Agnes McGrath

by Agnes

 

I’m Agnes, and this is my memory of the evacuation of the Second World War which started on the 3rd of September, 1939. I was 9 years of age; I had two brothers and a sister. My oldest brother was seven years older than me and was working; my sister was five years older and was ready to leave school.  My other brother was 11 years old, so it was just primary children at our school.

 

We got a form home with us for our parents to sign - my mammy and daddy signed it with reluctance. We then had to arrange what we would bring with us, as we’d only take away a small parcel. The parcel contained one gymslip, one blouse, two vests, two liberty bodice, two pair of pants, slippers, socks, pyjamas, oh, and it was also Gibb’s toothpaste and a toothbrush.

 

The school told us that we would have a trial run which we had to make our way to the railway station. Our school was the Campden Street School on the South Side of Glasgow. We were fortunate enough to be near the rail station which was Cumberland Street at Eglington Street. When arriving that morning we had our Gas Masks, and our labels on the Lapels of our jackets or coats.  Some had small parcels with them, others like myself and my brother didn’t have ours so my mum sent my sister home for ours. We then headed for the train.

 

Arriving at the platform, my sister arrived also with our parcels. Then my mammy turned round and said, ‘You are not going, if you are going to get killed, we will all be killed together’. This was with my mammy and daddy, my brother and sister, and we all lived through this terrible time.

 

I even saw a land mine fall on Twomax – the knitting factory on Rutherglen Road – which damaged all our houses. We had no windows and we had to then be evacuated, but it was to local schools and halls.

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Evacuation Memories