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This account was submitted by Geoff Leggett and an anonymous evacuee who spent some time in the "camp". Geoff writes:

During the war a huge mass of wooden huts was built in a field adjacent to the local village of St Margarets which was situated up on the hill above Great Gaddesden. It was known locally as ?The Evacuee Camp?. This was constructed to house a huge number of evacuees from London and other cities out in the country and away from the threat of German bombs being dropped during the war. It was also a London County Council school. Geoff had very little to do with this establishment and only a vague knowledge of its origins and usage. He did know, however, as did everyone else in the vicinity, that there were an enormous number of children in the camp who were regularly marched around the area in large groups. As far as he was concerned, the primary attraction of the camp was its internal cinema which was available, free of charge, to local citizens. Geoff made good use of this attraction and saw many popular and good quality films over a period of several years whilst it continued. Needless to say, there was nothing shown which might lead the youngsters viewing it into trouble!

A story from another person who was much more familiar with the camp, having been transferred there as an evacuee himself, reads as follows:

?St Margarets Evacuee Camp - LCC School.
My third evacuation was to be my last - I was sent to the Nettleden LCC School, St Margaret's Camp, Great Gaddesden (near Hemel Hempstead), Hertfordshire. This to me was the beginning of my becoming a man before my time. The school was strictly regimented. We lived in dormitories named Shaftesbury, Lister, Wren, Gordon and Shelley. There were two women called 'Sisters' (like ?Matrons?), who inspected our beds for tidiness and cleanliness. We were given points, which were added to the points gained for our classroom behaviour, and a pendant was given to the dormitory that had the most points - all the dormitories competed against each other.
The school and classrooms were in the compound at the camp. We were allowed to see a film on a Saturday evening at the camp, and we had our own kitchen there. During the summer we had school in the morning and evening, and the afternoons were for sport and recreation - like looking for golf balls that one schoolmaster, Mr Wade, had knocked all over the grounds! We also worked on the local farms during the school holidays.
Each night we had to have vitamin tablets, given to us when we had gone to bed. In the dormitories we had double bunks. While administering the tablets one master knew who the weak boys were, and his hand would often stretch under the bedclothes - but not mine, luckily - he knew who was who! To give some idea of the type of school, which was full of evacuees - we had 30 (average) in the classrooms. The last term at school I came 27th out of 30 for arithmetic, but overall I came third in the class - can you imagine what the rest were like! But despite this, and despite all the trauma that we went through, we all went on to earn a living in one way or another. While we were there we had to join the Boys Brigade or Scouts. I joined the Scouts, and played the fife (or tried to) in the band.

Keywords Great Gaddesden, Boys Brigade, Scouts

Collection Evacuees

Place Hemel Hempstead

Year 1939 - 1945

Conflict World War Two

File type html

Record ID number 145

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Title	THE
Description	This account was submitted by Geoff Leggett and an anonymous evacuee who spent some time in the "camp". Geoff writes: During the war a huge mass of wooden huts was built in a field adjacent to the local village of St Margarets which was situated up on the hill above Great Gaddesden. It was known locally as ?The Evacuee Camp?. This was constructed to house a huge number of evacuees from London and other cities out in the country and away from the threat of German bombs being dropped during the war. It was also a London County Council school. Geoff had very little to do with this establishment and only a vague knowledge of its origins and usage. He did know, however, as did everyone else in the vicinity, that there were an enormous number of children in the camp who were regularly marched around the area in large groups. As far as he was concerned, the primary attraction of the camp was its internal cinema which was available, free of charge, to local citizens. Geoff made good use of this attraction and saw many popular and good quality films over a period of several years whilst it continued. Needless to say, there was nothing shown which might lead the youngsters viewing it into trouble! A story from another person who was much more familiar with the camp, having been transferred there as an evacuee himself, reads as follows: ?St Margarets Evacuee Camp - LCC School. My third evacuation was to be my last - I was sent to the Nettleden LCC School, St Margaret's Camp, Great Gaddesden (near Hemel Hempstead), Hertfordshire. This to me was the beginning of my becoming a man before my time. The school was strictly regimented. We lived in dormitories named Shaftesbury, Lister, Wren, Gordon and Shelley. There were two women called 'Sisters' (like ?Matrons?), who inspected our beds for tidiness and cleanliness. We were given points, which were added to the points gained for our classroom behaviour, and a pendant was given to the dormitory that had the most points - all the dormitories competed against each other. The school and classrooms were in the compound at the camp. We were allowed to see a film on a Saturday evening at the camp, and we had our own kitchen there. During the summer we had school in the morning and evening, and the afternoons were for sport and recreation - like looking for golf balls that one schoolmaster, Mr Wade, had knocked all over the grounds! We also worked on the local farms during the school holidays. Each night we had to have vitamin tablets, given to us when we had gone to bed. In the dormitories we had double bunks. While administering the tablets one master knew who the weak boys were, and his hand would often stretch under the bedclothes - but not mine, luckily - he knew who was who! To give some idea of the type of school, which was full of evacuees - we had 30 (average) in the classrooms. The last term at school I came 27th out of 30 for arithmetic, but overall I came third in the class - can you imagine what the rest were like! But despite this, and despite all the trauma that we went through, we all went on to earn a living in one way or another. While we were there we had to join the Boys Brigade or Scouts. I joined the Scouts, and played the fife (or tried to) in the band.
Keywords	Great Gaddesden, Boys Brigade, Scouts
Collection	Evacuees
Place	Hemel Hempstead
Year	1939 - 1945
Conflict	World War Two
File type	html
Record ID number	145