Year 6 WW 2 evacuee visit – Autumn 2 2023
Our history topic this half term in Year 6 is World War Two and we were lucky enough to have a VIP come into class to talk to us about her experiences of life as a young girl during the war
.
Sally Ambrose was 3 years old and living in London with her parents and younger sister when war broke out in 1939. After her school was bombed and completely destroyed, she and her classmates were all evacuated to Yorkshire, along with their class teacher. Waving their parents goodbye, she (aged 6) and her younger sister Jane (aged 3) set off by train, carrying a small suitcase of belongings, enough food for one day and wearing a label around their necks. They had no idea where they were going and the journey took two and a half days! When they finally arrived, they were lined up in the village hall and waited to be ‘chosen’ by a foster family who would look after them. She and her sister were lucky – they were selected by a lovely family and lived with them for nine months before returning home as Sally caught bronchitis (a nasty chest infection) because of the cold and snowy conditions in winter there. She then spent the rest of the war living in London, which proved to be very dangerous. Their entire house was destroyed in an air raid and they were trapped for three days in the basement where they had been sheltering. Whilst they were lucky to be alive, they lost their house and all of their belongings apart from the clothes they were wearing and her parents had to rebuild everything from scratch.
Sally talked to us about what it was like to hear the bombs falling, about rationing and having very little food to eat, about school during WW2 and described the scenes in Trafalgar Square on VE Day in 1945 where she was with her father. It was truly incredible to hear her memories of the war and the children were enthralled to hear what she had to say, hanging on her every word. They had countless questions to ask and she answered each and every one of them!