BLETCHLEY SCHOOLS DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR


September 1939 marked a new era in the life of this small, sleepy market town linked as it was by the main London, Midland & Scottish Railway line to the nation’s capital. But without doubt the effect of hundreds of children evacuated from London and elsewhere, being absorbed into the local Schools is still remembered over sixty-five years later by Bletchley folk and their billeted guests.

The initial sharing of time and premises; the cultural exchanges and sporting contests between the local and the London schools; plus voluntary salvage collections for the War Effort; all these activities were reported in the two local newspapers - The Bletchley Gazette and the North Bucks Times. For extracts from these publications click more

Lessons were regularly disrupted with air raid sirens. The following table shows how lessons were interrupted during a three month period. To view a recollection of what happened when the siren went during schooltime please click here

At the end of the war the evacuated children were asked their views of life in Bletchley and these were published in the local newspapers to read their accounts please click here


Testaments to Miss D. Robinson wartime teacher from London

The following information is about Miss Dorothy Robinson, a teacher at Bletchley Road Senior School who was evacuated with her London County Council class to Bletchley on October 7th 1940, where she stayed until recalled to her own London Authority in the summer of 1942.

Letter from Ernest C. Cook, FRSA, MRST Principal, Bletchley Evening Institute; Secretary, Bletchley Higher Education Committee. July 2nd 1942

Letter from E. R. Staniford,
Secretary of the Spurgeon Memorial Baptist Church, Bletchley.

Letter from Beatrice Whiteley,
The Grange, Bletchley, Bucks. 13.4.42.

Letter from Helgar Wolff, scholar,
School House, Great Brickhill, Bletchley, Bucks. 6.4.42.

Mrs Bowen (Miss Robinson's niece) writes: ‘I love this charming and delightful letter. I am sure descendants would love a copy’!

Letter from John Bass, pupil,
11 Duncombe Street, Bletchley, Bucks. 7.4.42.

A Class shows their appreciation,
55 Eaton Avenue, Bletchley, Bucks. 11.7.42.


London Children’s candid criticism of Bletchley and its People

Excerpts from the Bletchley Gazette, Saturday, July 14th 1945

Candid criticism of Bletchley and of Bletchley people are found in essays written by children of the London school, just before their return.

The children’s efforts have not been censored or corrected. We print some extracts herewith:

Our first extract, from the essay of a fourteen-year-old, describes Bletchley as a dead place, and the . . .well, read on . . .

“Bletchley is all right for a holiday, but when you have to stick it for nearly six years, well it gets a bit monotonous. When I was first evacuated, I liked Bletchley because we did not know Bletchley and had new places to explore. But I prefer the busy streets, buses, trams, shops, to a dead place like Bletchley. The people are all right (well, some of them). I don’t think much of the local paper, that is the Bletchley ‘Gazette’. It’s the same nearly every week. . . . Compared to London, Bletchley is a wee village. One morning I was right in the middle of the town and a lady came up to me and said, ‘Please, Sonny, can you tell me where is the town?’ . . . There are one or two advantages about Bletchley - you have got a lot of space to play in and you get plenty of sun.”

RATHER DULL
The next child, aged thirteen, can see a little more good in our town. She writes:

“I like its country surroundings, its beautiful woods, villages and its farms where we can see lambs and calves in spring. In London, we see none of these beauties which none but nature can build, but things built with men’s hands, which, though beautiful with exquisite carvings and marvellous paintings adorning their walls, cannot be compared with the beauty of nature. I have missed the theatre and the big parks, picture galleries and museums, so I naturally felt a bit dull. I am not sorry to leave Bletchley, but I am sorry to leave the many friends I have made. Bletchley people have been very good to me.”

MY FATHER AND MOTHER ARE THERE

Bletchley’s chief asset to this ten-year-old youth is its sun:

“In some parts of London there are big tall flats that keep the sun from shining through to the gardens or on to the streets. In Bletchley, the sun shines where it pleases. . . . I have been happy living in Bletchley, but I’m glad I am going back to London because my father and mother are there.”

NO LETTER FOR YEARS

What lies behind this next extract, one wonders, from a child who ‘prefers Bletchley best’.

“I was only four and a half years old when I came to Bletchley and I am ten now. I think that Bletchley is a nice place. There are a lot of grumpy old misers about, but there are also kind people as well. My lady I’m living with is very nice to me and I don’t know whether I want to go back or not. You see, I want to go back to London to see my family, and I want to stay here with my auntie, so you see I’m rather mixed. Some people say there are parks in London, and I believe them, but sometimes they are packed with people and at other times you musn’t walk on the grass and you can’t go for any real country walks like the Brickhills. I have never seen the place where I live in London, as my mother moved and she didn’t tell me for three or four years and I didn’t have a letter for some years. I have got six brothers and sisters, two of whom I didn’t know about until my auntie spoke about them. One of my sisters I haven’t seen since I was two years old, and I much prefer Bletchley best.”