The letter is dated Sunday 3-9-39, the day Britain declared war on Germany. Dad, then aged 12, had just been evacuated from Burnage, South Manchester to Howick near Preston, Lancashire. Very matter-of-factly he says “Being told in the bus to report at school we did so, there hearing that war had been declared on their wireless”.
The letter describing his evacuation is full of other interesting details, including a mix-up with their accommodation which resulted in Dad being taken in by a couple who had only just moved into their house 2 days ago.
Near the end he tells his parents “I hope you have made preparations for Air-Raids & Black Outs and I hope you are not frightened.”
We discovered the letter in a chest of drawers in the loft when clearing out our parents’ house. The chest used to be in our grandparents’ house.
We had no idea about the existence of the letter and knew hardly anything about the things our Dad describes. We found many other letters to and from various members of the family going back as far as 1912.
