Evacuees return to Guernsey

Beryl Sebire (née Saich) interviewed by Matt Harvey, Social History Officer, Guernsey Museum. The interview recorded on video. The video transcribed by J David 5-8/9/2005

American independence Day, we can’t forget it, July 4th. We came home, and it was heartbreaking, because the Germans had commandeered our house and wrecked it. They had punched great big holes in the ceilings and put their stoves, they were round stoves, you lift up the lid and put something in, and there was this big pipe going up to the ceiling, Mum said “Oh, look at our ceiling, “ They’d wrecked the place. So we never went back there, and we stayed for a while then, there was a flat over the shop, we stayed there for a while, till my father got himself sorted out, you know. But I t must have been absolutely heart-breaking to come back after all that and then the house was ruined. They had absolutely wrecked it, they didn’t care which wall down or anything they did. They never had any compensation for it. Some people did, they were lucky. But my father had a big store, and when the Germans were coming he had about seven or eight keys given him, and they said “Mr Saich, there’s our keys, go and take our furniture, make a list of it, and we’ll see you after the war.” And he was as good as gold, he took an inventory of all this, put it in his big store, and when they came back he was all ready waiting for them with their furniture. But my father didn’t have anything, because the Germans went in the house before he could move the stuff. Ruined everything that was there, beautiful piano, the lot. Poor old chap, I felt so sorry because he had to start from scratch. He had only been in businesses a couple of years, and he was just coming on nicely, you know,
I……….. So roughly how old would he have been when he had to come back and start again?
Beryl Sebire. Well let me see how we would have been then. We came back in July 45 — would have it been 45? When were we liberated then, it was in the May, it must have been July 45. Well we had almost to start again, really, I mean he gave all these people, looked after it, they all took their furniture away, thank you very much, that was it. But our own home went. One of those things. He would be about — wait a second — My mum always said she was a year older than the year, He was born about 1897, if you can work that out, about 48, would it be, about 48 I suppose. The prime of life, really.
I……….. So when you got back to Guernsey, you left in 40, when you were fifteen and a half, and when you got back you were 20, were you friends still there? Did they come back, those that had been evacuated
Beryl Sebire. My two friends that I left behind they were still there, Joan and Phyll, that was fine, that was nice, and they had a few tales to tell me about the Occupation, they didn’t go hungry too much, because Joan’s father had a big farm, and they had cow, and so on, and that wasn’t too bad, they said. Phyll’s father, he owned the works, I think its still there, the Torteval Motor Works, he was running that, I think its still going strong, but Phyll unfortunately, poor Phyll, she died quite a few years ago.
I……….. So what sort of things did they tell you about?
Beryl Sebire. Well, quite a few children didn’t go, their mums and dads said you’re not going to go, and another one of my friends, I used to ride to school with, was Maud, her dad was a fisherman, and they lived in a cottage called Iceland, down at l’Islet, and it’s still called Iceland, and we had bikes, and we went to school, and she stayed behind, she didn’t come with us, though she went to the Intermediate. There were quite a number of children in I suppose the fifteen, sixteen age group, that didn’t come, we were just ready to leave school, you see, and mums and dads didn’t know what they were going to do, or what have you, so they stayed behind. But they’ve gone. There’s only one of my great friends, we knew each other when we were a year old, and her father was in the first world war, with my dad, in the medical corps, it was a Mr Stenlake, and after the war he said “Come and see our place in Guernsey, I will show you where we live” So Pop came over, and he was courting my Mum at the time, and he fell in love with the island, so he went back and fetched mum, come on, he said, we’re going to go and live in Guernsey. She didn’t like it one little bit, first of all, but she wouldn’t live anywhere else after a while, and of course her daughter is the same age, 1924, and she’s in the January and I’m Christmas, just a year older than I am, and she’s now in Hemel Hempstead, still hanging on, by a thread, and its nice to have a friendship. My Birthday was on Christmas Eve, and it was special, eighty years, so they sent me a nice hamper, from Harrods, eh. Oh, you should have seen the stuff that was in it, not bad at all, I can remember when my mother was eighty, “Oh Beryl” she said “Eighty, it sounds so old.” “Yes, I said, but you’ve got 81, 82, 83, a long way to go till you’re 90”. And she did, she got better, and she made her 90th birthday. There was something else I wanted to tell you about, but I can’t remember the damned thing.

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