Rhymes and Remembrance

Throughout the course of the Second World War, around 3 million British people were evacuated. Gillian Mawson has interviewed 600 evacuees, including mothers and teachers who travelled with the children to take them to safety. During the war, some evacuees wrote poems which described their experiences of leaving home, the evacuation journey and what it was like to be 'chosen' by local families at journey's end. When the war ended, they described meeting their parents once again, whilst some described their sadness at leaving behind the 'foster families' they had come to love. Brought together for the very first time, these poems are emotional and moving and share an overlooked aspect of wartime evacuation.