An Evacuee
The Monkey Puzzle Tree
By Alan Hewitt
Having read, with great interest, the article by Janet Adler, I am very pleased to inform you that my sisters and I were the family from Catford mentioned in her article. I was the twin who was billeted in Mill Road while my twin and elder sister were in the house with the Monkey Puzzle Tree. I remember arriving by train and sleeping in a school (or church) hall on the first night on rows of camp beds. It was all very exciting and we were with a group of friends from Catford evacuated because of the V1 and V2 rockets. The next morning we were visited by people who were collecting their prospective guests and I was very sad because no one wanted three children together. My sisters were taken by a lady (Janet's mother) and I was left on my own feeling very lost. I was then the only child left was taken by car to Mill Road and left with a Mrs Askew (I think, was her name) who was already billiting several boys from the east end of London. The house had no electric lighting and was lit downstairs by gas light. I had to take a candle to bed, which was a new experience. Also the toilet was at the bottom of the garden and I was always afraid to go out there on my own. I remember going to Wicksteed park with my Sisters and Janet with her mother. Also I remember days out in the country with buzzing bees and wild flowers. Quite a change from my London experience. We only needed to go to school for half a day because the locals went the other half! So we had plenty of time to play around and to ask the American Airmen for chewing gum - which they always supplied very generously.