MEMORIES of evacuees who were brought to live in Cockermouth at the outbreak of World War Two are being shared as part of Local History Month.

Retired teacher and author Gloria Edwards and Cockermouth Heritage Group have published accounts of some of the children who were taken in.

Joan Shorthouse, who was evacuated from the North East, has happy memories of her time living with Miss Peel, who was headteacher of Fairfield Infants' School at the time.

She spoke of her time at Sunday school and remembered the old court house where Cockermouth Harmonic Society used to practise.

"I used to go with Miss Peel, and used to sit in the small witness box. I was always armed with books, pencils, and drawing paper, so was never bored. I always think of that when I hear the ‘Messiah’, especially the ‘Hallelujah Chorus."

To accommodate the influx of children, school attendance was split between mornings and afternoons, with each session lasting three and a half hours.

Elsie Hayton said her school had "swollen" with the number of evacuee children.

"We all had to carry our gas masks to school in case of the sirens ringing to show an air-raid was taking place," she said. "Anyone with a spare room was asked to help by taking in one or more children, many of whom had been through air-raids. Shelters had also been built for people, more especially for night-time raids."