Source 1

Article from Owestry’s local paper, the Oswestry and Border Counties Advertiser

Transcript

BORDER COUNTIES WELCOME CITY CHILDREN

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GREAT SCHEME CARRIED OFF WITHOUT A HITCH

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MAGNIFICENT WORK BY LOCAL RECEPTION WORKERS

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The great scheme of evacuating some three million children and mother of infants under five years of age from what are regarded as vulnerable areas to less vulnerable areas came into operation on Friday.

By yesterday (Tuesday) the evacuation was practically complete. Everything proceeded “according to plan” and the whole scheme went through with such smooth precision as to call for the highest admiration for the enthusiasm and efficiency of all those taking part.

To the Border Counties have come thousands of these children and it can be said that they received a real kindly Border welcome. Oswestry as a distributing centre the arrival of some 4, 000 mothers and children for the borough and the Rural District spread over four days.

The various reception committees threw themselves into the work with whole-hearted enthusiasm and the smooth way in which the children were detrained and conveyed to their destinations by buses to the rural areas and by private motor cars in the borough is worthy of the highest praise. And not only the committees but the various urban and rural officials, the railway staffs, the bus conductors, the owners of private cars and the people who have taken the children into their homes have worked with a unity of purpose.

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1. Read Source 1. This is an article from Owestry’s local paper, the Oswestry and Border Counties Advertiser, about the arrival of evacuees.

  • Were the people of Oswestry proud of their role in the evacuation? What evidence do you have of this?
  • What does the source tell us about how the children were welcomed by the people of the town?
  • How well-run was the evacuation?