A LETTER FROM FINLAND

A London Evacuee Remembers Bawdeswell

I read your Reeves Magazine on the Internet with interest as I lived in Bawdeswell as a small boy from 1940-45.

I was interested and somewhat amused by the reminiscences of Mr. Bugdale regarding the Home Guard. (See Reeve’s Tale website. Ed) I was one of the “evacuees” to whom he refers, as our family had to move out of London having spent practically all of our nights there in air raid shelters.

As we lived in the Willows, I had first-hand views of the Home Guard. For most of the war they had no complete uniforms and generally turned up wearing an assortment of civilian clothes with perhaps a battledress blouse. I can still remember one man dressed in work boots and trousers, with a battledress blouse, a flat cap and a white scarf around his neck. Their usual arms were broom handles. Most people thought it was better that they did not carry real weapons as they would have caused more trouble than any Germans who might appear. I remember a group of us boys watching Mr. Lambert who ran the Bell Inn, chopping wood in his barn across the road from the pub. One of us asked him why he did not join the Home Guard. Mr. Lambert looked at us with an expression of amusement and said “me join that lot, if my home needs guarding I will do it myself”.

I also recollect that even as a small boy I was surprised that nobody in the village seemed to understand what was going on in London with the bombing and devastation. In fact they seemed to know almost nothing about what went on beyond Dereham and Norwich at the most.

Some people also stay in my mind. Police Constable Hales  who seemed to spend most of his time waiting in ambush for any dangerous criminals who were riding their bicycles at night without lights.

Another person was the school mistress, Miss Lewis. The strange thing about her was that, although she spoke with a assumed accent, Lloyd spoke with a broad London one. I am always reminded of her by Hyacinth in “Keeping up Appearances”. She was also the worst and most vindictive teacher I ever encountered- Once, in front of the whole school she held a boy up to ridicule just because his parents were sending him to grammar school. There was also the case when two of the village boys, not very bright ones, broke into the school one week-end and supposedly did some damage and also tried to burn down the school. I must say that when I went to school on the Monday, there was no sign of any damage. The silly boys had scrawled their names on a wall making it obvious who they were. Their actions today would be regarded as a stupid prank and they would be told off. However, in Bawdeswell there was Miss Lewis. She made sure that the boys were punished according to her way of thinking and the two silly children were sent away to an approved school.

 

Life was very strange in Bawdeswell in the ‘forties but it was an experience I will never forget.

Bryan Donoghue, now living in Finland