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Week St.
Mary
NORTH CORNWALL, UK
50° 45'03.84"N
4° 30'01.39"W
Elevation: 142m OS: SX237977
CALOR VILLAGE OF THE YEAR
County Winner
2009
|
Wartime Evacuees |
1.
Philip Herbert Samuel Martin B.Com.,
A.C.I.S.
2.
Audrey Tarrant's Memoirs
3. 2010 - 70th Anniversary of the arrival in Week
St. Mary |
|
1. Mr. Philip Herbert Samuel Martin B.Com.,
A.C.I.S. was instrumental in bring evacuees to Week St. Mary.
Mr. Martin was educated at Selhurst Grammar School, Croydon,
where he won the Royal Society of Arts Silver Medal for Precis
writing at King's College, London, where he was trained for the
teaching profession. He served in the first World War with the
London Rifle Brigade and was badly wounded. His first
professional appointment was with the Croydon Mentally Defective
School, and from there he went to Sydenham Boys School, Croydon,
as assistant head master. In 1935 he became an Associate of
Chartered Institute of Secretaries. |
 |
Mr. Martin always had the
boy's outside activities very much at heart being an organising
secretary of the School Journeys' Association, arranging many
outings. including a visit to the Royal Agricultural Show at
Windsor and the Glasgow Exhibition in 1938. Twice yearly, until
the war stopped it, he took & party of boys to camp for a
fortnight at Caterham, Surrey. Weekly visits were also made to a
farm near Croydon for the purpose of introducing town boys to
country life. At the outbreak of the second World War, Mr.
Martin was evacuated with Sydenham School to Woodingdean near
Brighton and while there, he fulfilled his plan for the
furthering of country knowledge by forming the first Young
Farmers' Club for evacuees, and for his hard work in this sphere
he was mentioned in Parliament.
In April 1940 he returned to his home only
to leave again the following June for Week St Mary with a party
of boys and girls. As head of the school he entered fully into
all the activities of the village and figuring strongly in these
were the Army Cadet Force, in which he held the rank of Captain,
the Rifle Club and Observer Corps. He obtained his Bachelor of
Commerce degree in 1946. Mr. Martin was a Freemason for many
years and was both an ardent railway enthusiast and historian
having had articles printed in the technical magazine. For
several years he was a correspondent for the "Post and Weekly
News" and up to 1951 was the Secretary of the Horticultural
Show. |
In an article written by
him some time after the Second World War we read the following:
I remember
well, when I left my home in Surrey at 7 a.m., to take charge
of a party of Croydon children going on evacuation under Plan 4.
The authorities had been alarmed by the drift back of children
under the previous arrangements and determined to send them
further afield, but all I knew was that we should detrain at
Bude. The long journey ended about 7 p.m., when several hundred
tired children and teachers detrained at the station and were
shepherded into Cann Medlands Garage where a real Cornish meal
was provided and the children were medically examined. I
remember walking down the line of buses parked at the side and
reading the names of the destinations. North Cornwall was
unknown to me then, but it struck me that Week St. Mary was an
attractive sounding name, and I gave instructions for my kit and
party to be loaded as far as possible for this place. I never
regretted this decision. |
 |
Somewhere about 8.30
Mr. L. Maddock drove the bus up to the school where the late
Mrs. Sandercock, and her willing band of W.V.S. helpers assisted
by many others set about distributing the children around the
parish. Every child had a stamped post card on which to write
its new address, and those in charge of parties sent telegrams
to Croydon giving the location of each school party. The
information was posted up outside the Town Hall and must have
relieved many anxious parents. By 1945 Croydon children were to
be found in 40 different counties.
Back in Week St. Mary the
children were rapidly absorbed into the homes which had given
them shelter and most remained until they were due to leave
school or the end of evacuation in 1945. Many still visit the
village or keep in touch with their foster parents.
When the attack started in
August, 1940, the wisdom of evacuating the children was more
evident and there were additions to the evacuees. These
continued and in 1941 parties arrived from Bristol and Plymouth,
so that the School and Methodist Schoolroom were crowded with
156 children and 6 teachers. The "fly bomb" period in 1944
brought the last party of evacuated children and mothers to the
village this time from West London, but with the end of the
German War most of these returned after a short stay.
Evacuation brought many problems
and difficulties, but this was well worth while. It may be a
sign of toughness to stick it through the raids, but no child
should be forced to experience the sight and sound - and
possible injuries which go with a modern air-raid. Those who
returned from North Cornwall had had a period of loving care in
a peaceful countryside, with the continuous education which
every child needs. Naturally, they compared favourably in health
and development with those who grew up among sleepless nights -
and worse and interrupted schooling. The success of the movement
was due in great measure to the whole-hearted help of the
Cornish people who received the children and treated them as
their own. |
|
2.
MY LIFE AS AN EVACUEE IN WEEK St MARY by Audrey
Tarrant
(extract from 'Week St Mary Village - a community at large')
Our school party left Croydon in the very early hours on
16th June 1940, we boarded a train not knowing where we
were going. The journey took all day, and in hindsight the
teachers who were with us must have had a very daunting job
keeping us all amused, fed, toileted etc. throughout the day. We
finally arrived at Bude station at about 7pm and were walked,
crocodile fashion, across the road to a big garage which was
full of large tables with ladies waiting to serve food to us.
After this we were all assembled and escorted onto the fleet of
buses there.
In all this time I must say I had no fear of where I was going,
I remember being sad at leaving Mum and Dad, but knew that it
had been arranged for Mum to come as a helper when the school
was settled in. On arrival at Week St Mary I realised I had lost
my two brothers since leaving the train! - then I began to
worry!!!
We must have looked a very 'bedraggled bunch' when we arrived
after being on the move all day, but we were all gradually taken
in ones and twos by our foster parents and I went with Les &
Mary Colwill to a large house, (well I thought it large after
our little one in Croydon). When I woke up the following morning
I couldn't believe the amount of 'country' all around.
After a few days my brothers were found, Colin had been kept at
Bude for a medical exam and was eventually sent to Nath & Winnie
Coles in Week St Mary, and Peter was discovered in Whitstone -
he obviously joined the wrong bus. As he was happy there with Mr
& Mrs Will Stanbury it was agreed he should not be moved.
We started school in the room beside the Methodist Chapel under
the direction of Mr Martin and Miss Pratt, two classes with two
teachers in one room could not have been easy. I think there was
a small room at the back where we went for reading etc.
Eventually several children returned home and the rest of us
were filtered into the main village school at the top of the
hill, where 'Pop' Martin later took over as headmaster.
During our early days in Week, I remember most of us caught
Impetigo which of course, being infectious, we were all treated
with a medication which turned all our spotty faces, arms and
legs mauve. I'm sure this did nothing for the local residents
trying to endear themselves to this 'bedraggled lot'.
However everything turned out well in the end, because my
memories of life in the village and being accepted by the
villagers will stay with me for the rest of my life, and in
spite of the war I look back at my time spent in Week St Mary as
some of the happiest days of my life. We had some very good
times especially trying to do a bit of drama in Audrey & Sheila
Jones' father's barn, (Cawsey). This was behind Orchards shop on
Week Hill.
Our meeting place always seemed to be by the pump in the square,
we would sit on the trough and talk for ages and plan what we
could do or talk about tomorrow.
Some of us would go after school to the Blacksmith's Forge and
help Ned Masters with the bellows. It was fascinating watching
him shape the iron into a shoe and then burn it onto the horse -
we learnt a lot there! The forge at this time was between the
market place and Ivy Cottage, where George and Edna Masters
lived, down a rough little lane. Photos on the website seem to
indicate it as being in the square now.
Another meeting place was at 4pm every day when the incoming
post arrived at the Post Office, which was then opposite the
Chapel in Mr & Mrs Sandercock's house. After a quick sort, Mrs
Sandercock would come out and call out the names for us
'regulars' there and we would take it away. There was always a
lot of chat as it was a mixed crowd of eager youngster as well
as some of the older folk expecting the letters etc. If anyone
was lucky enough to get a parcel - well there was no holding
them!
As I was later billeted at The Temperance Hotel with Mr & Mrs
Ned Masters and their daughter Christine (later Mrs Den
Treleven). I probably had more contact than most with the
schoolteacher Miss Retallack who also lived there. I regarded
her as much of a 'demon' as the rest in school, but indoors she
did seem to relax and she was always more friendly. I remember
her helping me if my knitting went wrong (as it often did) and
she always used very long needles and tucked them under her arms
when knitting - which seemed very strange to me with my short
'learners' needles.
The Temperance was quite the hub of the village with people,
farmers and market personnel being constant visitors, and with a
view from the window onto the square, we were aware of all the
'goings on.' On Market Days the hotel almost exploded with the
comings and goings of the farmers and others visiting the
Auctioneer who used the small sitting room as their office for
the day. Most of the farmers and auctioneers had the lunch
cooked by Mrs Masters This was always a roast meal and because
of all this catering, extra rations were available. Compared
with a lot of others during the war, I consider we fared very
well there, and I think most villagers did by helping one
another with foodstuffs that were in short supply. I seem to
remember we had jam and cream at most meals, and meat nearly
every day!!!!
As I have said, my childhood in Week St Mary was a very happy
time, and when my mother gave birth to my sister in 19411
thought life was wonderful. We all integrated so well with the
local children (as any villagers who are 70/80years 'young' and
were in the village during the war will readily agree.) It was
very strange, on looking back, how we all settled so well, but
this must be credited to the villagers who made us all so
welcome, and treated us as extended families, not just 'VACS'
My heartfelt thanks go to one and all in Week St Mary for making
my wartime experiences so easy and pleasurable to remember. They
will remain my GOOD & HAPPY YEARS. |
|
3.
16th JUNE 2010 will mark the 70th
Anniversary of the influx of evacuees to Week St Mary.
I remember the day very well. About 30 of us children, aged
between 5 and 11, with 4 teachers, had travelled, by train, all
day from Croydon and had arrived in Week St Mary in the early
evening after being “fed and watered” at Cann Medland’s Garage
which was then opposite Bude railway station (regrettably no
longer there either!) It was a very daunting experience for us
children, standing in the school room waiting to be picked out
by the local couples who, I believe, had been forced to give us
a home for the duration of the war. These foster parents must
have been very apprehensive at the sight of us, looking a very
“bedraggled lot” after travelling all day!!
I was eventually taken by Les and Mary Colwill, with another
girl named Eileen, to their home on Lower Square. I was there
for about 3 months, when Mary became ill and I was transferred
to the Temperance Hotel which was then in the Square beside the
cattle market. My memories of Week St Mary are of a countryside
I had never known before, and of being so close to all animals,
especially on market days. I cannot remember feeling homesick,
and can only think this must have been due to the way all the
villagers welcomed us into their homes (and I am happy to say
still do, as on my recent visits.)
The one regret I have is that I have lost contact with all of
the other evacuees in Croydon (apart from my brother Colin who
now lives near Blackpool and my friend Molly (nee Tarvin) who
now lives in Dorset). Who knows though, maybe someone will
read this on the web page, and recognise themselves!! |
| |
Sunday 20th June 2010
A small congregation attended Evensong at
St. Mary's Church to mark the 70th
anniversary of the arrival of evacuees from
the London area to Week St. Mary. Audrey
Tarrant is one of the few evacuees remaining
and is a frequent visitor to the village and
a contributor to both this web site and my
book on Week St. Mary Village.
Audrey, accompanied by her daughter, Jill,
were made welcome by those present and
thanks was made by Rev Rob for their
donation of the flowers (opposite) to mark
the anniversary.
During the service Rev Rob played a brief
recording of an air-raid siren followed by a
speech from Winston Churchill which helped
to create the right atmosphere of the
occasion. He made
several references to the evacuees in his
sermon, highlighting the way the villagers
pulled together in that time of need for the
good of young strangers suddenly thrust into
their midst.
I (David Martin), grandson of Mr Martin who
brought the children to the village in 1940
and who became headmaster of the County
Primary School until his death in 1953, put
together a small display of appropriate
pictures showing the arrival of the evacuees and
a few wartime pictures.
Audrey was made so welcome by those present
and over a cup of tea and biscuits she was
soon engaged in chat about her time in the
village. |
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