Dorothy C. Maguire (nee Coles), recalls war time memories.

WITH the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1919, Arnside was deemed a safe area, being far from the Industrial areas.

Arnside had children and teachers from Barrow and the North East and practically every house in Arnside had several children.

We had two children and my Aunt Cissie, who had a boarding house, took in six. Sadly one of her evacuees developed diptheria and died - what a shock for everyone.

We all felt very sorry for these poor homeless children. We seemed to have so much and they had so little.

But what I do remember, is that they brought hair nits, which we all caught.

I had thick curly hair, and what a job my mother had. She would spread newspaper on the table and then comb my hair with a small tooth comb - oh, it did hurt!

At the start of the war we had a private evacuee Audrey, with her mother.

Audrey was nine years old and a similar age to me so we went everywhere together.

After 18 months, when the bombing eased, they went back to Surrey, but she returned on her own in 1943 when the bombing started again.

We would spend ours out in the countryside exploring the beaches and woodlands and we enjoyed the freedom which Arnside offered.

After the war we lost touch, but 10 years ago Audrey came to Arnside to look for 'Dorothy Coles' and was finally able to track me down. Since then we have met again and had many telephone talks and reminisced about old times.

She always said her Arnside years were the happiest of her life.

But a finale to this was that a few weeks ago, her family contacted me with news of her death. She had requested that her 'ashes' were to be scattered in the Arnside area.

What a tribute to Arnside's life and experiences!