An Exmoor author and screenwriter has written a book about evacuees during the second world war.

Alan Hines, who shares his time between the UK and America, was inspired to write the book by the vivid recollections of those who were evacuated to Timberscombe.

On the first weekend of September 1939, just before Britain declared war on Germany, 1.5 million British schoolchildren and mothers with children under the age of five were taken by train from the large cities most likely to be attacked. They were billeted in private homes in rural villages across England. That first weekend, 40 of them were placed in the Exmoor village of Timberscombe.

Some are in their nineties, yet they remember: separating from their parents, not knowing if they would see them again, boarding trains at Paddington Station in London, no one sure about where they were being taken.

Their recollections include the young boy from the East End who was run down by a lorry on a country road, and being a boy scout under the tutelage of an elegant lady from the nobility, and the German plane that crashed in a nearby field.

They also recall the smartly-tailored villager who made an impression on each of them with his knowledge of birds and insects and the names of plants and constellations - sights in the natural world a boy from the East End of London could have never imagined.

More than 175 evacuees were brought to Timberscombe over the course of the war. Only a few are still living. In this book by Alan Hines, their first-hand accounts create an intimate portrait of a small Somerset village during wartime, its people and the evacuees who lived among them.

‘Miles From Home: Evacuees in Timberscombe During the Second World War’ by Alan Hines is available as an Ebook and paperback on Amazon.

Alan, who is a bellringer, is author of the novel Square Dance (HarperCollins) and a screenplay adapatation of the book which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Other screenplay credits include Guilt by Association, Ambulance Girl, and The Interrogation of Michael Crowe, which received a Peabody Award. Visit Alan’s website at: https://alanhines.com