Embedded Files
The BAFTA awards on TV last night featured Blitz, a film that reminded me of the children evacuated from London to Polzeath in the war.
A clip from the film showed a little boy jumping off a train leaving London. Although nominated three times the film didn't actually pick up awards but it did make me look again at a post that Julie Arnold posted about her father, Joe Miechielsens, who was evacuated from Aldersbrook, with 300 other children, to the Polzeath area in the war.
Watching a recent BBC news story of him learning to write in his care home made me think that his life story could easily make an inspirational film itself!
Joe was born in 1934 and was put in the Aldersbrook Children Home in London after his mother took her own life. He was just three weeks old and suffered from a genetic craniofacial syndrome which affects the shape of the head.
His father was a Belgian WWI refugee 27 years older than his mother and Joe, like many others, traveled to Polzeath by train, a journey that he recalled took all day. His train had likely come from Norfolk where the children's home had originally been evacuated to and he would have finally arrived in Wadebridge. Joe recalled staying in a large house in Polzeath that had connections to the church, and that he was happy there. This was likely Tristram House on Atlantic Terrace in New Polzeath. Since the war the old house has been demolished and rebuilt as what I always call the blue house but records and photos of his days have been lost.
Due to a stammer and his "unusual head shape", Joe was classified as educationally subnormal and did not attend school in Polzeath like the other children. They were schooled in two classrooms up near the St Moritz Hotel. Instead, he worked on a local farm from the age of 7 which was likely Pentire Farm.
After the war, Joe was placed in South Ockendon Institution for Mental Defectives, which he disliked and about a year later, he was sent to a boarding home for the educationally subnormal in Forest Gate, East London, where he stayed until he was discharged at 16.
Joe loved his time in Polzeath and spoke about it often. Now 90, Joe has dementia but despite that, and the labels that he has had to live with through his life, he finally learnt to read and write in his carehome. He and Julie were recently featured in a very moving BBC news story which you can see on this link.
Perhaps worth a BAFTA nomination itself! https://www.facebook.com/100025193651197/videos/1040506461060723/
Feb 2025
Children from the Aldersbrook London orphanage in Polzeath. From the British Evacuees Association (Facebook public group)
Blitz
nominated for
Outstanding British film
But the Winner: Conclave
St Moritz around 1950.
It became a home for children evacuated from Aldersbrook in East London in the late summer of 1943. and it housed about 25 school-aged evacuees with others going to places like Tristram House in New Polzeath where Joe went.
From comments on different Polzeath Walks posts I gather that staff members from Aldersbrook, including one known as Jane (actually Joan Bish), managed the St Moritz evacuees and a nurse Cloke or Cloak was in charge of the younger children at Tristram House.
St Moritz Court was once a local prep school. Later, the Underwood family owned and managed it as part of the original St. Moritz Hotel. The Bedwell family acquired 4 St Moritz Court when the Underwoods sold the hotel in 1978.
Other East London orphans were evacuated to the Polzeath Lodge Hotel in 1939 and it housed perhaps as many as 60 children.
top left, Polzeath Lodge Hotel built in 1900 (became Pinewood flats in 1950s and Pentire View. top right 1894: Pentire View houses built (on the site of where a cottage stood from 1837), Bottom right: 1913: Old Accounts office for Polzeath mines on “Tabernacle corner” becomes Post office (until 1927). In the 1870’s the building was used as the playroom for the Pleasure House next door
The wonderful Ian Barlow (1935-2019) was a schoolboy too during WW2 in Polzeath.
Ian’s family built Stepper, one of the first houses above Greenaway, and in September 1940, when Ian was five, his family evacuated to it from Sherborne school where Ralph, his father, was a housemaster. Ian's mother was eight months pregnant and ironically a few weeks after moving “to safety “ a mine washed up on the beach at Polzeath and they had to evacuate again.
While in Polzeath, Ian witnessed the daily realities of wartime life, including the constant movement of ships along the coast, skies often filled with planes, and defensives of all sorts on the beaches.
While Ian had limited memories of pre-war life, he remembered watching a whole fishing fleet, likely French, sailing up the estuary to Padstow, the daily explosions across the estuary under Stepper Point where they were quarrying for materials for the Royal Naval Air Station runways at St Merryn.
The photo here is one I took at Sliggon Field where Ian retired to after a lifetime working at Rugby School and devoted much time to creating a garden.
"Michael's War" is a book written by Richard Jones, a Methodist minister who grew up in Polzeath in WW2. He is actually Harry Jones' son who I have been asking readers about for the past few weeks but somehow I have not come across his book before.
Published in 2009 Richard tells the story of how World War II impacted the lives of people living in and around Polzeath. His family relied heavily on the summer tourist trade to their Polzeath Lodge Hotel but for many others farming was still the main occupation and becomes even more important in the war. Through Michael we get to see the changes that occurred in the village and the surrounding area during the war, including the arrival of evacuees from London and Plymouth. Many children arrive from a London orphanage and some are housed in the Polzeath Lodge Hotel, which his family had to vacate at the start of the war.
The fear and uncertainty caused by the war, particularly the threat of German invasion and the impact of the war on local families, including those who lost loved ones is explored. As well as the arrival of noisy American soldiers, German prisoners of war, the battle of the Atlantic and much about aircraft and incidents around the local airfields. Michael, a Bodmin Grammar schoolboy, who just happens to be able to identify many aircraft from the sounds of their engine, serves as a lens through which readers experience the war. Other characters include Michael's family, friends, and neighbours, as well as various military personnel and evacuees.
Michael and his friends have to confront the realities of violence and death, shattering childhood innocence and asking many questions about faith and what's the “right thing to do” when fighting a war.
The Methodist chapels in and around Polzeath serve as a source of comfort and hope for many of the characters, reflecting the importance and complications of faith during war.
There are some great local stories but it’s not clear which are autobiographical and which fiction! And which are a clever blend of the two!
Did a Mosquito really run out of fuel and land on the beach near Rock? Did an American airman really parachute into the woods near Polzeath and was found dead hanging in the trees? Did Michael really help the ROC with their plane spotting skills? Were American engineers really training to build bridges at Trewornan? Did boys really cycle daily from Polzeath to Wadebridge to catch the train to Bodmin to attend Grammar School? Or cycle across to St Eval to watch the planes etc etc
A good book to discuss with Polzeath friends! Much I suspect is really true.
From Wesley Heritage
This re-print of a WWII photograph shows Methodist conscientious objectors. In both World Wars, men who objected on moral or religious grounds were known as 'conscientious objectors'. They were expected to do their duty in other ways, often in agriculture, forestry, or mining.
In Michael's War his best friend at school, Terry, ends the book with his visit to a Tribunal and goes off to be a miner rather than do National Service. Michael goes to Cambridge!
Harvest camps were organized events during World War II where groups of people, often students, would volunteer to help farmers with the harvest. These camps were particularly important during the war due to labor shortages caused by men going off to fight.
This camp organised by Ralph Barlow, a housemaster at Sherborne School, was one where I understand the tents were put up by Italian POW's before the boys arrived. This 1945 Harvest camp was not the first and senior boys from Sherborne School had attended 3 other harvest camps at Pentire Glaze Farm, for which they received a ration of petrol. The boys camped in tents in the field at the top of the hill between Stepper and Gulland (Mr Barlow's and Mr Thomson's houses). Each day the boys rode out on bicycles in pairs to help local farms bring in the harvest.
Boys from Rugby School helped with the harvest in the summers of 1942 and 1943. They stayed for a couple of weeks in bell tents in the grounds of White Horses and in the next field, and rode off each morning on their bicycles to local farms, including Pentire Glaze.
A student named Joseph Miechielsens, evacuated from Aldersbrook Children’s Home, helped on a nearby farm. Although the specific farm is not named, three farms in St Minver are listed in the 1939 trade directory:
●
Earnest and Wesley farmers, Pentire
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John Charles Wilfred, farmer, Trenant
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Albert Woolcock, farmer, St Minver
It is unclear whether the farm that Joseph Miechielsens worked on was one of these three farms or a different farm.
"The Tin Tabernacle," Polzeath: This original Methodist chapel in Polzeath was constructed in 1898 and stood on Chapel Corner. It served not only as a place of worship but also as a vital community hub, hosting education programs, activities, and offering assistance. The building was later rebuilt in brick in the 1930s due to road widening and was muc later renamed "Polzeath’s Tubestation". It continues to serve as a community center, hosting church services and offering a welcoming cafe and gathering space.
Rock Hill Methodist Chapel, Rock: Built in 1902, this chapel in the nearby village of Rock reflects the spread of Methodism in the region.
Tredrizzick Methodist Chapel, Tredrizzick: This chapel, although now converted into a private residence, played a role in the religious landscape of the area.
Just for your extra information there were also the "Bryanites" , a Methodist denomination founded in Cornwall in 1815 by William O'Bryan. They eventually merged with the Wesleyan Methodists in 1907 but back in 1854, at the height of the mining boom around Polzeath, it is recorded that they used to meet at Roserrow (now The Point at Polzeath).
“Michael’s War” is set in this house which is still there on the Trewint Road near the Pityme t juntion and new road entrance to the Point
Polzeath Lodge gardens pre 1934 as it wasn’t until then that the Polzeath road bridge was built, replacing the footbridge you can see
Thankfully it wasn’t just the private schools that came to Polzeath!
Aldersbrook Children’s Home in East London were evacuated to Polzeath too. The evacuation took place in August 1939, just before the war's official start. The children were first sent to Bacton in Norfolk, then later moved to The Polzeath Lodge Hotel and what was to become the St Moritz at Trebetherick and perhaps some other places too.
I have read that as many as 300 children were evacuated from Aldersbrook to Polzeath but this seems high. There may be a plaque in the Tubestation or one of the local Methodist churches to confirm numbers although I’ve not seen it. Can anyone give me more information?
My internet research turned up one Aldersbrook evacuee, Joseph Miechielsens, who had a stammer and unusual head shape, who was not sent to school but instead helped on a nearby farm and this may have been quite common.
Several other former evacuees have shared their memories of the evacuation and their time in Polzeath, including:
Linda Brandish, whose father and siblings were evacuated.
Julie Arnold, whose father was evacuated. And a “superfred,” who was six years old at the time of the evacuation and stayed around the St Moritz.
A Blast from the Past: West Hill Park School at Polzeath in 1941
This photograph, sent in by a friend of my daughter's who happens to be a Maths teacher at West Hill Park School, takes us back to 1941. It captures West Hill Park School (founded in 1920) at the Atlantic House Hotel in Polzeath, where they had evacuated during World War II from Titchfield, Fareham, Hampshire. Just as well as in 1941 two land mines exploded in their strawberry fields, destroying the barn, cattle barn and glasshouses.
While war raged across Europe, for many children, Polzeath offered a very different experience – one that could even be described as a "happy war." Though the beaches were mostly closed off with barbed wire strung from The Rum Bar to Polzeath House, and "Dragon's Teeth" lined Baby Bay and Polzeath to deter tanks, the wide-open spaces and freedom from everyday routines must have been a welcome change for young evacuees.
The sand dunes around Rock and Daymer Bay may have been mined, but one can't help but think the freedom of the beaches and the endless possibilities for exploration would have been an exciting adventure.
The details of their schooling during this time remain unclear but we know that children from Daymer Bay joined West Park School for lessons, presumably held within the Atlantic House Hotel itself.
WEST HILL PARK SCHOOL and WEST HORSES HOSE DAYMER BAY
The following is taken from The Trebetherick Residents' website where they give histories on some of the houses in Daymer Bay.
White Horses was built for Lynam Thomas, a master at Rugby School. He was there with his family when war broke out in September 1939, and though he returned to Rugby during term-time to continue teaching, his wife Peggy and their two sons remained in Trebetherick for about eighteen months. Lynam’s son Nigel recalls being told later about the night of the false invasion alarm in November 1940 when all the church bells were rung throughout the country: Commander Bannerman (father of Lady (Sheila) Walsham) came over from Rock and threw pebbles up at Nigel’s parents’ bedroom window, calling out, “Thomas, Thomas, the Germans are coming, do what you can to protect your wife and family!”. On some nights during the war Lynam Thomas would sit in the porch of White Horses with a rifle and ten rounds of ammunition, said to be the only rifle along ten miles of coastline. Nigel also remembers that barbed wire was set along the clifftop from Polzeath to Daymer, and scaffolding poles as anti-tank protection across both beaches.
Nigel went to school in the Atlantic House Hotel in Polzeath, where West Hill Park School had been evacuated. Fellow pupils included Laurence Grand (Coolgrena), David and Roger Gaunt and others. They were driven there by car, but usually walked home. (Roger Gaunt later became a clergyman, and founded the St Endellion Festival – his daughter Kate still owns St Enodoc Cottage.)
Like Ralph Barlow of Stepper, who was a house master at Sherborne, Lynam Thomas arranged for parties of boys from his house at Rugby to help with the harvest in the summers of 1942 and 1943. They stayed for a couple of weeks in bell tents in the grounds of the house and in the next field, and rode off each morning on their bicycles to local farms, including Pentire Glaze. The house cook came with them from Rugby, and the boys ate their meals in the garage of White Horses. Because of the plethora of schoolmasters with houses there, Trebetherick became known as Beaks’ Row (or Beaks’ Bay, or even Beaks’ Point – depending on who you talk to!).
White Horses remained in the Thomas’ ownership until the late 1960s. Peggy and Lynam had met at Cliff Bank; Lynam was Joc Lynam’s cousin, and Peggy was a friend of Joc’s sister Audrey – they had nursed together at Paddington Green Hospital in London.
Perhaps a few boys in this photo are still alive although they would be well over 90 years old now. Do you have any stories about any of them? Reading the school website history https://www.westhillpark.com/our-school/our-history I now realise that I taught with a former headmaster of the school!
Mike Elmitt was made headmaster there in 1985 and became the bursar at the newly formed Harrow International School in Bangkok in the 1990's where I was teaching.
The 40 boys and 10 staff at WEST HILL PARK SCHOOL, ATLANTIC HOUSE POLZEATH - JULY 1941.
The School evacuated from Hampshire in 1939 and didn't return until 1945.
Standing:
W R McConnel
SH Gurney
Oakshott
DHM. Bell
DMD. Thomas
McKenzie
MH. Brewer
Wayte
TER Kitson
Sitting on the wall:
R.F. Chalmers Jefreys
RM. Mays-Smith
D. Brewer
AC. Curry
SEF Snow
J. Brewer
EAA. Bruell
MM. Keane
Mrs Pamela Ransome
Miss Ewans
PL. Sugden
Wilde l
Wilde II
G.N. Bibby
JD. Benton
WFP. Currie
G.D.B. Fraser
Miss Pile
Mr De Brie
Seated:
Mr EDF Cardam
Miss Cooper
HW Drax
PR. Tahouridis
WJM. Faulkner
Mr CH. Ransome
(Charles Ransome became owner of the West Hill Park building in 1919, set up a school there in 1920 and then ran the school until his son, Jimmy, became headmaster on his death in 1952)
GB. Cross
Mrs Ransome
C.G.C. Spencer
Mr Bates
Mr S.A. Armstrong
May-Smith II.
A Kennedy
PCE Bury
D. Chatwn
RP. Fremantle
HDY Faulkner
Holland
D. Longfield
S. Deverell
J. De C. Hughes
A book review I did on "Tempting the Fates", drew attention to the WW2 barbed wire defences now appearing in the retreating sand dunes near Brea Hill.
These photos show the anti tank defences at Pentireglaze Haven and Polzeath which were laid in the United Kingdom in 1940–1941, as part of the effort to strengthen the country's defences against a possible German invasion. Dragon's teeth (German: Drachenzähne) are square-pyramidal fortifications of reinforced concrete that impede the movement of tanks and mechanised infantry. The idea was to slow down and channel tanks into killing zones where they could easily be disposed of by anti-tank weapons.
Not sure if the young Major General Dare Wilson’s command extended to Polzeath from Padstow but William Sheils shares his memories of WW2 times in Polzeath at that time:
“My family lived at 'Bryher' New Polzeath. I went to Holiday House School, Harry Edwards was the Headmaster. He lived with his wife and children in a cottage at Porteath Farm. What better place could there be to grow up. I still keep in touch with Melville Coad, we were at school together, his father was the local butcher. We had some great times; apart from the evacuees, the war never came to Polzeath.
I do remember the 'Dragons Teeth' tank traps in the village and the scaffolding that stretched across the beach. After the war, German POWs were used to take them down.”
Dragon's teeth tank defences all the way across Pentireglaze Haven (Baby Bay) New Polzeath.
Children's Corner, often referred to as the steps at The Atlantic (house hotel) New Polzeath. Dragon's tooth tank defence half way up the steps long ago removed and perhaps ending up in the concreted cove steps which you will now find here preventing further erosion of the cliffs.
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