At Whiteacre Boys School in Clitheroe, Lancashire, on 15 September 1940, John (Jack) Grey pens a letter to his parents back in Salford.
John Grey was one of the thousands of young people evacuated from Salford to areas of safety during the Second World War.
“Dear Mother & Dad. I received your letter with many thanks. I understand about you not coming to see me on Sunday. If you are coming by bus go to near Whalley, 58 Langshaw Street, Seedley. It is 5/- (5 shillings) return. If you are coming by car it is all the better. I am going to save up and buy a school cap. It is 2/3 (two shillings and threepence). I forgot to tell you, but do you know who’s here? Well it’s Mr Prescott from Lower Kersal Council.”
“I miss you all and I am looking forward to Sunday. Some parents are taking their sons home. I think they are foolish. I can come for a week when I have been here for 3 months. I am very happy here. I have just wrote to Yvonne. I am the best fighter in the dormitory now. It’s the Champ (economical wartime food) that’s making me tough. I have put on weight and height since I’ve been here. I’m glad to say I have had nothing stolen since I’ve been in this dormitory.”
Thoughtfully and articulately, the 12-year-old Salford schoolboy reassured his parents that life as an evacuee in Clitheroe was treating him well, with a sense of self-assuredness way beyond his years brought on by his situation.
But behind the reassurances lies the story of wartime separation, of a child made tougher by his circumstances as he adjusts to new beds, routines and faces but is missing his family all the same.
John documents those routines in great detail, from daily necessities to the games he plays with friends in the evening, maintaining a child-like innocence in the face of war raging further afield.
“We get up at 7.30, make our beds then go for a wash. After that, we lounge about till 10.00am which is school time till 12.00, have dinner at 12.30, have a wash. Back to school at 2.00 till 3.45pm. 4.30 we have tea then lounge about till 6.00 which is time for games. We have games such as Ludo, Draughts, Chess, Snakes & Ladders, Sea Battle, Dominoes, Lexicon, Jigsaw Puzzles, Cards, Halma, Meccano, Tennis Table, Billiards and other games. Then at 7.00 we have supper, 8.30 get ready for bed, 9.00 in bed, 9.15 lights out. So that’s only one day in the life of Whalley Camp boys.”
Two days before the official declaration of World War Two, thousands of children were evacuated from Salford as part of the government’s Operation Pied Piper. Approximately 20,000 children were relocated from the city to safer areas in Lancashire, where John was sent, as well as Cheshire and Derbyshire to escape potential bombing raids on industrial areas.
Children, along with teachers and mothers of younger children, were evacuated by train and by coach to more rural areas, with smaller evacuations happening during the war to avoid the bombings that occurred between 1940 and 1942.
“How’s old Podge? (Family Dog) Still as lazy as usual I suppose. I have a septic finger but it’s nearly better now thanks to the nurse. Our dormitory master Mr Heywood is one of the best masters in the camp. I hear we have a fine football team at the school. We have Mr Williams a Welsh International as a football and sports master. We have lots of concerts and films here.”
“I wrote a special letter to Rex and Vera. I hope you are happy at home because I am. I have got a book from the school library called ‘Always A Scout’. There are only a few boys who try to spoil the school. We have lovely sights around here such as Pendle Hill. We get post every morning before breakfast. We are having a shower tonight after supper so goodnight and God bless you all.”
“Your loving son, Jack”
An excellent command of the English language and a considerate nature, John’s accounts offer great insight into the daily comings and goings of those afflicted by war but who continued to live their lives despite it. A boy wise beyond his years that had maintained a sense of normalcy and innocence while his country was at war on the continent.
“He spoke about Wally Camp (Whiteacre School) so very fondly,” said his daughter Jinny Grey, who provided a transcript of the letter.
“He said it shaped his life.”
John Grey passed away in 2005, surviving the war and living a full life afterwards. His family have kept the letters and pictures as a testament to the brave children who left their parents and Salford during wartime.
The paper may be worn, but the ink has endured and a fragile piece of paper has preserved a small but important voice of a much larger conflict. The questions are small and the details trivial, but the letter illuminates the quiet bravery of a child full of resilience trying to comfort his troubled parents.
After Operation Pied Piper and further evacuation efforts, thousands of letters just like this one crossed the country, never intending to be pieces of history, just children forced to grow up too quickly reaching out.
Decades later, this letter reminds us that behind every evacuation statistic was a child counting the days until they could see their family once again.
