‘I’ve never forgotten the words ‘I’ll take that one’’ Kitty Baxter recalls surviving the blitz

Plenty of people vowed to write books during lockdown. But while most projects fell by the wayside, 92-year-old Kitty Baxter’s managed to see the light of day, writes Yann Tear.

The subject matter was as close to her heart as it’s possible to be – the wartime memory of when she and her sisters Hettie and Mary were evacuated to Suffolk at the start of the Second World War.

In her book, called I’ll Take That One: An Evacuee’s Childhood, she recalls the humble but contented life she led in Camberwell at Moffat House, Comber Grove, before being packed off to a strange new world of the English countryside at the age of nine.

And all without being told they were leaving the capital indefinitely.

Moffat House still stands today, having survived the Blitz and she moved back to it after the war before moving to Brixton and then Westminster, with her late second husband Remo, which is now her home.

Her memoir also recalls that her mother – a cleaner at a Government war office – posted copies of the South London Press to her father William during the war when he was stationed in Italy.

Her work has been recognised as an invaluable social document by the BBC, among others, who recently broadcast an interview with Kitty about her wartime memories in their Witness History series.

Kitty said: “We just thought we were going out for the day. We all got on the coach at school laughing. When I got on, I turned around and waved at my mother and she was crying. I didn’t know why.”

She described life in the two-bedroom council flat as good.

“Mum and dad were there and there was no reason to be unhappy,” she said. “We lived in a big block of flats with kind neighbours. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we had a lot of love.”

When the three girls reached Ipswich, they were taken to a school where local residents turned up to foster the evacuees.

She recalls the blunt way some would say: ‘I’ll take that one’ – a phrase she never forgot, and which became the title for the book.

The trio could not be housed at the same place, but Kitty and Hettie were taken together to a fine country estate where they were given basement dwellings.

And for Kitty, the abiding memory was of seeing cows and apple trees for the first time.

Letters from her mother Hetty had failed to be passed on by the housekeeper where they stayed but they got a visit a year on from their arrival and reunited with Mary.

But it was only the first of three evacuations during the war, as the bombing during the Battle of Britain necessitated another mass exodus of children.

Kitty has two daughters. Her second husband ran a café where Kitty worked until she was 75. Mary emigrated to Australia. Hetty passed away last year.

For many years, Kitty has given talks at the Imperial War Museum about the childhood evacuation experiences.

“I feel immensely humbled by the interest and genuine fascination that these children show in that period of my life,” she said.

A few years ago, Kitty revisited her childhood home in Camberwell, and met the current residents.

“I don’t imagine many people realise now that the railings, which have been replaced, were once used as makeshift stretchers, or that the mounds in the gardens hide the shelters where we used to take cover during air raids,” she said.

“I’d love for one of these shelters to be opened up as a memorial, as I feel it’s vital that people know that they are not just part of the garden’s landscape.

“I hope my book goes some way in commemorating the life of a child during the Second World War and will contribute to people’s understanding of that time.”

 

Pictured: Kitty Baxter Pictures: Kitty Baxter