At the time of her interview Theresa wished to remain anonymous, but has since changed her mind and we are happy to be able to share her story as part of the project.
Theresa grew up in Lozells, near the city of Birmingham and was evacuated with her sisters and the rest of Sacred Heart School to Woodville near Burton upon Trent. She has a wonderful tale about eating another school’s lunch on the way….click the link below to listen to this story:
Theresa speaking about her stolen lunch!
Upon arriving in Woodville, the three girls were able to stay together, but were unhappy from the start. They weren’t allowed into the house of their host when she wasn’t there, and had to shelter in a farm building if it rained. During their stay, Theresa can remember once innocently telling the lady that the way she was leading the fire was not the way her mother did it, and got a smack for her trouble.
Thankfully, after a few months, their mother and father found out that they were being maltreated, and decided that their mother’s sister would take Theresa and one of her sisters in Tamworth. By this time her older sister was old enough to start work. This situation was far better for the whole family. She describes her aunt as a very kind lady; much like her own mother. She enjoyed playing by Tamworth Castle and has a love of castles to this day.
After a year with little or no bombing in Birmingham, her father, who was a family man at heart, decided that if anything were to happen to any of them that he would prefer for them all to be together (Theresa is sure that he was unhappy that they had gone in the first place). Unfortunately after they were brought back home the bombing became very heavy, but there was never any regret that they were there.