Forthcoming Reunion of our ‘Lincoln Old Boys’... Evacuation memories…. The first provincial Blitz of the War was on Coventry on November 14th 1940. Among the many buildings damaged was Bablake School,where the library was completely burnt out. The air raid shelter suffered a direct hit and several members of the public were killed. The School was closed for a few days until plans were made for the future. One of the teachers, Horace Curt, came home to Lincoln where he happened to meet the Lincoln Director of Education, who offered them the use of the old school on South Park which had eight classrooms available. On November 23rd, 297 boys and the staff arrived in Lincoln by train and were welcomed by the Mayor and the Director of Education. Buses took the boys to the City School, where billets were allocated to them throughout Lincoln. The furniture arrived on December 3rd and school work was started six days later. A maximum of 358 pupils attended. Tony Averns was one of a later group of Bablake former pupils who visited Lincoln in 1990 on the 50th anniversary of the evacuation. He told me that he really enjoyed his war time stay in Lincoln,. He was billeted in Rookery Lane for a year or so, and then on to Skellingthorpe Road at Swanpool. The Bablake boys used the facilities (including the swimming pool) at South Park Girls’ High School and the laboratories at the City School on Monks Road and the Grammar School on Wragby Road. He remembers the Westwick Estate bombing in May 1941 and a British plane being shot down near Lincoln. Many of the Coventry boys had bicycles and visited local aerodromes to see the aircraft being prepared for flights. Usually they went to R.A.F. Skellingthorpe (Birchwood), but also went as far as Waddington and Swinderby. A reunion is in the process of being organised for the remaining former pupils who were part of the above evacuation, on Saturday 19 September 2015. For further information please contact Mr Peter Burden at pfb@bablake.coventry.sch.uk or by calling the school on 02476 271200 and leaving a message or writing to him at: Bablake School, Coundon Road, Coventry CV1 4AU.
Boys from Bablake School billeted with Mr and Mrs Atkinson at Witham View Hostel
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