Extract from letter from Joan Hunter (Jan 2002)

We also visited his [Frank's] brother Jack regularly who lived in North Shields which is at the mouth of the Tyne. He was a policeman and a fireman (the 2 jobs went together apparently) and he lived literally opposite the Fire Station and his police beat was mainly on the fish quay. I often stayed there as they had a daughter about my age and when he was on night shift he finished at 6 00 am and brought home freshly smoked kippers for breakfast! I was actually staying there for a few days during the school holidays just before the war started and Mum came for me on the Wednesday, 28 August 1939 as our school was being evacuated to Carlisle on the Friday. We were therefore already in our billets when the war was declared on the Sunday, 1 September - a great adventure.

About 16 of us started meeting once a month for coffee in town about 10 years ago and on the 60th anniversary of our being evacuated the headmaster at the Grammar School we had attended there arranged for us to go for the day, have lunch there, meet the school children, tell them what it was like in those days etc. Our visit was in their local newspaper, on Border TV etc - quite a day!