Evacuee Day Video - Extracts

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Evacuee Day Video on Youtube - Nearly 15 minutes of entertainment! The images below are from the video.

The late Hilda Duffy (seen here, from the back, at the church entrance) was evacuated to Bishop Wilton from Sunderland (she was Hilda Dent then) with her younger brother in 1939.

Hilda bought a video camera specially for the Evacuee Day in 2001 so that her daughter could record the event for her.

The selection of extracts on the YouTube video is specifically of the afternoon performance in St Edith's Church of an enactment by village school children of the story of the evacuation during World War II.

It is special for many reasons, not least because there are fleeting views of the audience which contains the returning evacuees and, also, many residents who are no longer with us.

The school children took on the names of the former evacuees who were in the audience. If you watch it for long enough you will hear them call out their assumed names.

The church is seldom as full as it was for this performance. Everyone who witnessed it was truly moved by the story that was told, by the songs that were sung and by the accomplishment of the children involved.

It is hoped that some of those children who took part more than 10 years ago will be able to see this video and marvel at their efforts.

Without Hilda Dent's desire to return to Bishop Wilton later in life we might never have explored this time of disruption to people's lives.

The performance ended with a rousing rendition of "There'll Always Be An England" and everyone joined in.

After this event in the church everyone went up to the school and watched the school children dance round the Maypole. This was a yearly practice during the war years when a May Queen was elected.