Marjorie Clowes grew up with her mother at a number of homes in Manchester before she was evacuated at the age of 9 to the mining village of Leycett, near Newcastle-under-Lyme. Her mother had told her that she would “be back by Tuesday”, and that her evacuation would be like a holiday; she cried all the way there.
She arrived in Leycett after being bused from the Borough Arms in Newcastle and she was one of the last two to be picked of those evacuees waiting sitting on desks in the school. When her future host, Mrs Sumnall walked in Marjorie jumped down to her, which she now believes was the “best thing” she ever did. Hear her talking about her new host family and how welcome she was made by clicking on the link below:-
Transcript for Marjorie Clowes’ audio clip
Marjorie was made so welcome by the Sumnalls that, at the age of 12, she was willingly adopted with the consent of her own mother, who was by that time a widow.