Steam Train Transports Queen's "Evacuees'
In the first few months of World War 2, one million children were removed from their homes, parents and schools and sent away to safety – these children were evacuees. Youngsters from The Queen’s Lower School, Chester, were recently given a fascinating insight into how an evacuee would have felt nearly seventy years ago.
Girls from class 6, dressed in wartime school uniforms, took a trip to the East Lancashire Railway. Before embarking on their adventure, the pupils looked at original photographs and artefacts to find out how the blitz affected the cities of Manchester and Liverpool during World War 2.
The students were each given a gas mask to carry and had to wear a label showing their name, age and destination. Once ready, the group boarded the steam train at Bury and travelled to the evacuation destination of Rawtenstall. On arrival a Billeting Officer assessed the group. The strong and healthy girls were selected for land work and the weaker specimens were put to household tasks.
Eleven year-old Harriet said:
“I thought it would be great to have an evacuee in my house. My family might get more food, which would help us. When we were evacuated I loved looking out of the steam train window and seeing all the smoke.”
Classmate Abigail added:
“I thought it was really good when we were evacuated to teachers from other schools at the end of the line, but I felt a bit afraid at that moment.”
The pupils spent the afternoon listening to the captivating account of wartime experiences from an original evacuee, who told them how she was sent to live with eight other girls in a fine country house.
Felicity Taylor, head teacher of The Queen’s Lower School, said:
“The train was very exciting for the girls as many had never travelled by steam train before.
“They also heard first hand from an actual evacuee how life would have been for children in 1939. Living history is so much more valuable than reading about it in books.”
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Press Contact: Mrs Jane Taylor, The Queen’s School, City Walls Road, Chester, CH1 2NN Tel: 01244 312078 Fax: 01244 321507 Email: jtaylor@queens.cheshire.sch.uk
The Queen’s School, Chester, Cheshire is one of the country’s leading independent schools offering the highest standard of education for girls from ages 4 – 18.
Since its foundation, The Queen’s School has always been a highly successful academic school. In the latest Government league tables published in January 2007, Queen’s was again ranked as the top school in Cheshire based on both GCSE and A/AS level results.
Academic success is only one aspect of life at Queen’s. The Queen’s School and its staff encourage all girls to participate in a wide range of extra-curricular activities; these include drama clubs, plays and musicals, cabaret evenings, choirs and orchestras, a variety of sports such as tennis, lacrosse, football, athletics and gymnastics as well as a science club, an equine club and the Friday club which involves girls helping in the community. There is also the chance to travel with the school on adventure holidays, foreign treks, scientific research expeditions, French and German exchanges and skiing trips.
Established by a group of prominent Chester citizens in 1878 as the Chester School for Girls, the school was renamed four years later by command of Queen Victoria and is proud to remain the only school in the country to have been granted the name The Queen’s School by royal decree. The school has a number of bursaries available to students. Mrs Catherine Buckley is the present headmistress of The Queen’s School. Mrs Felicity Taylor is head of the Lower School on Liverpool Road.
Past pupils include Beth Tweddle, Olympic Gymnast, Sarah Kelly founder of the UK’s Neuromuscular Centre for muscular dystrophy and Vivienne Faull, the first woman to become Dean of an English Cathedral.
More information available from www.queens.cheshire.sch.uk
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