World War 2 evacuees
the beginning of our village theme day 2009
The Old Weston 1940s themed day started with the village children becoming World War 2 evacuees. They were taken to the church of St Swithins and placed with kind families who would look after them for the duration of the war (or in this case just an hour or so).
On hearing the words, "Welcome to Old Weston" at least one child was heard to say "But we live here!" Other's played along and reminded the child that "We are supposed to live in London."
One by one the children were chosen by their new families and taken off down the lane, complete with their gas mask boxes.
The real evacuees would also have had a small suitcase with them, containing the bare minimum of clothes and items of personal hygiene. They had also been provided with some food i.e. a packet of nuts and raisins, dry biscuits, barley sugar and an apple.
One and a quarter million school age children, pregnant women, disabled and elderly people were actually evacuated at the beginning of the second world war, in just three days, between the 1st and 3rd of September 1939! It was called Operation Pied Piper.
However, as the expected bombing did not take place immediately, many parents gathered their children and took them back to the cities.
Another wave of evacuations took place in June 1940, and this time people understood the dangers and the children were left where they were safe. For many children it was a unhappy time, but others made close bonds with their new families which lasted for the rest of their lives.
Not all children were evacuated at the beginning of the war. Many stayed in London and the big cities, sheltering in bomb shelters while the bombs rained down around them. They eventually became World War 2 evacuees in 1944, a year before the war ended, due to the V2 rockets that the Germans used at that time.
Evacuation ended officially in March 1946 but many children were not returned home immediately.
The photos on this page were taken by Andrew Brown. Thank you for letting us use them Andrew.
Want to know what else happened on (and after) our World War Two theme day?
Our VE Day Celebrations were enjoyed by all
The RAF Red Arrows Display Team did a fly past over the village
The re-enactment group demonstrated their collection of World War 2 Rifles
Our pages on this site even led to a ww2 evacuation reunion!
And don't forget the courageous airmen of World War Two such as Flight Sergeant Don Lindsey
Were you evacuated?
Were you evacuated during the war? Where did you end up living? Were you happy or unhappy? Tell us your story so that the youngsters of today can understand what it was like back then.
Read other people's stories
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
My Mum was evacuated to Old Weston
I am hoping to bring my mum to Old Weston in October, she was evacuated there and has always wanted to revisit.
I thought it would be an idea to try ...
how we lived as evacuee in ww2
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I was about six years old when war broke out and I was moved to germany in 1939. My mom said it would be good for me and I did not know what was going ...
