1900s-1945
More than forty years before Dick Wood set down his memories in the Parish Magazine of March 1986, the Second World War brought a group of unexpected young visitors to Leigh. They were evacuees from St. Vincent's Convent Roman Catholic School in Westminster, and with them came Father Mortimer, a priest, together with several of their teachers. The great majority of these children were girls, and they were taken into homes across the village, each family giving a child a place to stay.
Schooling carried on much as before, though in unfamiliar surroundings. On weekdays the village hall was turned into schoolrooms, while on Sundays the same building served the community as a place of worship. Beneath it, the cellars were adapted for use as the Air Raid Shelter.
Some of the arrangements made for the children were on a larger scale. About a dozen of them lived together at Homelea in Green View Avenue, where Mrs Wade looked after them. Their teachers, Miss Griffen, Miss O'Brien and Miss Vanstone, lodged together at Old Kennards. Mrs Joiner, who taught the infants, found her lodging in Green View Avenue as well.
It was through a small incident in the garden that Dick Wood first came to know two of the evacuees. A little girl appeared at his door offering him a handful of beans which, it turned out, she had taken from his own garden. Mrs Seal, hearing of it, told the child she must give them back. The girl was Angela, whose sister was Betty. When Mrs Seal found she could no longer look after the two children, Dick Wood's wife stepped forward and offered them a home.
The sisters had been left at the Convent when very young. When peace returned, Betty went back to her mother, who agreed that Angela should remain with the family in Leigh. In time Angela was married in Leigh Church. Dick Wood's wife did not live to see the article written, but both sisters stayed in touch with him over the years, by letter and by visiting, and by then each had children of her own.