J was 13 when she boarded the train for Scarborough beach. With a brief goodbye to her parents, she left with her sister.
"I knew there was maybe some trouble," Miss Blah explained.
"But I didn't properly understand the extent of what was happening."
She was relocated, along with her classmates, to hotels on the seafront.
"It was deeply saddening." She whispered, shaking her head in disbelief. "But an adventure, as this was all new and exciting!"
After seven months, she was moved to a house in Selby. For the first time, she was alone.
J continued high school with little time to adjust.
She missed home constantly, her mother especially; but she knew that her family were not coming to visit.
"They couldn't afford the train fare, so it was 2 years before I saw them again."
After the 2 years she arrived home, only to be greeted by her father.
She was told her mother had died during a bomb raid whilst she was away.
At age 15, she'd lost the person closest to her.
"It was just my father and me from now on, but we had to get on with life."
Thrust into adulthood, Joan learnt to be independent quickly.
"I had no idea what this would involve. But it has made me a better person, and I can handle anything."
