Family: Yorkshire gave my family friendship and kindness, says evacuee Mary Dyson

Nov 4 2009 By Hilarie Stelfox

MARION DYSON (Upson as she was then) grew up on the peaceful island of Guernsey.

"We had little knowledge of the outside world,’’ she says.

"My father worked in a tomato vinery and we lived in a tied cottage. I was the youngest of six – three brothers and three sisters.’’

But in 1940, nearly a year after war was declared, her idyllic childhood came to an abrupt end.

Following the Battle of Dunkirk, in June 1940, residents of the Channel Islands started to make plans for evacuation.

"A lot of French people came to our island to get away from the Germans and the families on the islands had to choose between being evacuated or staying,’’ said Marion.

"The people who decided to stay ostracised those who wanted to go away. But, as it turned out, the people who stayed behind were on the verge of starvation when they were liberated, so if we’d all remained things would have been much worse.’’

On the day of their evacuation, Marion recalls the family had to leave with only a change of clothing.

"We left everything else behind. All my toys, even the Bible I got from Sunday School. We just closed the door and left," she explained.

Marion’s two older brothers were already serving in the army – the eldest was taken prisoner at Tobruk, but survived to be repatriated – and her eldest sister, who was married with two young children, had been evacuated with her family to Bolton.

"My younger brother decided to stay in Guernsey, but after the occupation he was sent to Sark to do manual labour,’’ she explained. The rest of the Upson family were sent to Huddersfield.

"We arrived in the middle of the night,’’ Marion remembers.

"We were taken to Moldgreen Chapel. All the names of the rooms were written in French as the voluntary helpers didn’t realise that we were English!’’

After a few weeks the Upsons were billeted with the Howarth family in Dalton. The Howarths, Marion recalls, had a fruit and vegetable stall and were connected in some way with the Princess Cinema in Northumberland Street.

"Mr Howarth used to take me to the cinema every morning when he was checking to see if the cleaners had done their job,’’ she said.

"We were very fortunate because we were well looked after, but after some months we and some other Guernsey families were moved into a square of condemned houses in Newsome.

"People were very kind and gave us furniture so that we could make a home for ourselves. We literally had nothing of our own,’’ said Marion, who attended Stile Common School.

Thanks to the efforts of the Salvation Army, Marion was reunited with her eldest sister, who also came to live in Huddersfield.

Although the family could have returned to Guernsey after the war ended, Marion’s father, by this time a mill worker, was in poor health and it was decided that they would stay.

Marion met her husband-to-be, Ken Dyson, while training to be a nurse at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. He was a patient. They were married when they were both 21 and have been together for more than 60 years.

Ken is a former teacher and lecturer in construction.