An Interview with 3 Evacuees from Hull

Billy: The school in the village was so important during the War, because they had dances and the WI had concerts in there. They had a stage up at the end, and I can always remember how clever it was, because they sang cowboy songs and I was a real cowboy fan. Mr Fawcett [the Vicar] made a turntable out of Meccano with a light in it to turn and shine out as though it was a bonfire. It was very ingenious. That was at the front of the stage, and the cowboys sat there singing, with all the lights out except for this flickering bonfire. Us kids all thought this was marvellous, and it really was.
Margaret: I recall Lorna singing, in a picture-frame, singing 'Alice Bluegown'. I thought that was lovely. She was all dressed in blue.

Billy: They dressed me up once as Little Bo-Peep! It was for a fancy dress, and I can remember someone saying in a disgusted voice, "Well, that's a boy!"
Margaret: I think I was Bo-Peep as well - maybe that was why we didn't win!
Billy: I tell you who I remember, that was the Pickerings - they were a really good family, 2 or 3 girls and 2 or 3 boys.
Dennis: I used to go with the lads to the farm just about opposite us, it was the Salmon’s, to let the New Year in. They’d have a piece of Christmas cake and a little glass of wine with a little bit of money for you. On New Year’s night. I remember the Burgesses because Jim, the father, used to ring the bells at the church. We used to take the mickey out of him. We used to chant, “Jim-Burg-ess, Jim-Burg-ess …”.
Billy: We didn’t always sing that though, did we? He used to balance on a chair … There were two Burgess boys, brothers.
Kate: Yes, Malcolm and Ken.

This photo of the Hull evacuees outside Bishop Wilton school appeared in the Hull Daily Mail in October 1941 under the headline “Hull Children Who Know When They Are Well Off”.
Margaret is in the backrow, 5th child from the left and Billy is 4th from the right. Dennis is first on the left, in the second row from the front and Arthur is 3rd from the left.

Billy: That's Miss Kirby on the right, and Mrs Bott on the left.
Margaret: Mrs Bott was the Welfare Lady at the time, Bill, wasn't she? And she had a daughter, Sheila, about my age; I used to go and play with her sometimes. They didn't stay real long.
Billy: Mrs Bott was like the Billeting Officer, looking after us evacuees, and then when she went back, my Mam got the job. Miss Kirby was our teacher, she was brilliant. Fought your battles for you and everything. There was a bit of inequality at first. I'm not going to name names, but I went into a shop and asked for something one day and they said "No, you evacuees can get that in Hull", and they wouldn't serve me. Even at 8 years old that hits you hard, that does. A lot of the villagers didn't have an easy life, because life in the country wasn't easy then, it was still the 30s after all, the wages weren't much and they lived from week to week. A lot of them were really nice people, but a lot of them seemed to forget that we had left our homes and our Mums and Dads, and completely changed our culture overnight and it takes some time to assimilate into a new society. And they weren't always nice to you.
Margaret: I never noticed that.
Billy: Just at the beginning, that was, because kids will always assimilate and mix in.
Kate: Did you talk any different from them when you arrived?
Billy: Oh yes. They spoke very broad East Yorkshire, with "Thous" and "Thees" and that.
Margaret: Mrs West didn't talk like that. She came from somewhere else.
Billy: Actually, it’s a shame that it's died out. People have become more cosmopolitan. It was good when they were all different.

Page 5 of 11

next page >