From Norway to England!

It is only 1 week till Christmas Eve, so today I will write something about that topic, but also something about world war two.  Christmas is about spending time together and having a good time. Each year  Norway is giving away a Christmas tree to England  The tree is given as a gesture of friendship between the countries and gratitude for the help that the British gave to Norway during the Second World War.

In June 1940, ships of the  Royal Navy evacuated  King Haakon VII from Norway. They took  the King and the Norwegian government to London, where they stayed until May 1945.

The City of Oslo sends a very large Norway Spruce to the City of London every Christmas as a gesture of their gratitude for rescuing their King one step ahead of the Germans, and giving him and his government hospitality during their stay. Under world war two  around 10,000 Norwegian men and women died because of the war. Around 700 of these were Jews sent to concentration camps in Germany and Poland.



Trafalgar Square Christmas tree

Second part of homework

The story I read was about how it was to be a child under world war two.

It was a story about a boy  that was  evacuated to somewhere away from London but no-one, not even the parents knew where ! He could only take his gas mask,clothes and food.  He was ten and a half years old and without a brother or sister for comfort and support.... the oldest child taken with this train was about 14 and the youngest only 5, some were unaccompanied too ! Babies and pregnant mothers were mixed in this train and it was a non corridor train too!

The Evacuation was the greatest single movement of population in history, a decision taken only the day before in which ultimately 3,500,000 children would be taken away from their homes to avoid the  bombing and gas raids we had been told would come on the very first day.( German started with Poland, first of September 1939.)

All the children ended up at a little village in Somerset called Uphill. There they were taken to a large school recreation field, lined up  checked for head lice and after they got their foster parents . Just think about how awful it was. Meeting some strangers without your parents  and not knowing when u're going to meet them again.  The best and cleanest children were chosen first ! Some children didn't understand---they thought they’d been sent away because they have been naughty ! 

This boy was very lucky, his foster parents were a childless couple who treated him  wonderfully.  He was with this family for about 9 months and after this, he still had contact with this family,and now  his foster mother is 94.



-Ewa