Evacuation - Olga's Story

My mother, Olga Atkinson, as she was then, lived in Gateshead with her parents Harry and Nellie, older brother Goerge and younger siblings Ellen, Landers and baby Jean. Olga, Ellen and Landers were evacuated to North Allerton. Ellen and Landers were placed with the same family and frankly did not have a very good time of it, Olga said they looked dirty and often told her they were hungry.
Olga however thought she had died and gone to heaven! She was billeted with an elderly couple who had a son in the Navy and who had always longed for a daughter. My mam was a beautiful child and the couple ( I don't know their names) treated her like a little princess. New clothes-of special note was a lovely wool coat with a matching hat (where did they get the coupons?)and good food to eat. Olga loved it there and really did not want to come home--as the eldest girl in a large family she had a lot of responsibilities. I don't know how long she was there but she talked about it often and had two regrets. One that she didn't go back and visit the couple who gave her the happiest and most carefree time of her childhood. Secondly that she didn't try very hard to share her good fortune with Ellen and Landers! Still this was probably the only time in her life when she didn't put others first. She died in 2001 at only 72-I miss her dreadfully.

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