GREENFORD BECOMES TWO SCHOOLS Away From Home With the German attacks on London embracing Greenford it was essential to evacuate as many as possible from the area, especially the children. 0n 22nd October 1940 Greenford was included in the evacuation area. On 22nd October a party of 165 children of whom 135 were in attendance at Secondary Schools, left for Torquay where they were received with kindness. That day was remembered later in the 1st edition of Prospice (Easter 1947),- There was the morning of the evacuation, when we listened to our last instructions from the Headmaster as he stood on the platform, complete with overcoat, rucksack and umbrella. Then we drove off in buses, watching the school tower vanish into the fog. They little knew what was awaiting them when they arrived in Torquay that evening (Prospice No 2 in a tribute to Miss Stonebridge): Human versatility can seldom have been more severely put to the test than during the evacuation of half one's own school with half another school into an already crowded 'reception' school two hundred miles away, especially when it is discovered on the night of arrival that billets have been prepared for infants under five. The memory of that first dismal evening at Torquay will not easily be forgotten by any of that forlorn little company from Greenford who, hungry, tired and cold waited patiently in the dark until slowly, in ones and twos, formalities completed, they were claimed by 'billetors': a few by that time weeping from sheer exhaustion. Difficulties and heavy responsibilities for the leaders continued: billeting misfits; a multitude of minor mishaps and a few more serious accidents; an epidemic or two; and not least the strain of teaching and learning for weeks on end without books of any kind. Yet in the midst of it all the staff found time to organise a social life which made all the difference to many a homesick evacuee and which gave pleasure to all. As Warden of the club house and not infrequently, during the periodic visits of the Headmaster to the Home Portion of the School, in full charge, Miss Stonebridge was a leading spirit in everything competent, sympathetic, imperturbable. Almost exactly half the school evacuated to Torquay, and the rest remained in Greenford. This necessitated splitting the staff and was another obstacle to the development of a sense of community as a school. Shortly after the first contingent were settled, the numbers evacuated rose to 145 plus 36 brothers and sisters attending other schools. The evacuated portion of the school was housed in the Audley Park Senior Boys School (and later in West Hill School) in Torquay, Devon and received all possible help from Mr F W Blank the Head Master of that school. A full curriculum except for boys' handicraft was followed that first term. Billets Being late comers to the reception areas they were not able to have much choice in the matter of billets,. but the large majority of them were satisfactory. However, by December the Head was reporting: Changes have been necessary in a number of billets for various reasons. A minority of billets have proved unsatisfatory, but in hardly any case have difficulties arisen from lack of kindliness on the part of the billetors. New billets are very difficult to find, and each change that takes place involves a good deal of work on the part of the Staff. The general tendency is in the direction of improvement of billets. On the whole, both billetors and parents are co-operating, loyally and making sacrifices to make the best of evacuation. Alan Rogers (pupil, 1940-1947) writes: I passed the so-called 'scholarship' in 1940 and was allocated a place in Ealing County School. This was because, as Mr Withrington subsequently told my mother, he thought that I would be better off standing on my own two feet as my brother Jim had become one of Mr Withrington's first batch of students. But evacuation in the autumn of 1940 allowed me to accompany the school to Torquay and achieve entry to Greenford. My first experience of Greenford County was a little traumatic. We found ourselves in a school in Barton, which is in the Northern part of Torquay late one afternoon and soon to be hawked around the local housing estate while those in charge desperately tried to get us housed. I remember the oft repeated refusal: they did not want two boys! We found ourselves back at the school: it was night and we both had a good cry. Before the night was out, however, we had been taken in by Miss Ethel Dicks who put us into the box-room of her house where we learnt to share a single bed sleeping top-to-tail. This we did for some ten months during which time we were determined to appear as miserable as possible to our suffering parents. At the end of the ten months, and largely because Jim seemed to be suffering from malnutrition, our Dad decreed that we should be sent home. For this crime we were suspended from school and we enjoyed a period of six weeks free front school attendance. One day we were walking up Oldfield Lane with our mother and Mr Withrington came up on his bicycle, a solid roadster painted dark green. We found ourselves back at school during the next few days. Looking back on that period of adventure there are two positive things to say about it. Firstly we learned to fend for ourselves despite our young years: this was possibly a factor which led us to enjoy several years active Youth Hostelling on our bicycles all over the UK between the ages of 13 and 18. Of course this was before the present sex crazed society when all children are at risk from predators. Another aspect of evacuation was that the school took over a large old house which was called the Club House. Here we enjoyed real fellowship: homework facilities, music-making and supper with mugs of cocoa. Health Mention of malnutrition is significant. The staff were constantly concerned for the health of the children but after a few months in Torquay the Head felt that, 'taken over the whole party, there is little doubt that the health of the children has definitely improved. Torquay has a good medical service for its normal requirements, but we have judged it wise to arrange for attention to be given to a large number of simple cases by holding a regular clinic, run by members of the Staff, on School days, at weekends, and during the holidays. At least two-thirds of the pupils are now being immunised against Diphtheria. A good deal of work is necessary in connection with the general health of the children. Miss Stonebridge and Miss page 33