At the start of the war, many children living in big cities were moved temporarily from their homes to places considered safer. The Government were afraid that British cities and towns would be targets for bombing raids, so usually children were evacuated to smaller towns and villages in the countryside.

Schoolchildren, teachers, mothers with children under five, pregnant women, and some disabled people from the cities and big towns were all evacuated on trains and by road. Some children were sent to stay with relatives who lived in countryside, but others were sent to live with complete strangers.

(Can you imagine how you would feel if you were sent away to stay with people you didn't know and you weren't sure when you would be able to come back and see your family?)

Did you know??
In September 1939 around a million British school children were evacuated from their homes in big towns and cities.

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