Gary Godfrey was that wartime evacuee from Walthamstow and nearly 70 years later he has only happy memories of the four years he spent living in Langham.
It must have been a bewildering time for a child. The day he was put on a train out of the ca
pital – September 3 1939 - war was declared with Germany.
He waved goodbye to his parents armed with a few clothes and a gas mask in a cardboard box but it was the start of an amazing experience for him.
"They were the best years of my life to be honest," said Gary
(77), who now lives in Harlow, Essex. "I learned how to milk a
cow, I was taught how to snare rabbits to help out with the food rations and I could identify every bird.
"I wasn't unhappy about being away from home - I saw it
as a big adventure."
Life was hard for Gary growing up in a poor family in the
East End of London. A whole new world opened up for him
the day his train chugged into Oakham railway station.
He remembers fleets of cars arriving to pick up the evacuees.
Gary was initially billeted, with seven others, in the attic of
a lodge house. He spent some time staying with a farmer
before being moved to more permanent digs, with Christopher
and Sarah Smith, in Wells Street, Langham.
He was accepted as one of the family and lived happily with
the couple's daughters May and Audrey and their son Derek.
"They've passed on now sadly but I kept in touch with them
after the war," recalled Gary. "I used to come back to Langham
two or three times a year to see them. I was so happy there as a
child, I didn't want to go back to London."
Gary formed a real bond with Derek, who later became a well
known plumber in the area.
"We were like brothers," he said.
Gary didn't feel homesick probably because he was in a
party of 30 youngsters evacuated to Rutland from the Walthamstow area.
Their teachers came with them as well.
Lessons were initially held at Langham School and then in the Scout hut. The children were eventually taught upstairs at Victoria Hall in Oakham.
Gary recalled: "I took a great interest in what was happening in the war. Every time the Germans overran a country we had to learn their national anthem in school. I knew off by heart the words to the Dutch, Norwegian, Danish and French anthems."
One of the highlights of the week was a visit to one of Oakham's two cinemas. Gary paid threepence to see the latest Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon blockbuster.
It all ended one day for Gary and his friends in 1943. The Blitz
in London was over and it was deemed safe for the youngsters
to go home. He was 11 by then and not relishing the prospect
of returning to his terraced house and the destruction caused by endless bombing raids in the capital.
"There are probably five of us still alive who were evacuated to Langham and I keep in touch with them and the families of some of those who have died."
After leaving school back in London, Gary worked in a bank before serving five years in the RAF. He then spent time as an electronics engineer in the Army and also worked in marketing later in life.
He has been married to Mavis for 53 years. The couple have a son and daughter, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Gary still enjoys return visits o Rutland but he concedes the place has changed a lot. He added: "During the war there were no cars in Oakham high street and you could run down the middle of it. Now it takes me
half-an- hour to drive through the town centre."
