Evacuees rekindle Glasgow memories
MORE than 100 islanders relived being evacuated to Glasgow at an exhibition on Saturday.
[caption id="attachment_38643" align="alignright" width="175" caption="Guernsey-Glasgow evacuees at Saturday's exhibition/reunion at St Andrew's in the Grange. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0857150)"]
Held at St Andrew's Church of Scotland in the Grange, the exhibition/reunion, saw all kinds of memorabilia given by the evacuees on display.
Photos, evacuee tags, letters and pictures of the ships that had taken many children from Guernsey to the UK were met with a mixed reaction from those who had experienced being evacuated.
While most had good memories of their time in the Scottish city, for two sisters, their five years away from home proved less than happy.
Dulcie Mack and Marguerite Francis, now aged 80 and 79, had been evacuated aged 11 and 10 as part of Amherst School.
After an initial placement they found themselves living with a Mrs Grebble, who made their lives a misery.
'She got paid for us and she never gave us any money. We had to work for it,' said Mrs Mack.
'I had to go out to clean houses and she almost starved us. There was never much food and we had to wash in cold water.'
Mrs Grebble, who claimed she was a Christian, rented out virtually every room in her house and slept with her daughter in the kitchen.
During blackouts the girls were not even allowed a candle - even now they do not like the dark and their cupboards are kept well stocked.
