Irene Greene – A member of staff during WW2

Irene Greene recently contacted the College after reminiscing about her childhood. Irene was a girl of 14 when the bombs started falling in London. She was evacuated to Liphook, working for a short time at Milland House, where the students of Shoreham Grammar School were evacuated. Irene now lives in Lancaster, California and here she shares her memories:

“In WW2 my family was evacuated to Liphook. My mother took care of twenty two little evacuees, including my three younger sisters. They were housed in a huge barn at Milland House. I think it was used for dances etc. as it had a very nice wooden floor. Mrs Thompson was still in residence at that time. Some time after, she passed away and Shoreham Grammar School moved in to Milland House. Having had no experience, I took a job as a dining room maid at the house. Those young boys were just great, always so happy. I had no uniform so my older sister gave me one of hers from Woolworths. Well she was about two inches shorter than me so you can imagine how it looked with my long legs! But it just had to do for the time being. So, the boys all called me “shorty”. The only name I remember of the boys was Milner. I expect they were all called up later to fight for their country. I often think of those times and wonder how many of those lovely young fellows made it safely home…..”