EVACUEES IN GREAT LINFORD AND NORTH BUCKS

The children of Hartley school(East Ham, London) arriving at Wolverton.

The Wolverton Railway Station was the railhead for evacuees to be billeted in the Wolverton and Newport Pagnell areas received two trainloads of school children on Friday 1st September1939. The passengers came from North and North-East London, and comprised the districts of Willesden, Dalton, Islington, Hampstead and Hackney.

As the trains arrived the 1st Wolverton Troop of Boy Scouts met each train and transported the luggage of the evacuees to the technical college in hand carts.

The children were marched to the Science and Art Institute, which was the reception centre.As the evacuees passed through the college they were each given a large green paper carrier containing an emergency 48-hour ration. The package contained a tin of bully beef, one tin of sweetened and one of unsweetened milk, two half-pound packets of biscuits, and a slab of chocolate.

After the necessary formalities had been gone through the children were conveyed to various villages in the Newport Pagnell rural area.

Upon arrival at their billets children posted a card to their parents information them of their safe arrival and with information as to their new address.

In the main the London children adapted themselves to their new conditions. They rapidlysettled down to the environment of the country and when not at school would take walksabroad, enjoying rambles through the woods and deriving great pleasure in exploring the countryside.

Boys often lent a hand on the allotment, and having had their first experience of gardening and learned a little of the important part it plays in feeding the nation in wartime.

The Government Evacuation Scheme