WW2 evacuees talk of experiences ahead of VE Day

Nora Hoskin was evacuated to Lanner near Redruth

World War Two evacuees have told BBC South West about their experiences ahead of the 80th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe.

Nora Hoskin, 94, said she had vivid memories of the day she and her school friends were evacuated from Plymouth and boarded a train to Cornwall.

She said she liked her new life near Redruth and visited a farm for the first time and "didn't want to go home".

On 8 May 1945, at exactly 15:00 BST, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced the end of the war in Europe.

'Lovely couple'

Ms Hoskin said: "You didn't want to go [on the train] because you were leaving your parents.

"Then we were told 'X number of children from your class would be going', so we thought: 'Oh, lovely. We are all going on holiday together,'" she added.

Ms Hoskin's new home was Lanner.

"I was with a lovely couple. They had no children but they had a niece the same age.

"I used to go up to a farm with them and that was the first time I had ever been to a farm."

'Quite hungry'

She added many were homesick during the evacuation and host families were not always welcoming.

"We do know that children weren't given enough food," Ms Hoskin explained.

"Some of them would come to school and be quite hungry.

"Quite a few only stayed a week or more and they went back home because they couldn't settle.

"But I loved it - I didn't want to go home."

David Liddicoat was evacuated twice during World War Two

However, not everywhere in Cornwall was safe from falling bombs.

David Liddicoat, 86 and from Plymouth, was evacuated twice: once from Plymouth and then from Falmouth.

He said: "When we were in Falmouth, we heard the planes coming over and we all had to go out into the garden where my Uncle Tom had built an air raid shelter.

"We all had to climb down into this pit until it all went over.

"They were trying to bomb the docks.

"When that got a little serious, we were moved down to Mevagissey into a bit more of a quieter area."