They arrived, tired and lousy Helen Owen presided over the provision of first aid in Boston upon the arrival of young evacuees from Hull. Expecting knee scrapes, she found herself scrubbing down the children, the carriers of many louse. Helen’s task was repeated all over England, an initiation that evacuees still remember today.
What did you do ?
Any special memories?
The Staniland School at Boston was the reception centre, manned by the billeting officer, the WVS, the Council with a list of names, and me with my first aid box.
Around three o’clock they arrived, angry, tired, hysterical and lousy. Many of the children had been ‘sewn up for the winter’ (rubbed with goose grease or whale oil, their flannel underwear sewn on until Spring) and were hosts to infection, which they happily passed on! The Red Cross manual did not appear to cover this.
What else did you do?
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Facts3,750,000 British people were evacuated during the Second World War. Those evacuated included school-age children, mothers and young children, pregnant women, disabled people, teachers and ‘helpers’. Not all were evacuated to the country. Some London children were sent to Brighton and had to be re-evacuated during the 1940 bombing scare. Find out more about the evacuation. FactsLarge-scale evacuation highlighted the social differences between the children who were sent away and the people willing and able to house them. A study showed that five per cent of evacuated children were not toilet trained, whilst 25 per cent were infested with head lice. FactsIn 1941 the Minister of Health asked the Joint War Organisation to convert some of its convalescent homes into nurseries for the under-fives. They ran twenty-two nurseries, looking after children injured during the Blitz and the children of mothers who were doing war-work. Read A Tale About Toddlers written during the War. |