Videos tagged with evacuation

Evacuation and the aftermath of the Blitz in the City of London

Evacuation and the aftermath of the Blitz in the City of London

Evelyn Jajechnyk was born and raised in the City of London. She was 12 when she was evacuated with her sister to Norfolk and they stayed there for 3 years during the worst of the bombing. In this interview Evelyn recounts some of her childhood war-time experiences... She remembers the huge difference between the busy market street she lived in in London and the idyllic countryside in Norfolk. Upon her return to London after 3 years she was faced with a destroyed London and on her first night back her parents took her to Aldwych tube station to the shelter... Evelyn also recounts one other incident with a molotov cocktail stuck to her roof!

Life as a war-time child; routines, play and evacuation (Part 1)

Life as a war-time child; routines, play and evacuation (Part 1)

Vera shares some of her childhood memories of growing up during WW2 in Rotherhithe. It was a time of strict rules and regulations. Children went to school and came back, and were never far from their parents. But they still managed to have very imaginative play, making the most of their stark surroundings and even playing with bits of brick and shrapnel… She also recounts her experience of being evacuated with the girl who lived next door, one that she hated. She spent the whole time crying until she was brought back home to be with her mother. She remembers spending every night in the shelter under her block of flats during the worst of the bombing…

Life before, during and after WW2 in South London

Life before, during and after WW2 in South London

Beryl has lived in Rotherhithe all of her life. Before WW2 started she lived with her mother and father in a town house with a large garden, but the council knocked the houses down to make room for a large estate of flats, where she has lived ever since… During the war Beryl was evacuated to Hove and did not return to London until the worst of the war was over. She talks of how childhood and the area was so very different back then, it was a simple life where children played in the streets, caught trams to school and women never worked after they were married. Beryl went to work in the city when she was 18 for an accountancy firm. Women never worked in accountancy before the war, but after all the men were sent away to fight the women had to take over from them. She proceeded to work successfully in the industry for 42 years...

Growing up in Rothrhithe during WW2 (Part 1)

Growing up in Rothrhithe during WW2 (Part 1)

Vai Newman was born and has lived within the Rotherhithe area all of her life and experienced life there during the Second World War. Vai recounts some of the strict rules and regulations people adhered to during the war, life during the blitz and her schooldays. Vai also gives a vivid account of how different Rotherhithe was back then, with its dangerous riversides and mainly industrial wharfs that surrounded the area.

Rationing and and Children's Routines during WW2

Rationing and and Children's Routines during WW2

In the second part of his interview Alex talks about rationing during the Second World War and how families struggled on a daily basis to feed themselves with the tiny quantities they were allowed. He talks of how his mother had to scrub floors to make ends meet whilst his father was away in the army, and of the short while he spent away when he was evacuated as a boy of 4. Alex also remembers a couple of cheeky adventures him and his friends used to embark on to get around their sweet cravings!