W is for War

Pressing on with cataloguing the newly acquisitioned school admissions registers from Roe Green Infant School, we’re given a glimpse of what life was like for Wembley schoolchildren caught in the midst of war.

On June 21^st 1940 the register records the first of many children to be evacuated. The summer before concern had been growing when Wembley was left out of the official scheme to evacuate the capital’s children, unlike its neighbour Willesden.

Parents’ fears must have been heightened when reading in the Wembley News in July 1939  Middlesex Council recommended £124,000 be spent on air raid trenches for schools.

 By September 900 teachers from 180 schools in Middlesex areas volunteered to assist in the evacuation of children from the danger zones in time of emergency.

 Schools delayed opening as some had been requisitioned by the Government and others had to be made to provide protective measures. In the meantime plans were made to provide tutorial classes, home groups and correspondence groups.

Then news came that by Monday 23^rd October classes were to begin again at Stag Lane, Kingsbury, followed a week later by the re-opening of Fryent school, Kingsbury. At Stag Lane school, as an experiment, classes will be arranged for the children of both the Stag Lane and Roe Green schools.     

Until the end of the war, Roe Green Infants school admission registers record more children leaving than being admitted. The following remarks give an idea of the impact of war on these young people, “left eye injured by flying bomb”, “bombed orphan – legally adopted”, “Bombed out staying with Aunt” and “Home damaged by rocket.”

Amidst all the mayhem of war, tragedy struck one of the pupils of the school. Against the name of a 5 year old girl the entry reads, “Killed by falling from a milk cart”. The local newspapers reveal no further details, although the death certificate explains she was knocked down by a milk van.

 The Wembley News reported on July 13^th 1945, “In danger to life and limb, road accidents have become a greater menace than V-weapons.”  It was hoped that once street lighting was resumed on July 15^th the danger would be lessened even with the increase of traffic in post war times.

 Posted by Rachel