I also remember a Professor living in the village. How I met him I can't remember, but I do
recall taking to his house various plants and insects I found in the hedgerows and looking at
them through his microscope. He had a wonderful room full of books and papers, stuffed
animals and all sorts of weird and wonderful things all untidily jumbled together - a child's
paradise. He would tell me what to bring for our next session and so I would go with a jam
jar digging things up, snipping things off and prying under stones to see what I could find.
He would then patiently explain things to me as we placed various things on the slides and
studied them through his microscope. It opened up another world to me and I was always full
of my 'discoveries' when I returned home. I was the only child in the village who went to his
house so he and I spent many hours together finding out the most, to me, amazing things. He
also allowed me to look at his books - a very kind man taking an interest in a child who
loved everything about nature and country life.
However the day came when the owner of the cottage wanted to return to the village and so we
were asked to leave. None of us children wanted to go back to the town and the bombing as we
loved the village and country life. We had made good friends, loved our school and Church,
the farm, the animals and everything that makes the countryside the wonderful place it is.
It was then decided that I should go to Boarding School and so it was arranged. I remember
being fitted with the school uniform - I can recall it to this day. Brown tunic, brown
stockings and shoes, brown hat with a badge, a brown blazer, brown coat and cream blouses.
It was very smart, but as I looked at myself in the mirror it suddenly struck me that
everyone else was going back to the bombing and I was going to be alone. I could lose all
those I loved, and so I decided I wasn't going to Boarding School, I was going back with
them. I next remember Mam getting hold of my arm and pulling me out of the shop demanding to
know what I was playing at! 'Everything has been arranged' she told me 'The dormitories are
lovely and you'll soon make friends. It's a beautiful old house' and so it went on but I
wouldn't change my mind. I wasn't going to go! So I went back home with them, again living
with relatives until we found somewhere else to live.
It was some time after we left the cottage that Mam told me about the hidden panel in the
upstairs bedroom she used. Evidently she had been dusting the room when the panel moved and,
to her utter amazement, she saw a library full of books! Mam and cousin Lily had a wonderful
time reading these books when we younger ones were in bed, I only wish I had been allowed to
see them. Perhaps they thought I was too young for them.
Elizabeth Aynsley ©
