| The WW2 evacuees who found themselves sent to | | | | eczema and were filthy and thin. I'm sure the |
| the New Forest during wartime certainly would have | | | | evacuees who arrived in the New Forest enjoyed a |
| had a very different experience to what they had so | | | | better and kinder life than my poor uncles! |
| far sampled in their homes with their parents and other | | | | In the New Forest local people were paid 10shillings |
| relatives. | | | | and 6 pence a week for one child which was reduced |
| The New Forest is close to both Portsmouth and | | | | to 8shillings and 6pence for 2 or more at the same |
| Southampton, which both suffered tremendous enemy | | | | address. |
| onslaughts during WW2. As well as agreeing to take | | | | As in all things in life there were two sides to every |
| evacuees from other areas further afield, the New | | | | story - some evacuees were de-loused on arrival to |
| Forest Rural District Council, as it was at this time, also | | | | their new billet, especially if they had come from very |
| made preparations to accommodate 5,814 evacuees. | | | | poor families, but my uncles were de-loused before |
| Buses and trains were used for the children to travel | | | | my grandmother took them back home! |
| to their allotted destinations. They were told to bring: A | | | | Imagine what it must have been like to suddenly arrive |
| knife, fork, spoon, comb, handkerchief, plate, mug and | | | | in a place which had New Forest ponies, cows and |
| toothbrush, shoes or plimsolls, socks and a change of | | | | pigs wandering around - they may never have seen |
| clothes and a gas mask. | | | | such animals before, and they certainly wouldn't have |
| I know in my family my uncles have tales they have | | | | had them wandering about outside their houses. |
| told us over the years of their experiences as WW2 | | | | What would it have been like for the host family? - |
| evacuees. | | | | suddenly they had more growing mouths to feed, in an |
| My uncles were evacuated from outside London to | | | | area, which at that time, was not a wealthy place to |
| Wales and arrived in the depth of the country with | | | | live. The life of the Commoner before WW2 was hard |
| their provisions, all carefully assembled by my | | | | and food couldn't necessarily be as easily grown as in |
| grandmother, only to have them snatched away by | | | | normal rural areas. |
| the host family and never seen again. The war had a | | | | Yet again the New Forest holds lots of interesting |
| traumatic effect on many children, as with the best will | | | | information for us to discover. It isn't just an area |
| in the world only so many checks could be made as | | | | where "wild ponies" (actually no animal, apart from the |
| to the suitability and even kindness of the potential host | | | | deer, is wild - they are all owned by Commoners ) run |
| families. | | | | freely around but has a vast history which can be |
| My grandmother would get little letters sent home | | | | related back to when the New Forest was first set up |
| saying they absolutely hated it and when it became | | | | as a hunting ground in the middle ages through to |
| just too bad for her to bear she travelled to Wales | | | | WW2 and now the present day. |
| and brought them back. They were both covered in | | | | |