WW2 evacuation reunion in Old Weston 2009
by Maggie Henderson
Earlier this summer we had a 1940s day where we relived the ww2 evacuation. This was added to the web site and proved a very popular section for visitors. We did not, however, imagine that the page would bring old friends together again.
The creation of the village website has been successful for locals to communicate with each other and also to share/impart information. Happily, it has also been hugely successful for contact from further afield.
First of all, a gentleman from Scotland recently contacted us regarding the Canadian soldiers that are buried in the church yard. In his possession were documents that his uncle had collected over years, and which he has now kindly returned to our village for safe keeping and investigation by our super sleuths, Pam Watson and Judy Kelly.
Secondly, a gentleman also contacted us with regard to the crew of an aircraft called "My Yorkshire Dream" stationed at the airfield during the war, but none of the aforementioned contacts were quite as poignant as our third, who is the daughter of a lady that was evacuated here during WW2.
It has been 70 years since a lady called Eileen Roker, now Watson, among many others, was evacuated to Old Weston from London.
After being returned to London when the bombings started to subside, Eileen's family were still worried for her safety and asked the Church family to have Eileen back for a while longer. It was during these times that Eileen made friends with the daughter of the Church family, called Olive.
The website was recently used by Eileen's daughter, Helen, to make contact with Old Weston. She wanted to try to reunite her Mum with any Old Weston folk that may still be around today that had been here during the war. In particular she was hoping to find news of Olive.
After several contacts via the website I then did a little research with the older folk of the village, with some memories from Eileen (now 82 years old) to point me in the right direction.
Names were passed back and forth, with help from the Langley's, Turners and Judi Kelly and we finally made contact with Olive. At this point Eileen and her daughter Helen decided that it was time to make a return visit to Old Weston.
I managed to organise an afternoon tea and invited Olive and her husband Roy Johnson, Eileen and Helen, Frank and Derrick Langley, (who also have strong memories of the children that stayed with them during the ww2 evacuation - sisters called Daphne and Betty Skinner and Margaret Law), Ralph Boddington and his wife Mavis, Laurence Turner. With my trustee tea makers, Pam and Judi, to assist and a few cakes made by me, we had a lovely afternoon reminiscing and reuniting old friends.
The sharing of old photos, cards and letters, sent back and forth from evacuees to newly made country friends when returned to London, were a delight to see and read.
I can say it was both a happy and emotional afternoon, particularly for Helen and Eileen.
Eileen of course reunited with Olive, and the other friends she had made in the village all those years ago. Helen was delighted to see her Mum's memories of her ww2 evacuation become a reality again.
As for me it was a lovely afternoon sharing thoughts with a generation made of sterner stuff!
If you were part of the WW2 evacuation and came to Old Weston during those years, please feel free to share your story, just as Eileen did, by using the simple form here.
Why not check out our other pages about world war two while you are here!
Enjoy our VE Day Celebrations
