Here is Geoff Reed's account of his experiences at Ashby, written on 9th February 1942:

"The War

On Saturday August 26th, 1939, we returned from our holiday by road, but not too easily as the petrol shortage had been noticed already. As the shadows of war were slowly darkening on came August 30th. I was going downstairs that morning when the postman pushed a letter through the letter box, a usual happening, but this postcard was different. It told me that I had to attend school that day. The usual school term would have started on September 14th. but the crisis changed this. As I was not late getting up, my father would be able to convey me to school. I knew no-one at the time who went to Aston (school).

When I first started, the whole school had an assembly, and the Head, Mr. Brandon, explained to us why we were called to school, it was that we were prepared to be evacuated. One of the things that stand out in my mind is that one boy asked if we would get the holiday made up after the crisis. The second day rumours passed about that we were to be evacuated. That day plans were made that we were to arrive at Aston (school) by 7am. the next morning. Luckily that night my mother met me to get a blazer and a cardboard box for my gas mask.

I went home by tram with my mother and she told me the war wouldn't last for a week. That night I got my things packed in my haversack and then had a restless sleep.

I got up about six o'clock and got ready. When it was half past six my father got the car ready to take me to school. I had a job parting as I thought that everyone would be gassed or bombed. At school we were put into parties and given a label to tie to our buttonhole in case we got lost. About a half of a dozen Corporation buses were waiting to take us to the station. Our bus which was the first, had a job taking the corner by the school. When we arrived at the station, which was Bromford, we waited on the station till the special train came in. The Erdington Girls School were also travelling on this train but we were kept apart. We went by train to Ashby.

When we arrived about 10.30 the boys were lined up on one side of the station yard and the girls on the other side. We were then led by Station Street up to the boy's Grammar school, into the gym when we sat down on benches. While walking up to the school I remember that I kept on having trouble with my water bottle as the cork kept on shooting out. In the gym we were given a plate of biscuits and a cup of cocoa. We were then taken out one by one to our billets. As they started with the sixth form first, we in the first form and were there nearly all day. I shall never forget that gym because I did not know anyone and there was nothing to do. Luckily I had a few 'Radio Funs' there and I swapped them for other comics. One boy wanted to borrow my water bottle but I wouldn't let him have it unless he filled it up again. I gave in but when he filled it he pushed the cork in and I couldn't get a drink all day.

About four o'clock I was given a billet with another boy. One of the seniors of the Ashby Grammar School took us to our billet where we were taken in. We were given a good meal and then we wrote a card home to say where we were. We had to attend school at six that evening. we were directed to the school as we didn't know our way. At the school we were spoken to by the Head and were given a carrier bag of rations such as corned beef and tinned milk, but the best part was a quarter pound block of milk chocolate. We were then told to report next day and were dismissed. Some went to the park to play as it was only September, and some mooched around Woolworths. When I arrived in my billet that night my billetors were making blackouts.

When we reported next morning, Saturday, we had a roll call and then we had most of the day off. In the afternoon our parents came to see us, they brought extra clothes and thanked our billetors. On Sunday morning we attended a roll call at 10.00am, and then we had a church parade. We marched down to the church at a quarter to eleven. After church some of us went to play in the park and I was one of them. On the way there I remember hearing it announced that we were at war with Germany. The news soon spread over the town.

The procedure for the next few days of the week were more or less the same. In the mornings we had a roll call and then we were allotted jobs. Some boys were engaged filling sandbags at the hospital opposite the school, some helped to clear the old manor house which was used, and still is, to house the new evacuees. In the afternoons we played games or the masters took us walks. The first Saturday in the war my father decided to evacuate the rest of the family to my Grandmother's at Peacehaven Sussex, so I went with the family there and my father and I returned home on our own.

As the weeks rolled by, our school lessons were arranged for us. We had all morning off and we had hours from two thirty till six o'clock. These were rather irregular but it could not be helped. Later in October the Manor House and St. Helen's was opened. They fetched some more evacuees into Ashby.

Nearer to Christmas as the hours of blackout increased we had to return to our billets in 'convoys'. After school every day one of our party would meet at the Grammar School and travel home in groups. By this time the school air raid shelters were nearly finished so we had a lot of practice in that line. At Christmas we travelled to Peacehaven to see everyone. We had a fortnights holiday. When I returned to Birmingham I had to by road and rail. I travelled through London by coach and thence to Birmingham by rail. My father met me at the station, but I had some job finding him. I returned to Ashby that Monday morning. We came home for a weekend every two weeks.

When Whitsuntide came nearer we were told we were to have a week's holiday. When Thursday came we travelled home by bus. On the following Tuesday we all received a card telling us to return to Ashby that day. As I was taking my bike back it went most of the way on the back of the car. The reason for recalling us and making us miss two days holiday was because France was looking like being defeated. My parents returned home the Easter before as life was dreary at Peacehaven.

George Dutch and Geoff, 'somewhere in Leicestershire'!

The next exams in July I came second and therefore had to choose a prize. For the summer holidays we had five weeks holiday. I spent this all at home. Those summer holidays we had a lot of raids, we spent most of the nights downstairs. I rode back on my bicycle to Ashby. About that time we were in the middle of the 'Battle of Britain'. There were quite a lot of boys who remained at Aston so the number of evacuated was slowly decreasing. The months slowly passed by. I was in form 2a now. On came the second Christmas of the war. We spent Christmas Day at my grandmothers. Just before Christmas I was ill at home for about a fortnight. On came Easter, Whitsuntide, and at last the summer holidays. They were a week longer than last year. We went to Fairbourne for a fortnight and while we were there was a mine on the beach. There was also a miniature railway there.

When I returned to Ashby I had been in the same billet for two years. I was in 4b then. We passed by another wartime November 5th. By then I knew some boys who were engaged with a printing firm. I came in and helped them, or tried to. Then came Christmas. My grandparents spent Christmas with us this time. We returned to school and in the beginning of February the scourge of scarlet fever swept over the school. And then came my 14th birthday, the third since I have been evacuated, and the first on Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day, 1942.

(I returned to Aston for Sept. 1942, for a year there before switching to Saltley, to avoid being evacuated again. Fifth form was the last one at Aston)"

Writing in 2006 Geoff says: "It all still seems very vivid in my memory, it's things five minutes ago I have trouble with!"

All I can say is "Well remembered, Geoff!"

For 'Aston's Ashby' click here.