Evacuations during the Second World War were frightening for many, but for one Lewisham evacuee it was a period of fun, friends and frolicking.

A Second World War evacuee in a group of 60 young children who fled their Downham homes to live in Devon recalls it as one of the greatest periods of his life. Carly Read reports.

Bill Baker moved to Lewisham in 1935 with his parents, sister and two brothers.

The family lived in Goudhurst Road, Downham, where as a young boy he attended Rangefield Road Infants School.

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An image of the New Cross Bombing that killed Barbara Woodland and her mother Violet

The 83-year-old said: The first thing I remember when I moved to Downham was my mother holding me up to the window to see Crystal Palace burning.”

But in 1940 he and his family were evacuated following the breakout of the war and with 60 other Downham children was whisked away to life miles away from home.

Mr Baker said: “There were around 60 children evacuated and I remember our school being so over-crowded, there were so many children and no room at all – we were all squashed up in a classroom together.

“It was so full that the girls would have the playground to play in while the boys would play in the square, over the other side.”

But regardless of leaving Lewisham behind, he explained that life in Dolton was great fun adding that he adopted the accent so quickly that even his mother struggled to understand him.

He said: “Evacuee life was great, we were always catching rabbits and playing it was a fantastic for such a big group of us.”

But even today he still remembers one special friend, Barbara Woodland, the young girl from Downham who used to hold him down in the school playground and make him kiss her.

He said: “One thing I always remember about Barbara was that we were at school together and like a lot of the girls in the school, she was older than me. She and the other girls used to play a game with all the boys at school where they would grab us and hold us down and tell us they wouldn’t let us go until we kissed them. Of course we’d pretend to hate it and kick and scream but we actually enjoyed it.”

Sadly Miss Woodland, of Shroffold Road, died aged just 17 with her 40-year-old mother Violet when they left Dolton to return to Lewisham.

Mother and daughter, along with 168 others, were killed when a German V2 rocket hit Woolworths, New Cross in November 1944.

As the 70th anniversary of the New Cross Bombing approaches, Mr Baker said: “I can still see her face and hear her laughter in the playground.”