Woman, 100, recalls Guernsey evacuation during WW2

Marion Delbridge, her mother and sister were taken to London during World War Two

A 100-year-old woman has shared her memories of when she was evacuated from Guernsey ahead of the German Occupation in World War Two.

Marion Delbridge, who lived in St Sampson before the war, said her father was a docker and stayed while she, aged 16, her mother and sister were taken to London.

During World War Two, German forces invaded the island on 30 June 1940 and remained in occupation for five years.

"My dad would never go - he would be a real fish out of water," said Ms Delbridge.

'Weren't bringing in diseases'

On the boat from Guernsey to Weymouth, she said they knew people also evacuating and shared a cabin with two other families.

She said: "When we got to Weymouth... we were lined up outside some kind of a wall.

"It was raining and they looked down our throats and in our ears to make sure we weren't bringing in any diseases.

"Other people gathered to get on a train to Lancashire where a lot of Guernsey evacuees were going to be housed."

She said her family went on the train to London.

'The romantic bit'

Ms Delbridge said they stayed with cousins and aunties in Ealing, London, during the war where the three of them all found jobs.

Her mother's first job was making coffee in a hall and Ms Delbridge worked in a small factory where they made measuring instruments such as air meters and volt meters which she said was "very important for the war".

"Although it was a funny little place, we were doing good work," Ms Delbridge said.

On the first day at the factory, Ms Delbridge said she also happened to meet the love of her life.

She said: "Now this is the romantic bit.

"In this hallway there was a wooden door, and it opened and there was a young man with black hair.

"He eyed me up and down and quickly closed the door again and that's the start of a marriage that lasted forever with three grown up boys."

'Deckchair under the staircase'

She described life in London as somewhat "normal" as the family lived under one roof and on winter evenings, all of the women would knit together in front of the fireplace.

"My mother and sister had the back living room, and we had those wooden chairs which were quite popular at that time.

"They were chairs with loose cushions, and you could make them into a kind of bed.

"My sister and I were lucky we both had them in our room as my mum had a deckchair under the staircase."

'Keen to get home'

She said, "life went on" and the family were not always sitting there thinking about their father in Guernsey in the five years when they were separated.

"We eventually got the news over the radio our dear Channel Islands have been liberated and of course we were mad keen to get home.

"My sister and I went to some office… we told them our father was over 70 and we hadn't seen him for five years."

She said as a result she managed to get a "fairly early booking to come back" where their dad met them from the boat.