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In the year 1939 I was 12, my family lived on Second Ave, in Selly Park, and I went to school there, wrote Patricia Haughton Wright from Canada.
Then came evacuation: my schoolmates, brothers, sister, and some of our teachers were all put on the train, with no clue as to where we were going. Lots of tears were cried and fear abounded, but we ended up, somehow, in the beautiful little village of Beoley, near Redditch, with no idea of how far away from home we were.
We all gathered in the little school in the village and were then driven by our very nice gym teacher, Miss Sutch, to our respective billets. For the first move my family went to two neighbouring homes.
I remember the one that my brother and I went to: it was a thatched cottage, and if my memory serves me, it contained in the front room a sweet shop.
The people who lived there were named King, and they had one son, John. We stayed there for maybe the weekend, and on Monday, Miss Such arrived to inform us that we were now going to the place originally intended for us, in order for us all to be together, as my mom had asked.
To our surprise it turned out to be the vicarage. What a shock to our heathen souls that was!
The vicar and Mrs Cruikshank were our foster parents (poor souls). Since they had no children of their own they really knew very little of how to deal with us kids from the city. However, the Rev would take us to visit the Greys, who lived in a very large house close by. (I believe they owned Grey's in Brum.)
We were allowed to use a little rowboat on their lake, play with a pony, and better yet, each time we went we were given sweets. I must say we hated it at the time, because we had to go to church all the time, but, on looking back, what a wonderful experience it was for us.
I often wonder where all the people we knew, are today.
In the sixties my husband and I took our five children back to the UK to visit relatives, and made a trip to Beoley. This time I really looked at the church and vicarage and realised how very fortunate I had been to have lived in that very historical place.
I hope that nothing has changed this lovely English spot.
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