VALE of Clwyd group members have learned all about Second World War links between Denbigh and evacuees from Guernsey.

Members of the Denbigh and District Probus Club were delighted to welcome Mary Steel, a former headmistress of Howell’s School, Denbigh, to their April meeting.

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This was held in the Oriel Hotel, St Asaph and Mary attended to to speak about the World War II Guernsey Girls’ evacuation to Denbigh.

Mary told members and guests how as a new headmistress of Howell’s school, she was aware that all new heads were required to attend a five-day course dealing with all sorts of things – legal, financial, management, etc.

Twenty heads from all parts of the country attended the five-day course and got to know each other well.

On completion, the course leader suggested that they keep in touch as they would be going through the same experiences and that it would be good to have reunions from time to time.

They did that with the first reunion being at Cadbury’s World in Birmingham and the next one being held in the Guernsey Ladies’ College, hosted by a lady called Margaret who had been on the course and was principal there.

At the reunion, they were given a tour of the school buildings and Mary was extremely surprised to see a picture of Howell’s School, Denbigh displayed in a prominent position in the entrance hall.

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She, of course, enquired why the picture of her school was on display and was stunned to hear the information about how girls from the college with their teachers were evacuated to Howell’s School during the Second World War and remained in North Wales for five years.

This was the first Mary had heard of it and when she came back to Wales, she had a look in the archives but there really wasn’t anything about it.

In Guernsey on June 19, 1940, it was announced in the local paper that there would be an evacuation of the whole school to the UK the next day to avoid the Nazi invasion of their island.

The teachers and 100 girls were transported in the hold of a cargo boat, Batavier IV, bound for Weymouth, all seated on bales of straw with only one suitcase each that they could carry.

The evacuees were just in time as France surrendered the next day and on June 30, the island was occupied.

A total of 5,000 schoolchildren were evacuated from Guernsey and 1,000 remained on the island. Sadly, some were left behind because of a misunderstanding about departure times.

As they left, one nine-year-old girl saying goodbye to her father said ‘Don’t worry daddy, I am going to forget all about you so that I won’t miss you’, such a heart-breaking thing for them both. She said that she only realised much later that it wasn’t raindrops wetting his shoes, but her father’s tears.

On arrival in the UK, the girls and teachers started off in Oldham, then Derbyshire and then, because of an invitation from the then Howell’s School headteacher Miss Robinson, 63 girls aged six to 18 moved to Denbigh on September 21, 1940 and were billeted with local families.

Most had a really warm welcome with one girl in a household of nine feeling welcome and warm, but some others with well-to-do families being resented by the servants who felt they had been lumbered with extra work.

They were all day girls at Howell’s School but were never integrated into the school and stayed as a unit.

The war meant that they did not receive post from home as their homes were now occupied by the enemy and, of course, there were no phone calls, however Red Cross negotiations in 1941 meant they could receive letters and over 7,000 were sent to evacuees right across the UK.

Initially each letter was only allowed to be 10 words long but eventually this was increased to 25 words per letter which was the standard for prisoners-of-wars.

The reply to any letter had to be on the back of the one received, meaning that they could not keep their letters or treasure and re-read them ever.

It could actually take months for the letters, which cost 6d each in postage, to arrive with news by then being outdated.

There were messages such as ‘Baby Mary died last December’ and ‘Your son died in England’, however as the family had two sons in England, they had no idea which one had passed away.

Another message read ‘Your father has been deported to Germany’ and the girl that received that message never saw him again.

Miss Robinson, the head at the time, spoke to the Howell’s girls about being careful not to overwhelm the newcomers and to keep their distance. Whether she intended it or not, the Howell’s girls took it to mean that they were to have nothing to do with them and that is what happened.

Later on, they were mortified that they had been so insensitive. Some said that they had noticed some girls in a different uniform but thought no more of it.

Finally, the island of Guernsey was liberated in May 1945 and the girls returned home on August 3, 1945 on the Hantonia.

In 1995, to commemorate 50 years after the end of the war, it was decided in the Easter holiday to hold a reunion of the girls who had been at Howell’s School during the war and Mary suggested to Margaret that it would be nice to invite the Guernsey girls as well.

At the time it was a light-hearted suggestion and she did not really think they would take up the offer. In the end, 19 came to Denbigh – 13 having flown over from Guernsey.

They had both happy tales and memories to recount about their time and welcome in North Wales but there were so many sad and difficult memories of those times when some recalled how they returned to Guernsey and members of their family were dead or they simply did not recognise the people they had left behind after five years away and they found out about the harsh conditions that their relatives and friends who remained had endured.

Denbigh and District Probus Club welcomes new members to join their group for monthly meetings - held at the Oriel Hotel, St Asaph - where they enjoy lunch, friendship, and a talk from a guest speaker.

For further information, have a look at the club website denbighprobus.com or contact membership officer Gareth Williams via julmwilliams1974@gmail.com / 07881 783735.

The speaker at the next club meeting on Monday, May 15 will be Jane Moore, who will speak about the history of the National Garden Scheme and Open Gardens in 2023.