Evacuees

A Memory of Craichie.

I attended school headed by Dominie Colvin and indeed ended up living there along with two other evacuees, having previously lived at East Crachie with the Ogilvie family. I learnt, among other things, to make snares and nets to catch rabbits. How to drive a tractor on the farm and other farm work. At the school we put on a school play, which was also put on in Forfar. At 10 years old it was a good war away from the city. In the winter our daily 1/3 pint of milk frequently got frozen, an early version of frozen lollies. We often walked to Forfar to go to the cinema and see Flash Gordon on Saturday, usually followed by chips in the High Street. I later worked for Dave Drummond at Backmuir farm Carmylie having taken a liking to the countryside. At that time the summers seemed endless and the weather fine. We often played in the stream/burn that runs in the hollow to the south below Crachie. The name escapes me but in might have been the Dichtie. Some names I remember include Betty and Marion Ogilvie, Sheila Catanach. Douglas, Elizabeth and Margret Colvin. I have a picture of a group of the children who attended the school at the time.

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