Mainly Evacuation

I was evacuated with my sisters,Marie,
Rene, and Alice. A third sister,Ann stayed in London with Mum & Dad. I was 11 years old at the time.
We were evacuated from Daubeney Rd school E5. I do not remember much of the occasion, it is all rather a blur,but we eventually arrived at a small village called Aldbury in Hertforshire. near Tring. How we got there I don't recall. As with most evacueeswe were assembled in the village hall to await our turn to be picked out by our future foster parents with whom we were to be billeted. I and two other boys were billeted with Mr & Mrs Cowley at 11, Trooper rd Aldbury. Marie went to Mr & Mrs Budd at No 20. Rene went to Mr & Mrs French in a cottage which was part of the Old Manor house close by to the village pond, on which we enjoyed skateing on when it froze over in the winter. Alice went to mrs Dumpleton in Stocks Road. Stocks Hotel further along Stocks rd was once owned by Victor Lowndes once head of the Playboy empire and Guests included the group Oasis,Bryan Ferry, and many other famous people having a good time, if you know what I mean. Of course this happened in more recent times. I and other evacuees were once invited to tea at Stocks by two elderly ladies who then owned Stocks House.
We attended the village school, but since the school could not accommodate us evacuees at the same time as the village children, we only attended for half a day each day.
Although we were not badly treated by our foster parents, neither were we treated with any great kindness except that Mr Cowley whom we saw only at weekends, was always pleasant to us. He used to work as a tailor in London and was always on his way to work by the time we got up in the mornings. Incidentally his name was General Henry Cowley, but he wasn't really a G
General at all. General was the name given to him at birth.
Mr Cowley used to give us a bath every week in an old tin bath in the outhouse in the back garden. one of our pastimes was to go wooding in the local woods, where we dragged branches which had fallen from the trees, through the lanes back to the billet to be chopped up for firewood.
On one occasion I remember I used to have a caterpult, until Mrs Cowley became aware of it and reported it to the the headmaster Mr Betts. Of course it was duly confiscated and I got a ticking off.
After some time at the village school
I was recommened to attend a Central school in Northchurch,about three and a half miles away. The school was situated in Bell lane in Northchurch and was called North Paddington Central. I remember I used to walk about a mile and half each morning to the main road -Tring to Northchurch-in order to catch the bus to school and then back again after school to Aldbury. I remember I used to sing songs such as 'O For The Wings Of A Dove' and 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' becoming quite emotional and homesick.
When a few months had elapsed, I was re-evacuated to Northchurch to be nearer the school. i was billeted with Mr & Mrs Hargreaves in Granville St. Mr Hargreaves was a caddy to Henry Cotton the famous golfer who often played at Ashridge.
I aquired a bicycle whilst at Northchurch and every friday evening after school I used to cycle home to Homerton for the weekend, and then cycle back on monday morning in time for school. A trip of 30 miles each way.
Sometime during the early part of 1941 after cycling home one weekend , I decided not to return to Northchurch and stayed at home after a bad air-raid. It was during one of these alerts that my mother fell heavily running to the shelter, she was about 6 months pregnant at the time. when baby Jean was born it was discovered that she had brain damage as a result of my mothers fall. Sadly Jean died when she was 9 months old.
I had a couple of near escapes from bombs. I remember a few of us were going to the pictures. We knocked for a friend, but he was a little while getting ready and had to wait for him. Luckily we did because we would have been passing the very spot that a rocket(V2) fell. This was on the corner of Adley st and Marsh hill opposite Mabley Green Homerton. It made quite a mess.
Another occasion I went to visit my Dad who was ill in Archway Hospital Islington. As I was getting off the bus near the hospital a doodle-bug(V1)was passing overhead, suddenly the engine cut out which meant it was about to crash. People around me threw themselves to the ground, but I felt too embarrassed to do the same which of course was very foolish. Luckily it fell some distance away with an almighty explosion. My Dad thought that I had had it.
I remember the night of the 13th of June when the first doodle-bug fell on London. There wasn't much doing that night it was very quiet, so I was above the shelter, the sirens having gone off. Suddenly there was the sound of anti-aicraft fire. As I looked across Hackney Marshes, I saw an aircraft which as I thought, was brought down by gunfire. There was a big explosion. The newspapers next morning reported that an enemy bomber had been brought down and fell in Grove Road Mile End. This was in fact a doodle-bug and not a bomber as everyone had supposed. This was probably proof that the Germans were on target for London as they knew that none of their bombers were sent out that night. I believe there is a plaque near the railway bridge commemorating the incidence.
There was the time when the sirens sounded. After awhile the sound of buzz bomb(V1) was heard. A few of us were in the grounds of Kingsmead House, a six story block of flats, when suddenly the doodle- bug appeared overhead and the engine cut out. We were terrifed as the bomb looked as if it was going to hit the rooftop. Thankfully it missed the roof and fell I believe in Meeson st a few blocks away.
On the morning of 4th March 1943 I was cycling to work at S. Schneider & Sons in Whitechapel,where we made Army Uniforms. I passed Bethnal Green tube station and did not notice anything untoward as I went by. I learnt later that 173 people had been killed the night before during a panic at the entrance of the underground station. All signs of the tragedy of the night before had been cleared by morning.

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