Plaistow man writes musical about family's WW2 evacuation

Ron Gletherow, who now lives in Connecticut in the US, wrote Evacuees over two years during the pandemic. He then travelled back to the UK for one month to record the vocal parts for the musical with his own family members, before publishing the musical online.

Ron Gletherow took three years to write and publish his radio play with music (Image: Ron Gletherow)

Ron said: "I was born and raised in Plaistow, but my family originally came from Canning Town, east London. 

"I had always been interested in the story of when the children were evacuated from London at the start of the Second World War, which became known as Operation Pied Piper, and particularly my own family's involvement in that story.

"That story had been passed on to me by my mother and my older siblings, in particular my eldest sister, Violet, the oldest of the three evacuees in the story."

Evacuees begins in the summer of 1939 when Ron said rumours of Britain being on the verge of war with Germany were "rife" in Canning Town.

Alongside whispers of food rationing, Ron said rumours were circulating about the evacuation of children and vulnerable people from London.

Ron explained that, as part of Operation Pied Piper, parents would send their children to school each day with a packed lunch and change of clothes in preparation for evacuation. But, for safety reasons, they were not told when or where the children would be taken.

Violet Morgan, Edie Howsego, Ron Gletherow and George Gletherow are the four remaining Gletherow siblings (Image: Ron Gletherow)

Children were sent to school each day, and would come back home, until one day they did not.

Ron continued: "I formed a timeline from all of the things I'd been told.

"All of the incidents that occur in the story really happened, including my mother's race to the station on the day of the evacuation, and arriving too late, just to see the train pulling out with my young sisters on board."

Ron's three sisters on board the train were just 5, 6 and 7 at the time.

"This was never meant to be a commercial venture", Ron said. "[It was] more a labour of love, a family memoir to pass on to my children. Mainly, it was written for my two remaining sisters, Vi and Edie."

The other evacuee, Ron's sister, Sheila, died in 2004.

Ron celebrated his sister, Vi's, 90th birthday in October with the rest of his family (Image: Ron Gletherow)

Ron said he used his family members to record the vocal parts of his songs.

He added: "I couldn't use any of my friends or musical colleagues [in Connecticut] because obviously, the accent was wrong. They needed to be Cockney.

"When it was all written, after two years of the pandemic, I was finally able to travel to England to record the vocal parts I needed. I didn't have either the time or the resources to look for a professional cast, so I used my own children, grandchildren and family members to fill those roles.

"None were professional, but all surprised me with their talent and enthusiasm to help me finish my project."

Ron has published his musical in the form of three podcasts that can be listened to for free at www.evacuees.co.uk/home.