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Evacuation from Edinburgh
during World War II
to
Lyne Valley, Peebles
Peebles is in the Scottish Borders,
about 25 miles to the south of Edinburgh |
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Thank you to Brian Fox, who attended Trinity Academy, Edinburgh from
1940 to 1946 for recalling his evacuation from Edinburgh in 1939.
Brian wrote: |
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Evacuation
"My
sister and I were evacuated in 1939 to a schoolhouse in the Lyne
valley near Peebles. We lived with the schoolmaster Leslie
Souter, who was a friend of our family and his wife, Muriel.
They made
my sister and me very welcome.
The school
was attached to the house.
Mr Souter was a
good teacher. He
taught about 20/30 pupils, aged 5 to 11, in one large hall.
Being 14, my sister had to attend Peebles High School, and was taken
there every day by taxi."
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Electricity, Water and Oil
"The
schoolhouse was not connected to mains electricity and only received
water from the local Manse when the Church of Scotland minister
decided to turn on the supply.
My job was
to get drinking water from a little spring nearby and bring it
back
to the house. The 39/40 winter was very severe and my hands
could hardly cope with the cold and the task of dipping the bucket
into the spring and not disturbing silt. I also had to keep
the oil lamps in good shape and change the mantles when required."
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Electricity, Water and Oil
"Across the
road from the schoolhouse was a blacksmith's
forge.
The blacksmith used to allow me to help him. Along with his
other skills, he made horse shoes and cart wheel steel rims.
The furnace
required firing up to make the metal red hot before he could hammer
it into shape on his anvil. He allowed me to work the
bellows.
The local
farmers used him to shoe their horses and make and repair their
carts. There were very few tractors in those days.
Watching his skill was fascinating and a real practical form of
education, especially the putting on of cart wheel rims. He
also sold petrol from a hand pump as a sideline. He really was
a nice person and a true artisan.
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Countryside
"We used to
run wild over the hills and play in the river Lyne. I loved it
but my sister yearned to go home, which by Christmas we had both
returned
to Edinburgh.
[On a
recent visit to Edinburgh we took a run down to the Lyne valley and
stopped at the schoolhouse. It had long since ceased to
be
a school. We spoke to the owner's father and he gave us a
nostalgic trip around. He remembered the Souters but they had
left the area long long ago.]
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Brian V Fox, Wells, Somerset, England: January
10, 2008 |