Abstract | Summary of Mary French's diary, 1944
A lot happens in 1944. The year starts with Mary working in Southall, and finding it tough. There's a lot of action - gunfire, explosions and fires. Despite the dangers she seems to be enjoying London - walks in the parks, a concert at The Royal Albert Hall, lunch at the Curb. She often meets up with Joan, who is at Greenwich. They meet up in London and go for a walk and a chat. She also receives visits from her father and Charles.
As the year progresses the air raids become more and more intense. Whole nights are spent in the shelters. There are sirens in the day now too, so that all the children have to be taken to shelters. Mary spends a lot of her nights fire-watching with various people, and often complains of tiredness. In June she reports the capitulation of Rome and the D-Day invasion of France. From then on the Germans seem to have hugely stepped up the attack on London. Through June and July Mary and her colleagues keep having to get the children to safety. As a result fewer and fewer children are attending. She reports attendance down 54%. Finally in July it got so dangerous that the government announced an emergency evacuation of the school. Mary had to cycle to various homes to let them know. She then accompanied a group of evacuated schoolchildren to Bude, but mysteriously not all children left. Mary had to go back to Southall and continued teaching with only 9 or 10 children in a class.
Things seem to have cleared slightly in Mersea, because in the summer Mary was able to have her first swim on the beach since the war started. But hardly had she got back to Mersea than she was officially evacuated to Bude, where she worked till the end of the year. She seems to have loved it there. Typically she immediately made lots of friends, and cycled around exploring the wonderful views. The only downside for her is the Cornish weather. It rains all the time, which she finds demoralising. Both Charles and Joan come and see her while she's there. Her main leisure activity, rather surprisingly, is folk dancing, which she throws herself into with great gusto.
I wonder if she didn't get some form of mononucleosis or something in the autumn, because she had a mysterious sore back for a few days followed by weeks of complaining of tiredness. I suppose they didn't know those complaints at the time. On the other hand, the doctor came out to see her at home twice!
All year she is writing dozens of letters, especially to Lofty, who is in Malta I think, and who is clearly The Boyfriend. They write almost every day. Everywhere she goes she makes new friends, and then has to write to them all! Also lots of books, and loads and loads of films. With her living near London she seems to go to the cinema several times a week.
Next - January 1944
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