During the war, certain organisations and individuals made a huge difference to the evacuees’ lives, not just physically, but also emotionally. When evacuees arrived in the reception centres, people of all ages and from all walks of life flocked there to welcome them, feed them and make them comfortable. Organisations worthy of mention are the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS), Salvation Army, British Legion, Girl Guides and the Scouts. However, mothers, teachers and hospital staff also turned up to help.
In Stockport, Kathleen Potts found beds for evacuees:
Mum and I went to every road in our area, knocking on doors and asking ‘Are there any people here whose children have gone into the forces?’ Then when someone said ‘yes’, Mum said ‘Please can we borrow their bed for the evacuees at the Town Hall?’ Scouts took the beds to pieces with a special key, labelled each piece of each bed with the name of the person who owned it and then put it onto the Scouts Trek Cart. My brother and I then put the bits onto the Trek Cart and pulled it up to the Town Hall, back and forth. People also gave us spare pillows, pillow cases and blankets, they were happy to give to the evacuees even though they didn’t have much themselves.1
Bernard Elsdon rushed to help evacuees at his Sunday school:
I went along because help was needed to receive beds and bedding and other things including kitchen ware. We also found some large curtains to put up at the windows to give some privacy to the evacuees. We had expansive kitchens which included two huge gas fuelled copper water boilers, each capable of heating enough water for one thousand cups of tea!2
Marion Greenhalgh visited Stockport town hall to help hundreds of Channel Island evacuees:
I was a Girl Guide and remember us going up the marble staircase, picking our way through all the women and children sitting on the stairs. We spent time mixing feeds for the babies and nursing them whilst their mothers went for a wash. We played with young children and read to them to stop them crying. I can still see those wretched mothers looking so frightened.3
Newspaper appeals asked readers to help evacuees who had no possessions. One announced, ‘Boots and clothing are required for 90 boys who are now billeted in Hale. They are separated from their parents, their home and their friends. Gifts in cash or kind will be gratefully received.4
The response from local communities was outstanding. Firms sent gifts of food, clothing and fruit to evacuees, whilst in Lancashire, slippers and sandals were donated to evacuated orphans.5 The employees of the Bury Felt Company made free mattresses for evacuated children during their lunch hours, without being paid for this work.6
A Flintshire newspaper announced, ‘Blankets, camp beds, food supplies and rations have been prepared but there is still a shortage of blankets and camp beds.’ On 1 August 1940, The Stockport Advertiser appealed on behalf of evacuated mothers:
They have been placed in empty premises in our town. Between them they have only beds, a few chairs and an occasional teapot. Readers probably possess furniture and household utensils for which they have no further need but which would be a Godsend to evacuees who have been unfortunate enough to lose all their goods and chattels.
Peter Hopper remembers the clothing that was donated to evacuees from Grimsby:
The Evacuation Officer in Skegness was Elsa Barratt, who was a kindly woman with an ever-ready smile. The local newspaper commented, during December 1939, that many of the child evacuees who came to Skegness were insufficiently clad to face the rigours of winter. Readers were asked to notify Mrs Barratt if they had any clothing to spare. She was popular with the local community, and there was a great response.7
Lourdes Galliano was evacuated from Gibraltar and remembers the kindness she received from a London volunteer:
Mrs Donaldson had a daughter named Theresa who was my age. Now and again she brought me comics which Theresa kindly sent. One day she said her daughter wanted to meet me so she took me home with her to lunch. I was delighted. She drove me to her house in Holland Park where I met the generous Theresa who was a lovely girl. I so enjoyed her room of dolls and books and later, lunch, in a beautiful dining room served by a maid in a white apron. It was like a dream. After that I was to be invited by them quite often and Theresa and I got on beautifully together. Unfortunately after we left the evacuee reception centre in the Empress Hall, we lost touch completely.8
In Worthing, West Sussex, Joan Strange’s mother provided afternoon tea to five elderly evacuees from London who had been bombed out of their homes. She wrote in her diary:
The five arrived today! All to tea here. Poor Mother - they arrived two hours earlier than was expected and Mother had to entertain them all. Two were stone deaf which wasn’t to be wondered at as they were eighty-nine and eighty-five! The two others were very jolly seventy-nine and seventy-six and the other fifty-odd. After tea we dispersed them - four to Schofield’s landlady and one to Dorothy MacPherson - with hopes that all would be well. The two very elderlies had not been out of their house for two years till they were bombed and the elderly gent looked like death. They are very old and helpless.9
One evacuated mother praised the people of Oldham for their kindness:
We will never forget those who have been kind to us in our sorrow, for the invitations to their homes for a break and lunch. For the treats, for the cricket matches and cinema trips organised, for the sweets and strawberry teas. For the kindly help from everybody in the Co-operative hall where we have been billeted. For the policeman at the door who never failed me from getting times of buses to various places, bringing me the morning paper and the daily cup of tea.10
A letter published in the Leek Post and Times on 29 June 1940 praised the kindness shown to London’s evacuees:
We feel it is our duty to express our gratitude to the inhabitants of Leek for the kindness and hospitality shown to us on our arrival. We write on behalf of the evacuated children, who have found comfort and friends in this beautiful country town.
When we alighted at Leek Station we were given a hearty welcome and the scene will always live in our memories. We are known as ‘visitors’ which makes us feel more at home than if we were called ‘evacuees.’ Once more, we express our sincere thanks for your most friendly welcome and care. Yours truly, Iris Skells and Joan Macdonald, Edmonton Higher Grade School.
In June 1940, the arrival of over 25,000 Channel Island evacuees in Britain, swiftly followed by the news that their islands had been occupied by Germany, was met with an outpouring of sympathy and generosity. A reporter from the Weymouth Daily Echo had witnessed the evacuees’ arrival and told readers the following on 22 June 1940:
First to come were the youngest tots. With dolls in their arms and their possessions in pathetic bundles they came off the boats. A schoolmaster told us, ‘We were packed like herrings. The children had behaved like true Britishers and so had their parents who were left behind.’
Channel Islanders formed a Refugee Committee in London to assist evacuees. When the committee placed a letter in The Times appealing for help, the story was broadcast by the BBC and touched the hearts of the British public. Sacks full of letters and donations poured into the committee’s office. They had no idea that the public response would be so overwhelming and, by the end of 1940 alone, they received over £24,000.11
One Channel Islander still remembers the generosity shown to them. Mrs Eva Le Page recalled: ‘I left Guernsey with my baby and only a pound note in my purse. The Bolton people were very kind and if they helped you they did it with good hearts.’12
Len Robilliard was standing outside his evacuee reception centre when, ‘A policeman came along and handed me a 10 shilling note, a lot of money in 1940 and told me to buy sweets for the Guernsey children’.13 Irene Hawkins arrived in Bury, Lancashire:
I was evacuated to Bury with my school friends and some of our teachers. The WVS came round in a van to give us free hot meals. When we Channel Island children strolled around the streets, people used to stop and ask us ‘Are you those evacuees?’ When we said ‘Yes’ they gave us pennies for sweets. They said that they had read about us in the papers. They were so very kind to us. I will never forget that! One person even asked me for my autograph!14
Mrs Agnes Scott moved into an unfurnished house in Manchester:
The neighbours knocked at the door with all kinds of household equipment, which was most useful as we had nothing! A coal man came with two bags of coal, with the compliments of Mr and Mrs Milligan who lived across the road. I will never forget the kindness! I found work at a factory in Northenden and had to work a week in hand before getting paid. I had no money so I walked to and from work. The foreman, John Dewhurst, noticed that I never went to the canteen and wanted to know the reason. He gave me a loan of 10 shillings. I was delighted, it was so unexpected.15
Yvonne Russell’s family encountered a similar level of generosity in Halifax:
We would come home to find all sorts of things had been left at the house for us. Beds, mattresses, sheets, blankets, crockery, saucepans, cutlery, furniture, even rationed foods. Anything and everything was left for us to find, from packets of tea to bottles of sauce. Some people left notes, so we were able to thank them but a lot of things just appeared. Fairies were at play in that house! We were amazed at the kindness of Yorkshire people.16
When Marlene Whittaker arrived in Glasgow, she was helped by a Yorkshire woman. ‘I did not know it at the time, but my parents had managed to get to England with my two little sisters. They arrived in Yorkshire and expected to see me there; they were very upset.’
In the hunt for his daughter, Marlene’s father put this notice in the district newspaper:
QUEST FOR MISSING CHILD: An evacuee couple from Guernsey, who originally lived in Barnoldswick, are anxiously awaiting news of their nine-year-old daughter who set sail a day in advance of her parents. They are Mr and Mrs Horace Whittaker, now staying with Mr Whittaker’s parents at 10 Lower West Avenue, Barnoldswick. Two younger children are with them.
The missing child is Marlene Whittaker who was evacuated from Guernsey a week ago with the scholars of Amherst school. Mr Whitaker said he and his wife felt confident that Marlene is somewhere in England but the entire absence of information was very disturbing.
Marlene wore a label giving a future address at Barnoldswick and it is rather surprising that we have not seen or heard anything of her. Of course my wife and I appreciate the tremendous amount of work that has fallen to the evacuation authorities – no doubt it will take time to get in touch with all the parents and if they work in alphabetical order our name will be pretty low down on the list.
The description of the child is as follows: age 9 years, height 4 feet, fair hair, blue eyes, light complexion; clothing includes a navy blue raincoat.17
Remarkably, the appeal yielded results. Marlene takes up the story and reveals what happened next:
A local lady saw the advert and called on my parents telling them she was on her way to Glasgow and would be most willing to call on the authorities and ask for my whereabouts.
One day I was called into the teacher’s room, and was told a lady had come from Barnoldswick and she was going to take me to Mum and Dad. I was over the moon, she helped me pack my clothes and I said goodbye to my friends.
We arrived at a little railway station in Yorkshire and there on the platform was my Dad. I remember grabbing his hand for dear life. As we walked down the road it seemed I was 12 feet above the ground. As we turned on the avenue to go to my Grandma’s house everybody was at their doors saying ‘hello’ to me as I passed and waving flags. What a lovely day, in my memory forever and ever!18
One family owes their thanks to the thoughtful staff of the Stockport Advertiser. Soon after arriving in the town, five-year-old Stanley Bienvenu contracted pneumonia and it was not known whether he would survive. Nobody knew if his mother had managed to reach England from Guernsey before the occupation of the island. When a local reporter heard Stanley’s story, he launched an appeal in the Advertiser to find Mrs Bienvenu. This was picked up by the national press and she was found in Southampton, practically penniless.
The press provided her train fare to Stockport where she was reunited with her son:
For days, little Stanley Martin Bienvenu, the five-year-old Guernsey evacuee, has been lying seriously ill in a Stockport hospital. His parents could not be found. It was feared that they had been caught in the Nazi invasion of Guernsey. Appeals were sent out and as a result Stanley’s mother was happily reunited with her son yesterday and a jovial, if not altogether tearless reunion, took place between mother and sick child in his little cubicle.19
In many of the towns and villages that contained a large number of evacuees, social clubs were often organised for them. These clubs gave adult evacuees a chance to meet up and to give emotional support to each other. Social activities were also provided for adults and children.
In November 1939, the Reverend George Henderson of St Ninian’s, Stirling, described how his church was reaching out to evacuees from Glasgow:
The first thing we did was to establish contact with the mothers and infant children in their new homes. Through the kind co-operation of the Headmasters of the local school we got a complete list of their addresses, and without exception the Church Sisters were cordially welcomed. This visitation afforded opportunity to assure the mothers of the Church’s friendship and help, and to invite them into the fellowship of the Sunday services and weekday meetings. The next thing was to establish contact with the children of school age who had been sent without their mothers.
There were regular visits to the mothers and unaccompanied school children in the homes so as to maintain personal contacts. We began a Guild of Friendship, which meets on Tuesday afternoons. During this time, a staff of workers entertain the children so that the mothers may be free to enjoy this fellowship. We also have a supply of garments which they may find useful for themselves or their children. For many years we have had a Women’s Fellowship, which met on Thursday evenings. This winter it will meet in the afternoons, and we have arranged for the Church Sisters and lady workers to take charge of the children to permit the mothers to join the Fellowship.
On Sundays a considerable number of parents come from Glasgow to visit their children. We have, therefore, opened one of our halls and invited parents to meet their children there from 2.30 to 4 o’clock. It may be found desirable to augment these arrangements, but during the short drab days of winter three afternoons each week will be lighted up for mothers and children by the friendship of the Church.20
In Ramsbottom, Lancashire, clubs were organised for evacuated mothers from London and Manchester:
The committee have created a real ‘home from home’ atmosphere, many friendships have been formed and sorrows lightened by the little chats and conversations with those less fortunate. Some of the mothers have formed a small choir, and letters from mothers who have returned to London were read out. Miss Blake, a blind evacuee from London, provided a recitation in a jolly Cockney style. This was proof of the value of such a meeting room where local and evacuee mothers can meet and be of considerable help to each other.21
Roisin Toole attended evacuee meetings in a church hall in Kettering:
On Saturday afternoons the girls had their club with the hall divided into three sections – tea, biscuits and cakes served in the first which also housed the table tennis for the boys – dancing and general socializing in the second – a discussion group in the third, or listening to music when the record player was not wanted for dancing. Father Jones would come and go as duties allowed and in this way he got to know the young people of the parish and also could impart to us some of his ideals and enthusiasms. We had very many interesting discussions on all sorts of topics and he broadened our minds a lot.22
The Women’s Voluntary Service was particularly active in setting up social facilities for evacuees. In East Sussex, for example, evacuee clubs were provided with magazines, toys, a gramophone and records. On 18 August 1944, the Leek Post and Times advised readers that,
The Women’s Voluntary Service propose to start a club for the ladies from London. They have engaged a room at the British Legion in Russell Street to open on Friday evening August 25th, from 7 until 10pm. There are facilities for playing cards and table tennis, etc. The W.V.S will start the ball rolling by providing tea and light refreshments on the opening night. They feel that the visitors will appreciate an opportunity to chat together or play games. The W.V.S will be pleased to receive gifts in the way of cleaning or cooking utensils, old furniture not in use, or any article which will help in providing for the evacuees.
Evacuees came together in other ways too, often through sport. When Guernsey evacuee, Reg Fallaize, played for Oldham Football Club, Channel Islanders flocked to support him, gaining an opportunity to meet and chat to other islanders at the same time.
The Christmas holiday, normally a time of family celebration, could be a time of heartbreak for evacuees, but communities made great efforts to include evacuees in festivities. David Forbes remembers his first Christmas in Dunning, Scotland:
My mother, myself and my brothers and sisters had been sent to a cottage, quite near a Castle where the Queen Mother’s relations, the Bowes-Lyons, lived. We’re in this lonely cottage and suddenly this knock comes at the door! It was the people from the Castle, they came up and gave us toys. And they gave my mother perfume. Probably my mother never knew what perfume was at that time. And they gave the other evacuee family the same things.23
Stella Marlow had a wonderful Christmas in Downham Market, Norfolk:
Despite being away from my family at such a special time, I could not have enjoyed myself more. The table at every meal was loaded down with Christmas fare and I managed to forget that there was a war on. I went to Christmas parties and my hostess arranged one for me too. Nine of my friends were invited and we played games, and there were small presents for everyone. It was such generosity that made our stay such a pleasant one. I remember Christmas 1940 as one of the happiest I ever had.
They were keen to ensure that those who had been forced to leave their homes would not have a miserable festive season. They invited 200 London mothers and their children, who had been billeted in Downham, to share a Christmas dinner at the Town Hall with their husbands.24
Marjorie Townsend remembers Christmas in Derbyshire: ‘In Baslow, the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire had parties for all the village children at Christmas. We got lovely presents and she also gave me a savings certificate.’25 In Leek, Christmas parties were organised for children, mothers and babies:
Members of the Leek Welfare Committee entertained about 660 evacuated children and Leek school children to a party on Monday afternoon. The parties were made possible as a result of public subscriptions, and the members of the Committee are deeply grateful to all who subscribed to help make the parties such a huge success. Those over nine years of age attended the Town Hall and those under nine were catered for at the New Assembly Hall of the Britannia Street Senior School.
The proceedings commenced with a tea, and the meal included potted meat sandwiches, pork pies, jellies, mince pies, slab cake, fancy cakes. The long tables were heavily laden with these good things, but with so many little ‘Oliver Twists’ present wanting more, it was not long before ‘the cupboard was bare.’ Christmas crackers aroused wild delight, and their contents, paper hats, added a further festive touch.The adults’ party at the Salvation Army Hall proved equally enjoyable. Twenty mothers and little children and babies were present. Games were played for an hour and a steak and kidney pie meal was then partaken of, with pudding, mince pies, cakes, jellies and other good things to follow. Mr. Jarman of Ashton Old-road School, distributed toys to the children on behalf of the Welfare Committee, a grant of 1s per child having been made by the Manchester Education Authority.26
On Christmas Day 1942, Pamela Le Poidevin found herself in hospital:
I was ill in Stockport Infirmary. I told the nurses I was an evacuee from occupied Guernsey and they realised that I was not going to receive any Christmas presents. There was a scramble to find some things for me from Father Christmas! We received a visit from the Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Stockport and I had my photograph taken with them.27
Evacuees often describe the generosity shown to them by the British, American and Canadian servicemen who were based around Britain. Roisin Toole, for example, recalls the kindness shown to evacuees by Eighth Army Air Force personnel based in Kettering:
The effect the arrival of the Americans had on our lives was immense – they were so fresh to the war, so optimistic and full of fun – somehow we felt that everything would be all right. The chaplains used to bring some of their men in to visit the local families who were ready and generous hosts to them. We found them very different and exciting and they were also very generous guests, bringing in foods which were real luxuries in war-time Britain and of course plenty of chewing-gum!
Their chaplains used to arrange to take groups in army trucks back to their bases and, on one occasion they showed us the huge B17s and their chapel and gave us a lovely tea. They also arranged Christmas parties with Father Christmas arriving in a jeep on to the dance floor at the George Hotel! I think of how brave those men were, going out on dangerous missions by day, from which some of their crews had perhaps not returned, then coming into Kettering, trying not to think of tomorrow by relaxing with a family such as they might have left in the States.28
Dennis Camp experienced kindness from a group of injured soldiers in a Blackpool hospital:
Mum and I (I was aged four) had been evacuated from Guernsey to Stockport. I caught pneumonia and was sent to a hospital where injured British soldiers from Dunkirk were undergoing treatment. The hospital contacted Mum, in Cheshire, to say that I was on the verge of death. She visited me as soon as she could, then sadly told me, ‘I can’t stay here with you, Dennis, as I have no money to pay for a boarding house.’
When the soldiers heard about Mum’s situation, they handed me all their pennies and two pence pieces, which I gave to Mum so she could stay in Blackpool. The soldiers constantly prayed for me and I firmly believe that it was with their help that I survived.29
Evacuees also received help from America and Canada. The Canadian Red Cross was important to evacuees for many reasons, but most remember particularly the warm clothing, quilts and blankets which were distributed to evacuees. Alice Thornton recalls, ‘The Canadian clothing was in very bright colours and stood out when you were out in the street, but it was so warm, we were so glad to receive it.’30
Raymond Carre never forgot the assistance of the Red Cross and after the war he travelled to Canada and presented the staff with the Red Cross quilt that he had been given in Halifax, Yorkshire, during the war. Likewise, evacuees in West Sussex received Christmas gifts from school children in the United States: ‘The gifts came from New Jersey and the boxes contained the sort of presents American children thought English children might like – marbles, balls, hair ribands, pencils, pens, indiarubbers, writing pads and picture books.’31
When news of the occupation of the Channel Islands reached the ears of 500 Channel Islanders living in Vancouver, Canada, a sense of shock swept through their community. Realising that the evacuees in Britain would need clothing, shoes, cash and medical supplies, they formed the Vancouver Channel Islanders Society. They raised funds and by February 1942, they had sent $3,254 to London for the evacuees and over a hundred crates of clothing.32
Some Canadian housewives placed personal notes in the pockets of the coats they donated. A boy in Cheshire found this note in the pocket of his coat, ‘To the little boy who receives this parcel. Please write to me at the above address and let me know how you like it. May God Bless you, and keep you safe from harm. Sincerely yours, Mrs C J Collett.’33
A number of British evacuee schools and nurseries survived during the war because of the financial support of the Foster Parent Plan for Children Affected by War (FPP). The FPP was formed in 1937 by John Langdon-Davies, a journalist, and Eric Muggeridge, a social worker and brother of author and journalist Malcolm Muggeridge.34
The original aims of the FPP were to help children whose lives had been disrupted by the Spanish Civil War. On more than one occasion, Eric Muggeridge had led groups of terrified children, on foot, across the freezing snow-bound passes of the Pyrenees to the safety of the French border. In 1939 the FPP became a chartered New York organisation and gained access to fund raising opportunities in the United States. It began to help children from all countries whose lives were affected by the war in Europe. The FPP letterhead was amended to include the motto, ‘To help children of the UN and the little victims of Nazi oppression receive food, shelter and loving care through the Foster Parent Plan.’
The FPP searched for people who would support children by sending a monthly cash donation and becoming their virtual ‘foster parents’. These supporters were also asked to write letters to the children to show that someone cared about them, creating what we call today ‘child sponsorship’.
Eric Muggeridge’s daughter, Maureen, proudly recalled her father’s efforts:
[He] father used to talk in front of huge crowds of well-off Americans, pleading for sponsors for these suffering, European children. He obviously did quite well to attract some very wellknown people who are proudly displayed on the Sponsor List. He was very persuasive about the things he was passionate about, none more so than helping desperate children.35
Eric was clearly very successful because the list of FPP sponsors includes some well-known names from the 1940s. Sponsors in England and America included Bing Crosby, Ira Gershwin, Jack Benny, Dean Martin, Robert Donat, J.B. Priestley and Dame Sybil Thorndike.
One evacuated school owed its very survival to the efforts of the FPP. In June 1940, the pupils of Guernsey’s La Chaumière School were evacuated to England under the care of Father Patrick Bleach. The children arrived in Knutsford, Cheshire where they were billeted with local families. However, Father Bleach believed it would be best for the children if he could re-open his Guernsey school in England. He was offered Moseley Hall, a large mansion with beautiful grounds and two tennis courts. The owner gave the building to Father Bleach, rent-free, rather than allowing it to be requisitioned by troops.36
The children were delighted to be reunited with their friends and teachers under the same roof. However, Father Bleach had little money to work with and his time was consumed with searches for beds, linen, toys and school equipment.
In 1942, the school’s fortunes changed for the better when Father Bleach discovered the existence of the FPP. Within weeks, the children of La Chaumière School became an ‘FPP colony’. Every month, funds arrived to support each child and letters and parcels arrived from America. Pearl Saltwell received letters and parcels from the students of Tranquility Union High School in California. Mavis Fitzpatrick bought cakes for all the children with her birthday gift of five dollars from Mrs Joseph Harchow of Columbus, Ohio.37
In November 1942, the FPP added an extraordinary name to its list of sponsors. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the American President, visited the FPP in London and sponsored three evacuees. One of those children was Paulette Le Mescam, a pupil at La Chaumière School. Paulette now became ‘Foster child 306’ to Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt, ‘Foster Parent 200’.
Mrs Roosevelt duly received a summary of Paulette’s life and a photograph: ‘Paulette is about five feet tall and is in fine health. She is fond of school, and does especially well in Religious Instruction and English. She is fond of singing, and is almost always humming a merry tune!’38
Prior to receiving letters and parcels from Mrs Roosevelt, Paulette had not had any communication with her parents for five years. She was actually born in Paris in 1932 and had one sister, Monique. When Paulette was 18 months old, her mother died. In 1936 her father sent Paulette to live with her maternal Grandmother in Guernsey. In June 1940, Paulette was evacuated to England with La Chaumière School.
When Paulette began to receive letters from her ‘foster parent’ at The White House, Washington the address meant nothing to her. ‘I was only 11 years old and there was no television in those days, so we didn’t hear a lot about famous people. To me, she was just my “Aunty Eleanor”.’39
Paulette’s first letter to Mrs Roosevelt described her life in Knutsford:
We are living in one big house altogether. Moseley Hall is a beautiful house and it was given to us by a kind man. My Mother is dead and my Father is a sailor. I do not know where he is now. My sister is somewhere in France but I do not know where. God bless you and keep you safe. Your loving foster child, Paulette.40
Mrs Roosevelt provided Father Bleach41 with ten shillings a week for Paulette’s care, paid for clothing to be sent to her and wrote several letters. Paulette was delighted to receive parcels from America which bore the distinctive Foster Parent Plan label: ‘She sent me some lovely clothes. I particularly remember receiving a lovely red dress and some Lux soap which had a lovely smell.’
In October 1943, Mrs Roosevelt discovered that Paulette had been sent a dress which was too large. Her Secretary wrote to the FPP in New York: ‘Dear Sirs, It seems to Mrs Roosevelt that the method of selecting clothes for these children might be improved if, as this child states, the dress sent her is so large that she must wait to grow up to wear it. This seems to Mrs Roosevelt inefficient and foolish.’The FPP offered an explanation:
In checking our records we find that Paulette, who is small for her age, received a size sixteen dress, instead of a twelve. It was certainly never meant that a child should receive a dress so large that she would have to put it away until she grew into it. We regret very much that this should have happened in connection with Mrs Roosevelt’s gift for Paulette and are having the correct size sent to the child at once.42
FPP founder, Eric Muggeridge, realised that Eleanor Roosevelt’s sponsorship could bring a great deal of publicity to the FPP. Now Paulette discovered who ‘Aunty Eleanor’ actually was and, in May 1943, she and Eric travelled to London to deliver a BBC radio broadcast. Paulette spoke in both French and English about the work of the FPP, about her family in France and her sponsor, Mrs Roosevelt, who actually listened to the broadcast.
In April 1944, Mrs Roosevelt sent two dresses, a muslin slip, pyjamas and socks and Paulette wrote to thank her, adding, ‘I hope this dreadful war will soon be over so that I may return to my beloved native home Paris, with my father and sister, then I could tell them how kind you have been to me.’
Paulette sent a picture postcard of Guernsey to Mrs Roosevelt in July 1944: ‘Dear Aunty Eleanor, I am sending this beautiful view to show you how pretty our little island is. We are all waiting to return and see all these beautiful places again. I have now started shorthand and I like it very much. Your loving foster child, Paulette.’
To this day Paulette still has the letter which Mrs Roosevelt sent in reply. She was advised to persevere with her shorthand lessons. Mrs Roosevelt added: ‘It is a splendid thing to know, and one can almost always obtain work in it.’
Paulette received her final letter from Mrs Roosevelt which included an invitation to visit the White House but she was unable to accept this offer: ‘I was only young and hadn’t the money or support to enable me to do this. To this day it is a journey I would have loved to have taken.’43
Another evacuee who experienced the kindness of the FPP was threeyear-old Londoner, John Churcher. At the time, John’s mother had tuberculosis and his father was serving in the Army. John was sent to New Barn, Hampstead, Essex, a country house for young evacuees run by Anna Freud and Dorothy Burlingham.
New Barn was financially supported by the FPP, so John became ‘foster child number 6476’ and was sponsored in America. The nursery staff sent monthly letters to the American foster parents, to share the personal story of each young child. They also used John’s story to raise funds because it tugged at the heart strings of potential sponsors. John’s son, David, has some of the wartime letters that were sent to the foster parents who financially supported John. The first letter described John in detail:
Dear Foster Parent, John is a very charming little boy who has just turned three. He enjoyed his birthday party thoroughly as he does everything now. What a change to the Johnnie who came to us two months ago. He was completely detached then, showed no signs of pleasure and very few of sorrow at any particular happening. But mostly he looked very sad.
His mother is in a T.B. sanatorium and Johnnie has been through so many hands since he has had to leave her. His life seems to have been bound by all the things a little boy may not do and all his initiative had disappeared. His father, who is in the Army, came to see him once and was very pleased at the change in him. ‘He used to be such a carefree little boy,’ he said. And we are pleased to see that he is becoming as happy again as he must have been when the family was united.44
In May 1942 the nursery staff sent John’s foster parents some sad news:
Johnny adores his Daddy more than anybody else. Unluckily he could only come to see him very seldom as he is in the army. He gets leave every three months. He used to come and spend the time with his wife who was so very ill. A fortnight ago she died and poor Johnny lost his mother. We are all very sorry for him especially as his father has to go abroad, and so this leaves this little boy quite homeless. We all try to make him as happy as possible and hope that we will be able to keep him here a long time, certainly until his father can make a home for him again. Little John is still too small to thank you for your help.45
The next letter was more cheerful:
John is looking forward very much to meet his Daddy here. He is going to have his army leave and we have invited him to stay a few days with us. Johnny has already got a little soldier cap and often asks me: ‘Do I look like my very own soldier Dad now?’ He simply adores his father and we will be very pleased to have him here for a few days as he has to go abroad and he will not be able to see his little son for a very long time after this.46
Throughout 1944, numerous letters and parcels passed between John and his FPP contacts. The nursery’s final letter to John’s foster parents cheerfully announced: ‘Dear Foster parent, the war is over and we had a big nice party with flags and flowers. My Daddy is soon coming home. Love from John.’47