Tom Edwards

On the warm sunny morning of Sunday 3rd September 1939, after returning from Sunday School in the Tin Hut (Church Hall), I was playing in Hatchards Lane which we local boys regarded as our playground, when at about 11.25 am. we were told to go to our homes immediately as war had been declared. (This was announced on the wireless at 11.15 am. by the Prime Minister - Mr Neville Chamberlain). So I went the short distance home to “Dellcroft”, close by the Salvation Army hall.

On arriving home, we all waited indoors for the rest of the day to see what might happen as everyone had some idea of taking “Air Raid Precautions”, which had been widely publicised even on cigarette cards during 1938-39. Knowing what had happened in Spain and recently in Poland air raids or something similar were expected almost immediately. Very many people responded in a similar manner to us, but nothing happened.

Next day it appeared to me, a small boy, that life was back to normal, but little did I know that this was to be the start of possibly the most exciting period of my life; mixed with hardship and occasionally personal grief and sadness at the loss of family, relatives and friends. In some of the larger families this must and did sadly occur more often.

On returning to school after the Summer holidays we found we had many new school mates, when a large number of evacuees arrived - most from Wimbledon, with also the few resident children of Thorney Village who had to leave their homes for the duration of the war, and a few from Portsmouth.

This increased the school population overnight by, at a guess, 30% which meant very large classes, but with the leadership of a superb headmaster MR M.W. SIMMONDS and a very dedicated band of teachers, including my teacher at this time MR R. URRY, our basic education did not suffer too much (How would we cope today?) - though the school remained overcrowded to some extent throughout the war.

Something I’ve always remembered was the large Royal Navy white ensign displayed on the wall in the assembly hall which I saw every morning at 9 o’clock prayers before the day’s school work began. Was it this flag or the tradition on my mother’s side of the family that always drew me towards the Navy which I had decided on joining at an early age. I wonder if the flag is still there?

One early memory was the daily collection of vast amounts of extra large loaves from MEADS bakery by army lorries for Westbourne Camp and its satellite camp in Southleigh Road and the many anti-aircraft battery sites under their command dispersed over a large local area. This daily collection continued throughout the war. Another personal memory was, in late 1939, collecting Ration and Identity Cards from the Free Church Hall in North Street, (rationing started on 9th January 1940), and also collecting gas masks which everyone had to carry at all times for, I believe, for the first two years.

Source: Extract from Westbourne's War 1939-1945, Westbourne Local History Group publication.