Continuing Babs' Story
To continue my story , I can't remember having a Christmas at the Reynolds in the Bognor Regis house so I suppose our parents had collected us and we returned to our Flat in Balham.
We were sent to a Catholic school on the opposite side of Balham High Street, about that I can't remember much because shorty after we were driven all three of us ( Micheal as well, he wasn't even at school )`down to Eastbourne and stay with lovely people a Mr and Mrs Barnes and their two children Joan and Lesley both around our ages
The bungalow was at Langley Point down a narrow dusty lane .
It was a red brick house with the door and bay windows on either side painted a very bright green, I remember a short distance down the lane a high chain link fence was on the opposite side with a very dark looking stretch of water , we would. peer though it and look for the eels that were supposedly in it ,every thing looked very very dark and eerie certainly something for us to be scared about.
Mr Barnes was such a jolly man and Mrs Barnes was kept so busy as shortly after we arrived three more children arrived ,all boys that went by the name of: O Brian, Terrance Michael and Brian, I always thought fancy having a name like Brian O Brian, a proper tongue twister.
All ten of us squeezed into that small three bedded bungalow , I can only remember the kitchen with a round table and the boys bed room , all the beds were pushed up together and to get at the window we had to clamber over each bed to see out , I must have had a bed in Joan's room .
At the time we were staying there we were told that a Dutch cargo ship had been bombed just off shore and we could see it quite plainly from the beach when we walked down to it.
After it had been bombed many of the locals had gone down to the shore to see what could be collected and Mr Barnes came home with a very large Dutch cheese in the round wooden cask it had been packed in also a wooden box packed to the full of linen covered buttons , the type Mummy stitched on to my liberty bodice , how I hated them ! they were also used on pillow cases or a bolster to keep them closed when a pillow had been inserted.
I can't help but think now a days what a useful thing it was to do, we couldn't buy them today , I did find a few sometime ago at a boot fair , some old lady must have passed away and they had been turned out.
Mr Barnes would place the cheese on the table and large lumps would be sliced off at meal times with us all sat around the table mouths open ready to devour some.
He was a self employed man and ran his own cats meat round , having a pony and yellow trap that was stored at the bottom of a very long garden, in turn we were allowed to help him at times and I can distinctly remember his cooking up horses legs in a number of coppers, these were then once cooked loaded into the trap and in turn at weekends allowed to accompany him selling it.
He would stand on the platform at the back of the trap ringing a hand bell calling out " Cats Meat any one for cats meat , who ever was helping him at the time would run to the doors handing over the sliced horses flesh wrapped in news paper and collect the threepence that was it's worth.
As it had been a Catholic school we were sent to in London we went to a convent in Eastbourne for our schooling and the nuns taught us , the two Michael's weren't old enough for school so were sent to a nursery for the day , the four of us we the evacuated all went together so I suppose the Barnes children were C of E.
It was a hot summer while we were there and I was given my first communion I remember it had been a problem to find a white dress so the nuns had to help out, after the service we all had a lovely tea on the lawns of the convent, I remember all the girls dancing around the lawns feeling I'm sure like princesses.
Then we had a blow , Mummy was going to fetch us we had no idea why but it was because we were all going to be moved to somewhere in Wales the long awaited bombing had started and the south coast of England was in danger of being invaded by the Germans , "What a stupid thing for the government to do send thousands of children to the south coast out of London where there was every chance of being invaded on the coast .
The taxi arrived with Mummy, (no Father) and we were told that night we would be staying in the flat at the bottom of Bedford H ill that belonged to the mother of the other three boys no explanation was given and we were tucked up into strange beds for the night.
The following morning it was up and walk to the brow of the hill where a very large pantechnicon was parked outside our flat,men were stacking all our furniture into the vehicle, we were all going to stay with granddad !! in Ardington , we were so happy to be going there as in all my life there had never been anywhere that was a nice as granddads cottage.
There was only one thing that quite upset me and that was Johnny had been allowed to sit in the back with the men all the way, sat in one of out armchairs and I was squeezed into the front along with Mummy, Michael and the driver .
Down the Great Western Rd we drove, having driven that way many many times before with my father driving, we knew by now the way and was always looking out for our favourite spots , we were one of the very few that owned a car , I'm sure thanks to my mother who worked at cleaning jobs to pay for them.
At last we could see the barns at the bottom of East Hendred Hill we always looked for them as we knew within minutes we would be there .I will follow on from there next time ..
