We were just in the town hall and we were selected
by various people prepared to take
young boys and girls into their house,
which was very kind of them,
and treat us as their children.
But some boys were lucky
and they were with people who were wealthy
and had nice houses.
I was selected by a couple
that were very ordinary.
Hardly had any money at all.
They certainly had never met a Jewish boy before
and I think that was difficult for them
because I couldn't eat all the food that they
provided for me.
They tried their best in getting me
backwards and forwards to the school
for half a day,
and then the other half a day was
going to the sports field.
And it was very inconvenient for them.
But they did help
to give me a roof over my head
during the Blitz on London.
And my parents were glad that I was away from it all.
But then my father used to come and visit me
once a month, which was nice.
And then I was there for 11 months when
I was due
to have my confirmation.
And you can have that in a synagogue.
And actually, there was a temporary synagogue
that Jewish people from the East End had created
in High Wycombe
that I could have gone to to have my confirmation.
But I found, I did used to go there on a Saturday,
but I found it very strange
because I didn't know anybody there
and I felt that to have my confirmation
amongst people I didn't know
would be rather miserable,
and wasn't at all happy about that.
So there wasn't much scope for religious learning
in the year that I stayed with them.
And after the year,
I decided I didn't want to stay there any longer
and so I came back to London, to my home in London,
in spite of the Blitz.
