As a boy Ken Nixson was evacuated to Devauden during WWII. He recently revisited the village to re-kindle memories of his time here and has sent an account of his reminiscences.

At the outbreak of World War Two the local council for the housing estate where our family lived installed Anderson air raid shelters in all the back gardens and trench air raid shelters in schools.

My father was drafted into the RAF as ground crew, leaving my mother with me, a six year old boy, and my brother- born in 1939. When the blitz started, we were within the target range of the German bombers, being on the outskirts of London and a few miles away from Croydon Airport, which was a base for Spitfires. Bombing was widespread and indiscriminate, with incendiary bombs used to start fires.

Air raid sirens were sounded when enemy planes were approaching and everyone took to the shelters. Rather than risk being in the house at night, we went straight into the air raid shelter at bedtime and slept on bunks. After some weeks of this, my parents decided that it was time to move away from the action, and arranged for my mother and baby brother to billet with her sister in the midlands and for me to stay with her brother and his wife at their public house in Devauden in Monmouthshire, - Harry and Bet Girling, who ran The Mason’s Arms My cousin, Jean Waidson, was also billeted there for a time and returned there later.

Life in Devauden was good, calm, measured and uncomplicated, and in some aspects rudimentary. I went to the local school - a wooden structure next to, or near the Chapel, where singing was the subject that first engaged us; to lift our spirits before the dull old stuff of the three ‘Rs’ was inflicted.

Friends that I remember were Stuart (Stewy) Steadman, Robbie Roberts and his sister Kathleen, who lived up the hill behind The Mason’s Arm’s.

After school, I quite often went down the hill to help on the farm where farmer Harris (?) let me ‘muck out’ and roll the empty churn ready for the next milking session. I also tried to be a ‘cowboy’ but was not at all successful. Perhaps I should have been on a horse.

Harry and Bet Girling during the war, and afterwards, hosted numerous members of the family at The Mason’s Arms, who were always grateful for their hospitality. They eventually gave up their tenure of Devauden’s public house and retired to Chepstow, where they lived out their remaining time and now rest in peace there.

After reminiscing about my wartime stay in Devauden my daughter, granddaughter and their other halves took me back there recently to re-kindle memories. It was a wonderful experience and I am so grateful to them for it; and to the people I met there who helped jog the memory, particularly Anthony Meredith and Gay Kenington for offering to be a conduit for these ramblings.

Thank you all so much

Ken Nixson

Ken Nixson at The Masons Arms, Devauden, June 2021