Mrs Veronica Potter

On the 1st of September before war was declared Veronica was evacuated from London with her two younger sisters and brother. Veronica was 12 years old at the time and her sister Joan 9, Joyce 8 and baby Chris who was 3. Veronica lived with her mother and father not far from Buckingham Palace in a block of flats. Veronica should have been evacuated with children from her own school but her mother was determined that the children should all stay together so she was allowed to go with the children from the younger sisters’ school.

Their mother took them to the station and put them on the train for the 25-mile journey out of London to Englefield Green. Veronica was given the weighty responsibility of making sure that the family were kept together. When they arrived at Englefield they were all taken to the local school and lined up. The people then came in and selected the children they wanted, like picking items from a shelf. Many wanted to take Joan and Joyce because they had beautiful blue eyes and fair hair but Veronica was very conscious of her mother’s instructions that they were all to stay together. So every time someone chose only the other girls she always said, “Mum says we have to stay together.”

Eventually the groups of children became smaller and smaller until Veronica and her sisters and brother were the only ones left. No one wanted a family of four. Eventually the woman organizing everything said she would take them but she had two children of her own and had really no room for them.

In their first billet the diet was constantly sausages and beans. Day upon day, with no change or variation. No doubt this was because it was cheapest food available. Eventually Veronica complained about this monotonous diet and the unfairness she saw in the way the other children were treated but this only guaranteed a move for her to another billet. She was accompanied by her sister in the move because Joan who was a bit of a mischief.

On one occasion when an apple tart was being made the woman asked Joan if she liked apple tart to which she quickly replied yes she did. The apple tart was mentioned a few times but by the time it was being served up Joan wasn’t given any only the woman’s family. Another time when sweets were being handed out she deliberately gave one to her own boy and didn’t hand any to Chris. Punishments were also unfair. At one time Chris had been told not to play in the sand outside on the road, which he took on board. He didn’t play in the sand, but he was accused of it and was thoroughly ‘rowed’ for it despite pleading his innocence in tears. Poor Veronica remembers putting a very tearful young brother to bed still crying. ‘You tell her I didn’t play in the sand’.

Veronica and Joan then found themselves with Mrs. Baker who was very strict and again like their previous carer was not really interested in them. On one occasion whilst going along one of the lanes Veronica was cornered by an Airedale Terrier and the dog went for her. By the time she got to safety her dress was torn. This was her only dress. She was upset and frightened but there was no sympathy or concern for her welfare. The only concern was for the dress, which she was made to sit down and try to repair.

Mrs. Baker also made Veronica weed her garden at lunch times when she came home from school for lunch. This meant she was often late back. Finally she found herself in the head master’s office. She explained to him that Mrs. Baker made her weed the garden at lunch times. He ignored this completely and told her it was her business to get back to school in time or else!

Their mother used to come to see them when she could afford the train fare but they were very poor so it wasn’t often. When she did come Mrs. Baker would ask her all about the bombing up in London. When their mum left she would make fun of it saying it could never be that bad and belittle it all. However, a German bomber once flew over Englefield and dropped its bombs just to get rid of them before flying home. They only landed on the cemetery and bones and coffins were thrown up but to hear Mrs. Baker speak she now made it sound like Englefield Green was the centre of the war.

The family were to spend two years in all away from their mother before she eventually could no longer bear the letters she received from Veronica detailing the awful time they were having.

When they got back to London the bombing was at its fiercest and every night after supper they ran through the streets to a friends house to spend the night in the cellars. It was much safer than the flimsy council air raid shelters. Once when they were running to the shelter when there was a raid on they heard a thud very close to them but in the dark they couldn’t see anything. However, in the morning there was the brass end of a shell embedded in the ground. Had they been a bit earlier and a few steps further ahead the end of the bomb would have hit Joan and probably killed her. The brass nose cap from the bomb stood for many years on the mantelpiece of the family home. You were supposed to hand them in but when her mother took it to the police station they weren’t really interested so she just kept it.

When the children returned to London there were no schools operating and so Veronica had to find a job, which she did as clerk and her first wage was the princely sum of 22/6d. After giving her mother some money she bought some lovely red material with white dots. Her mother who was a dressmaker showed her how to make a dress, which she did, and then she saved up for a pair of shoes. In the evenings she often went to the pictures. If there was an air raid you had the choice either to go the shelter or stay to watch the end of the film. Most people usually just stayed.

She would make her way to work each morning often having to change her route because streets were closed with the bombed out buildings. During the time she was working the V bombs (doodle bugs) had began to fly over. These were really frightening because you heard the sound of the engines, then they would stop and you just waited to see where they fell. Once she was sure one had come down in the direction of her flats. She rushed home because her father, who was a night watchman was asleep in bed at home. However when she arrived she was relieved to see that he was unhurt and the doodle bug had landed elsewhere.

Worse was to follow with the V2’s because they had no sound. They came over silently and just dropped from the skies.

Later in the war her youngest sister and brother had to be evacuated once again, this time to Wales to a mining village. Conditions there were little better second time round but when their mother visited them for the first time they were very grubby looking and she took them home.

When she was older she bought a bicycle and cycled to Englefield Green and visited Mrs. Baker but she was not really interested in seeing Veronica again. Also she went to the local shop where she saw a very well dressed woman come in. She could hardly believe her eyes it was Mrs. Morris the first woman she had stay with. She couldn’t help wondering how she had so much money to be so well dressed. Veronica decided it wasn’t worth introducing herself. Not everyone had bad billets though. Some boys from nearby flats, one of which became Joan’s husband in later years had been evacuated to a farm and had a wonderful time and really enjoyed it.

After the war there was the excitement of seeing bananas and oranges again. For some children like her younger brother, Chris who had never seen them before, they had to discover how to eat them!

Nothing was wasted after the war and rationing went on for a long time. The black out curtains weren’t even wasted they were made into lovely black dresses.