Harry Martin was born in 1932. As a young boy he grew up with his parents in Manor Square before moving to Rickerscote. They lived in a row of five cottages, two of which were owned by his grandparents. They then moved into a newly-built semi-detached house just down the road. Harry attended the Church of England school in the village where the children were taught by Mrs Stubbs, Mrs Crosby, Miss Goldsmith and Miss Mighton.

He remembers the community in Rickerscote as a friendly one full of farmers, agricultural workers and industrial workers from the BRC (where his father worked).

Rickerscote didn’t see any evacuees until just after the Dunkirk evacuation, and Harry can remember the local billeting officers coming round to tell his mother and father that they had room for one evacuee from Ramsgate. Listen to Harry talking about how the family ended up with three evacuees by clicking on the link below:

harry martin 3 evacuees instead of 1 

 Transcript of Harry’s audio clip

Their evacuees were called Morris and Dorothy Drake and Bert (who came later). They all fit in well in the community, and Harry shared a bedroom with Morris during their stay. There were numerous other evacuees in the neighbouring houses; his grandparents had two brothers from Margate.

Aside from the daily activities, Harry can remember listening to updates on the wireless with the evacuees. He also remembers the American soldiers occupying the then new technical college in Stafford.