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VE Day for Jim signalled that he could return to Birmingham after a very happy time at Shooting Butts Camp in Staffordshire, where he stayed whilst Britain was at war.

Jim was born in January 1931 and lived in Ladywood in Birmingham, above his father鈥檚 pub. When the war broke out, the pub received a direct hit and he remembers being trapped in the cellar for days before they were rescued.

At the age of ten, he was evacuated for four years to Shooting Butts; a boarding camp for boys in Penkridge Bank in Staffordshire. He really enjoyed his time there.

They kept pigs at the camp and spent a lot of time outdoors, where they were taught their lessons and for recreational time. They were taken to Rugeley to go to the cinema and spent time at Cannock Chase.

He said the teachers were excellent professionals and made it a happy place for him to live. He doesn鈥檛 ever recall any bullying and just thought it was a lovely environment to be in.
He kept in touch with his parents who would write to him and his father visited when he was granted a period of leave from the war.

At the age of 14, the war had ended and everybody left the camp to go back to their families. However, he said that some of the children didn鈥檛 have any parents to go back to because they had been killed in the war.

Tim said his goodbyes to the teachers and moved into a new flat with his mother in Birmingham. He was a little disappointed to be leaving because he had to go back to reality.
He recalls that the priority of the parents was to make sure their children were safe and the camp was a safer environment than being in the city of Birmingham.

Tim thinks of his time at the camp as a holiday and remembers it as being one of the happiest times of his life.

He really enjoyed his time at Shooting Butts and believes that more than anything, it gave a lot of children from poorer backgrounds an idea of what they could be and how they could have a better life than they were used to.

Image: Victory parade in Birmingham

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