is where I had my 7th birthday on 21st October 1939. We stayed there for about two months. I think four boys were too much for Mr & Mrs Noble who were not that young and I think their family had grown up but I am not sure.
The other three boys put elsewhere and I was billeted with the local blacksmith Mr & Mrs Cattermole who were young and had two small children, a boy and a girl not at school. My father came to see me just before Christmas and I cried so much that they all agreed that it would be for the best if I went home with him.
Two days after the school was evacuated, my mother and brother , who had been told they would meet up with us were sent to Lingwood Norfolk about 30 miles away. My mother and brother returned home after a week as her father had been knocked down and killed by a car in the blackout on 11th September 1939 [1]. On my return the school was closed. and instead we went to a room in someone's house for lessons with a teacher about 12 of us children went in the morning and another 12 went in the afternoon.
From 1941-44, my brother and I attended Monega Road Junior School Manor Park London E12, and spending a lot of our time in the school air raid shelter. We were told by the Headmistress that if our mothers were at home all day it would be better if we didn’t go to school. This was good to start with but Mum would not let us go over the park as there were plenty of V1 rockets and the start of the V2 [2].
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| V1 Rocket - Often called a "Doodlebug" |
I did see a couple of mates from school and they like us were bored and said they had been into the school and put their names down to be evacuated so my brother and I did the same. Mum said it’s okay if that is what you would like. I think it was the end of June start of July 1944 and we were from all different schools in East Ham. We had to meet at the Town Hall Annex and were put on to buses.
There was a very loud explosion as we passed through London (I think it was a V2) on our way to Marylebone Station. One of the boys in my brother’s class who lived near us asked if we could keep together and say that we were cousins.
We arrived in Chesterfield, Derbyshire where we were taken to a school called Violet Markham School. When they called out our names Eddie and Bob Markham they said you have come to the right place. As we had agreed with Johnny Elmore to stay together we ended up being the last three in the Hall. People wanted to take the two younger ones and not me but I said I had to stay with my brother . So in the end my brother and I went together and Johnny was about four doors down the road.
We were with Mr & Mrs Johnson who had a son my brother’s age and a daughter of 18 months. When Mr Johnson came home from his night shift with his snap tin and water bottle he saw our labels on our cases and said “I just can’t get away from the pit” He was a miner and worked down in Markham colliery. I used to see our name up on a work shed opposite Chesterfield Central Station. They were at that time a very poor mining family in a two up two down house with a front door which opened from the living room on to the pavement. They called the pavement the course. There was no bathroom, toilets were outside and there were four toilets which backed on to one another from the other houses. No garden just a yard. They were very nice people and I still keep in touch with their daughter. Mr & Mrs Johnson and their son have died Mrs Johnson only three years ago (1986).
We arrived in Chesterfield, Derbyshire where we were taken to a school called Violet Markham School. When they called out our names Eddie and Bob Markham they said you have come to the right place. As we had agreed with Johnny Elmore to stay together we ended up being the last three in the Hall. People wanted to take the two younger ones and not me but I said I had to stay with my brother . So in the end my brother and I went together and Johnny was about four doors down the road.
We were with Mr & Mrs Johnson who had a son my brother’s age and a daughter of 18 months. When Mr Johnson came home from his night shift with his snap tin and water bottle he saw our labels on our cases and said “I just can’t get away from the pit” He was a miner and worked down in Markham colliery. I used to see our name up on a work shed opposite Chesterfield Central Station. They were at that time a very poor mining family in a two up two down house with a front door which opened from the living room on to the pavement. They called the pavement the course. There was no bathroom, toilets were outside and there were four toilets which backed on to one another from the other houses. No garden just a yard. They were very nice people and I still keep in touch with their daughter. Mr & Mrs Johnson and their son have died Mrs Johnson only three years ago (1986).
The only sad thing when we were at Chesterfield in 1944-45 was our mate who we agreed to stay with Johnny Elmore died of meningitis aged 10 and was buried on my 12th birthday in the church yard behind the school he attended Christchurch School, Stonegravels Chesterfield."
It is hard to imagine what my grandparents would have felt like letting there sons go away to stay with strangers. Some children had a great time and made life long friends whereas others hated the experience. I am sure that all of them were affected in some way or another.
My dad was diagnosed with non hodgkin's lymphoma in early 2009 but following chemotherapy he was well enough to join several hundred other evacuees, many wearing labels on their lapels, for the 70th Anniversary service held at St. Paul's Cathedral http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/01/evacuee-children-anniversary-evacuation-war.
After the service he was interviewed for the the BBC's children's program "Newsround" and told that nation how Mr. & Mrs. Noble were very kind and that Mrs. Noble made nice chips !
Sadly this was just a brief remission from his illness and he died the following February. However I hope that through this blog his story will live on.
[1] Blackout regulations were imposed on 1 September 1939 requiring all windows and doors to be covered to prevent the escape of light which could help enemy aircraft identify targets. Street lights were turned off vehicles headlights were masked to minimise the amount of light which could be seen from above.
[2] The V1 Flying Bomb (Vergeltungswaffen) was launched by Nazi Germany from sites along the French and Dutch coast. The first of over 9,500 VI rockets was fired at the south east of England in June 1944 and continued to be launched until the sites were overrun by Allied forces in October 1944. The bombs flew until they ran out of fuel before plummeting to earth and exploding. The V2 was the first true rocket and travelled at such a speed that its presence only became apparent to those on the ground when it exploded.
It is hard to imagine what my grandparents would have felt like letting there sons go away to stay with strangers. Some children had a great time and made life long friends whereas others hated the experience. I am sure that all of them were affected in some way or another.
My dad was diagnosed with non hodgkin's lymphoma in early 2009 but following chemotherapy he was well enough to join several hundred other evacuees, many wearing labels on their lapels, for the 70th Anniversary service held at St. Paul's Cathedral http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/01/evacuee-children-anniversary-evacuation-war.
After the service he was interviewed for the the BBC's children's program "Newsround" and told that nation how Mr. & Mrs. Noble were very kind and that Mrs. Noble made nice chips !
Sadly this was just a brief remission from his illness and he died the following February. However I hope that through this blog his story will live on.
[1] Blackout regulations were imposed on 1 September 1939 requiring all windows and doors to be covered to prevent the escape of light which could help enemy aircraft identify targets. Street lights were turned off vehicles headlights were masked to minimise the amount of light which could be seen from above.
[2] The V1 Flying Bomb (Vergeltungswaffen) was launched by Nazi Germany from sites along the French and Dutch coast. The first of over 9,500 VI rockets was fired at the south east of England in June 1944 and continued to be launched until the sites were overrun by Allied forces in October 1944. The bombs flew until they ran out of fuel before plummeting to earth and exploding. The V2 was the first true rocket and travelled at such a speed that its presence only became apparent to those on the ground when it exploded.
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