Our War Time Home

The year was Nineteen Thirty Nine, the war had just begun.
I was standing on the railway station with my sister, aunt and mum.
My sister and I were being evacuated, they said, to keep us safe from harm.
But as we waited on the platform we were hoping the train to take us away would never come.

But the train puffed in the station, where there were many embraces and goodbyes.
Waving through the moving train window, tears were in our eyes.
Where were we going? We were feeling very sad,
All we wanted at that moment was to be home with mum and dad.

We reached our destination, we had our gas masks by our side.
We were taken to a village hall, where there was a cheerful welcome for us all inside.
We were then sent to an adoptive home, where we sisters cried so much and so
The lady of the house decided she wanted boys and to a new home we girls would go.

And so we were sent to a new adoptive home,
Where there were friendly faces around us and we felt less alone.
A baby was being bathed in a baby bath
And as he joyfully splashed about in the water we girls began to laugh.

From that day on we became part of the family.
Going to the village school making new friends in the country.
We called them Aunt and Uncle and there was Grandma too
And we loved the little boy with whom through the war years we grew.

We would tell Grandma about our family and home, sitting in the parlour by her side
And our adoptive Uncle loved to hear us sing and act the songs and scenes from Tyneside.
We would feed the hens down in the quarry, putting the eggs in a basket from their nest.
We got such joy showing our adoptive Aunt the biggest and the best.

We loved to go into the garage where there were lots of treasures with which to play.
We were allowed to take some of them home, when we went on holiday.
We would go fishing in the village stream, toboggan in the snow;
Collect paper for the war effort and on Sunday to chapel and Sunday school we'd go.

We knew where to pick the best wild strawberries, the best wild gooseberries too.
We would pick bunches of bluebells and primrose, which in abundance grew.
Once in a while the sirens sounded, when we would be put in Grandma's four poster bed.
She would chat with us and cuddle us in so that we were never afraid.

The war years are long over now, but we still visit the village to see
Our adoptive home, the places where we played so happily:
The village school, the chapel, the quarry where the hens were fed,
The garage, the fields of flowers and the walks where our feet once tread.

We plant flowers where they are resting now and as we leave we say a prayer.
Thank you for the happy memories and for all of your love and care.
Thank you for all of your kindness and thank you for so lovingly
Taking two strangers into your home and making them family.