Evacuation

This story appears courtesy of and with thanks to the Liverpool Diocesan Care and Repair Association and James Taylor.

Lil Skelly, who was born in 1898 remembers how her family was separated through evacuation :

When the war started I was living in Moira Street, off Prescot Street, I was having a baby at that time and she was born in November 1939. Well, the children that were going to school, five of them were evacuated Margaret, Kathleen, Esther, Fred and Alfred. Then I had John, Chris and the baby I was having at the time, at home with me.

Did the children stay together?

No. The two girls stayed together in Cemaes Bay in Anglesey. The eldest girl Margaret was on her own. Alf was with a woman that had a house full of kids, and the youngest, Fred, was with a school teacher. They were all separated. I also had an older son that was too old as he was sixteen.

How did you feel about that?

Well, I didn’t care whether I lived or died. I was evacuated, I went to Blackpool. All the children went from Harrison Jones School, they went on a Monday morning and I remember that because I had no money and I had to go to the pawn shop to get some things for them to go away. I had all the haversacks with all the things in, sweets and that, but I had no money to give them. They went on the Monday and all the mothers went to Blackpool the next day, a lot of the mothers were expecting children as well. First of all we had to go to a clinic to be looked at to see if we were clean, we were all put up in hotels and I was in a hotel that was right on the promenade. The guests were finished because they had to give the hotels over for evacuees. I didn’t have a posh room because I could only take one of the boys with me, I couldn’t take the other little fellah because he was four, so my mother-in-law had him. We were there about two weeks when the government took over with the Air Force and the Navy. So we all had to come to Liverpool. I came back, in the meantime my husband had then left Moira Street, as he was dead lonely without the children. He’d taken a little house in Crown Street.

Did he move while you were evacuated?

Yes, he took this small two bedroomed house and I called him everything. I was thinking of the kids, because there was no room for them and there was murder! He’d left half of my things in the other place. Anyway we didn’t stay long.

Where did you move to?

We went out one day and we got one in Heath Street, down off Myrtle Street. That was 1940 and we were there right the way through the war. Well, in 1940 there was an evacuation train going to Anglesey with all the mothers whose children had been evacuated. I’d had the baby then, she was about nine weeks old. They (Lil’s children) wanted to know if we were all right because they’d been asking in their letters. They anted to know what their little sister was like and I sent a photo and that, you know. Well, I wrote and told them I was coming to see them. It was in January on a Sunday and the train was nine o’clock from Lime Street Station. My husband drank and he’d been out all day and he was well away and I said, “Don’t forget we’ve got to go and see the children tomorrow”, he said “Oh all right we’ll be there.” I’d been making cakes and doing all kinds and I had the baby to see to and my two little lads, I couldn’t take them so my eldest son looked after them. I was really busy preparing everything for the journey, though it was only for the one day. That night the clocks went back and I was that busy, worrying over this, that and the other, I forgot about the clock. He was drunk and was in bed. The next morning I shouted him to get up. He was good and got up and we had our breakfast, got ready and we set off. We went down by Myrtle Street and I was getting excited in case we missed the train. He was saying “Take your time, you’ll be all right”. Well, we got in the station and we thought it would be crowded, but we couldn’t see nobody. He said “I told you, I told you we’re too early. That’s the trouble with you.” So I said “It’s better to be too early than too late.” When we found out that the trains had gone I called him everything. “It’s all through you, you drunk!”. I started on him I called him everything. “Your mind’s on drink!” I had murder with him in the station and I was crying. “It wasn’t my fault” he was saying, “my mind’s gone, I don’t know what I’m doing.” I said “It was your fault. You’re too busy in the wine lodge!” Anyway, we fell out then.

Were the children expecting you?

Yes. I said, “Go and ask that fellah over there if there’s another train.” He came back and he said “Yes there is but, it’s stopping at every place.” It was six o’clock in the evening by the time we got there, in fact it was time to come home.

Did you see the children?

The two girls were in Cemaes Bay and the other children were in a little place called Llanerchemedd Coed which was eleven miles from Cenaes Bay. The two girls were brought to Llanerchemedd Coed with the other children. Well, they were all getting ready to come back when we arrived and all the girls were getting hold of the baby and loving and kissing her. We didn’t even go inside the place to have a cup of tea, we didn’t have time. I broke my heart. It was in their papers, I believe, in the Welsh papers “Liverpool Evacuees : Mother and father late through the clock.”

What paper was it in?

It was in the ‘North Wales News’ in Anglesey. The girl wrote and told us.

Were they happy living in Wales?

My oldest daughter was living with a woman and she had a baby, and she used to make her get up of a night to make bottle for the baby. All hours of the night, and she used to make her mind the baby while she went to this church, I think she was a Dean or something. It was one of the neighbours that had one of my sons who told me this. When I got there one day, Margaret didn’t look happy and she didn’t want to tell us, she was frightened to tell us. I said “Are you happy love”, and she said “Yes mum” and our Kathy said “She’s not mum, she’s got to mind the baby all the time.”

How old was Margaret?

She was thirteen, so I said “Tell me if you’re not happy love.” She said “Yes I am mum.” She had to look after this baby all the while. I said “You’re coming back home with me, you’re coming home.” I went to see this woman, and I told her that I had a young baby and I could do with her coming home to help me. She wanted to come home, I asked her and she said she wanted to. The next thing our Kathy wanted to come home, because she missed Margaret. So those two came home and they went right through the Blitz, but, I’d rather they were with me than be unhappy. They were made up to come home and they were happy.

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