We stood in lines while the good ladies of Aylesbury (anxious to make their contribution to the war effort) eyed us up and down and made their selection to take a child to care for in their home for the duration of the war (just a few weeks of course). On arrival we were herded into the Town Hall where the procedure resembled a cattle market. We were bound for what was in our estimation a far off place “out in the sticks” called Aylesbury and a safe haven from German bombers. After our tearful goodbyes from parents who assured us we would be home in a few weeks and definitely for Christmas - with name tags tied to us, gas masks in boxes slung on our shoulders - we queued outside our school in Ealing for coaches.
I was 15 at the outbreak of war children from London schools were immediately evacuated to towns in the country.
I had to conceal my own excitement - I wanted this war, I needed this war, I figured and as it turned out rightly so that it must surely interrupt my schooling, the dreaded school leaving exams (matriculation) was the dark cloud on my horizon. Now one year later, the storm clouds of war in Europe had gathered and my parents wore anxious glum expressions. When in 1938 the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain arrived home after his visit to Germany carrying a piece of paper - the peace pledge signed by Adolf Hitler with his jubilant message “Peace in our Time” - my heart sank.
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