Memories of an evacuee’s time in Barnwood, Gloucester by David Jones

We love hearing about individual peoples experiences in history. So obviously we were very excited when Peter Jones sent us the story of his fathers experience of being an evacuee.

Photograph of David Jones and a local girl called Bobbie Peckham

My name is Peter Jones, I live in Gloucestershire. My dad David Jones was born on 12 March 1932 to parents William and Laura Jones (nee Hill) in Nechells, Birmingham. He was one of eight children and when war came in September 1939 they were evacuated to Barnwood in Gloucester. His two older siblings were of working age and stayed in Birmingham. Here follows his story (my comments in italics).

Uncovering Queer Stories at Gloucestershire Archives

Last year we hosted two workshops with artist Tom Marshman looking at uncovering queer stories within our collections. For LGBTQ+ history month I want to share two of these stories with you.

It can sometimes be difficult to uncover the stories of LGBTQ+ people throughout history, due to the stigma and laws prosecuting people who identified under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. We started our search by looking though Gloucestershire newspapers, and this is how we found both Chummy and Charley Wilson.