What does the poster want mothers to do?

Why do you think the government wanted them to do this?

Why do you think this poster is directed at mothers?

Why would the countryside be seen as a safer

place fro children to be?

Was the evacuation of

children during the Second World War

a good idea?

Even before the war began the British government was worried that if Germany started targeting British towns and cities then the lives of children would be in danger.

In order to deal with this problem the government developed a plan to evacuate children from British towns and cities into the more safer countryside areas.

This plan was given the code name...

OPERATION PIED PIPER

The operation to ‘get the children away’ began on 1st September 1939.

As well as schoolchildren evacuated with their teachers, mothers (or other carers) of children under five were allowed to take part in the scheme, as were expectant mothers and the disabled.

Parents did not have to send their children away, but were encouraged (strongly) to do so.

Where were children evacuated from?

London 241,000

Manchester 84,343

Merseyside 79,930

Newcastle 52,494

Birmingham 32,688

Leeds/Bradford

26,419

Portsmouth 23,145

Sheffield 13,871

Where were children evacuated to?

Lancashire 71,484

Sussex 67,541

Yorkshire 50,593

Kent 38,000

Cheshire 38,000

Essex 25,000

Northamptonshire 24,000

Hertfordshire 23,500

Suffolk 23,000

Somerset  21,000

Surrey 20,000

By the end of this lesson you should be able to…..

•Explain the process of evacuation during WW2.

•Analyse how different groups of people were affected by evacuation.

•Evaluate whether or not evacuation was a good idea.

Listen to James’ account of being evacuated.

What information can you get about Evacuation from his experience?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-experience-of-a-child-evacuee-during-the-second-world-war-audio/11117.html

Look at the seven pictures in front of you. The pictures tell the story of the start of an evacuees journey to the countryside. As a group try and put the pictures in the correct order.

Task

Now you should place the information cards with the correct picture.

Evacuation during WW2

Parents Evacuees Families who took in evacuees.

Read through the sources. In each box explain the role of each group of people. Inside the people, explain how each group might have been effected by evacuation and why.

You are going to produce a picture book to be given to Primary School children before they are evacuated to explain what is going to happen to them.

Remember – to include enough information so that they understand what will happen but think about how you are going to tell them so that they are not too frightened!

Task

• You are able to explain some parts what life was like for an evacuee.

• You explain some parts of the journey and can describe how the evacuees may have been feeling.

• Include some keywords.

Level 4

• Your story explains some of the positive and negative situations faced by an evacuee.

• You include lots of historical informationLevel 5

• All of Level 5• Your story begins to explore how the evacuees were perceived

by the foster families – what were their opinions of inner-city children and families.

• How were they different?

Level 6

Possible idea for how to begin your book:

Hello, My name is Harry. This is the story of my life as an evacuee. The date was September 3 rd 1939. War had just broke out in Britain and I was being evacuated from…

"Except for a small number the children were filthy, and in this district we have never seen so many children lacking any knowledge of clean and hygienic habits. Furthermore, it appeared they were unbathed for months. One child was suffering from scabies and the majority had it in their hair and the others had dirty septic sores all over their bodies." "Many of the mothers and children were bed-wetters and were not in the habit of doing anything else. The appalling apathy of the mothers were terrible to see.""Their clothing was in a deplorable condition, some of the children being literally sewn into their ragged little garments. There was hardly a child with a whole pair (of shoes) and most of the children were walking on the ground - no soles, and just uppers hanging together." "The state of the children was such that the school had to be fumigated after the reception."

Report for Women’s Institute 1940

To my astonishment many of the evacuees couldn’t do the simplest of things. Many couldn’t even write their own name! They had no table manners at lunchtime and some of the language they were using was obscene.A School Teacher, Nottingham.

One billetor reported about how when one six year old boy went to the toilet in the front room his mother shouted: "You dirty thing, messing up the lady's carpet. Go and do it in the corner."

Hours out of school hours were spent, when not doing homework, in a variety of ways. We played by the side of a local brook, we wandered around the docks, we ventured past the docks on the banks of the river Ouse which was wide, muddy and tidal. We wandered over the marsh area behind the docks, and we frequently walked the mile or so into the My parents visited me about twice in the six months I was at on particular place.Diary of an Evacuee

“I woke up that morning feeling fearful of the events to come. I was young to be evacuated. Up to then I had not be anywhere without my parents except for

one or two Sunday school outings. Many of the people on my street were being evacuated too. The government had said it was too dangerous for children to stay in London. It wasn’t just

kids being evacuated either. Some of our teachers, pregnant women and mothers of children

under 5 came too!

I don’t remember the journey to school but my mother came

with me. I don’t even remember my farewell to my Dad and

Sister but they went off to work as usual. Not many east end

dads could afford to lose a day’s work in those days.”

I had packed my belongings in my regulation suitcase. In it my mum had included:

My identity card,ration book;2 vests2 pairs of pantsPair of trousers2 pairs of socks6 handkerchiefsA woollen jumper.

I had hardly any room for anything else. (I did manage to fit some sandwiched in for on the journey however!)

I remember us walking to school. We all had label’s

attached to us, these labels had our name and our home’s and school’s

address. We were like parcels!

We also had in a green cardboard box attached to

string over our shoulders our gasmasks.

Our hands clasped a paper bag containing the

prescribed iron rations, a bar of chocolate, some raisins

and an orange.

We were grouped into classes and at the appointed hour we marched out of the school, single file and across the road, it was a main road

and the traffic had been stopped by a policeman and we crossed, there must have

been a big hold up for the traffic. There were lots of mums outside the school gates and along the 200

yards of road to the station - my mum was there but I didn’t notice her. I do not

remember any kids crying. I was excited by this new

adventure!

The railway station —It was a strange feeling. The whole school crowded onto the platform. The train then

pulled in the station, it was a little tank engine with very rudimentary coaches. We

were crowded into the train, it was a crush and we were

not very comfortable with all our luggage, but I got a seat

next to a window. Lots of mums were crowding up to

the window wanting to wave goodbye to their child. Many

cried. This started some children crying too. A sense of fear that I would never

see my mum again made me start to panic.

We were kept in the train while the carriages were emptied one by one

and once again the classes were assembled in single file and then marched across the track into the

cattle market. Each class was allocated a cattle pen.

There were lots of people around, men, women and children all curious

to know what these kids from London looked like. We had no idea

where we were but we were marched into the school and sat

down in classrooms.

Then the women arrived and the reviewing and selection began,

rather like the preview at an auction. I’ll have him, and that two there will do, that little girl with the

curly hair. The voices sounded strange, difficult to understand but

they were obviously speaking English. All the women seemed

broad shouldered, brown faces, hard weather beaten faces, but on the

whole they were smiling.

Me and my mate Bill had asked our teacher if we could pair up and go together. She asked the billeting officer if that would be

ok – to which she said yes.

Us pair were very late in being selected. In fact we were

beginning to hope that no one wanted us and we would be sent

home, but eventually we were chosen by a pleasant looking

woman with a friendly face. She took four boys in the end.

She took us to a farm called Ten Mile Farm. It was huge. It was

owned by her and her husband. The views I had out my bedroom

window were breathtaking – nothing like the views we had in

London!

*Billeting Officer = Person responsible for finding accommodation for Evacuees.