Blitz to Blackboard: Memories of an Evacuee Teacher

Most evacuee stories are told by the children. This one is told by the teacher who went with them.Alice's memories span 1921 to 1948: a Bermondsey childhood where she watched adults around her struggle to read and write, a family air raid shelter built in a London back garden, and teacher training carried out under the shadow of war. But it's what came next that sets her story apart. As a newly qualified teacher, Alice was sent to rural Somerset as an adult evacuee herself, tasked with teaching and caring for the London children evacuated alongside her.Told in rich, specific detail, Blitz to Blackboard captures both sides of the evacuee experience: the disruption of war, and the resilience of the people, often overlooked, who held things together for the children in their care. For readers of home front memoirs and social history, this is a fresh angle on a story we think we already know.