Lotte Moore's Story On A Child Evacuee Turned Into A Play

The world of rationing, bombs and blackouts through the eyes of a child

Local author Lotte Moore, who is still writing books despite turning 82 this month, is very excited that one of her best loved stories, Lotte's War, is to be staged at the Tabard Theatre.

Adapted by Nick Bromley and renamed 'A Child's War' the play tells the story of a little girl and her childhood in Britain during World War Two.

It will play at The Tabard Theatre from 20-24 March , at 11 am and 2 pm.

Lotte hopes it will hold appeal for both children (7-11years) and those who grew up in the War. School groups are also welcome to attend.

The play has been described as "an accessible first hand account of a childhood facing the perils of war with a mixture of innocence, fear and fun."

Lotte, who only started publishing books in her sixties, now has seventeen children's books under her belt, and four adult books, including her autobiography, Snippets of a Lifetime.

She is a regular speaker at local schools and organisations and reckons that she has given more than 90 talks.

Lotte was born in Maida Vale in 1936. Her very early childhood was spent on a farm in Essex. She recalls her excitement at the advent of electricity and her mother's joy in acquiring a fridge. She recalls seeing some 'big ugly grey barrage balloons' in the sky in 1939 and the worried conversation of the grown ups.

"Dad told me there was a war with Germany but I didn't understand. I kept saying 'what is a war?' she told chiswickw4.com

Her father joined the Royal Air Force and soon life changed for the family and the neighbourhood. American airmen were billeted nearby and often came to the house to use their running water.

As a child, Lotte was not fully aware of the dangers and struggles around her until she was evacuated to Herefordshire with her brother. She was only four years old and missed her parents terribly. Nobody had ever fully explained to the children why they were now living in a school in the countryside with very little contact with families, apart from an occasional postcard or letter.

Her time at school was filled with activities, swimming, wandering through the fields, and being kept busy by the school owners. She recalls the awful food they were given including , tapioca ("we called it frog spawn"), Spam and corned beef. And the horrible medicines, Virol and Scott's Emulsions, which they were forced to take for vitamins.

As a treat for having been ill, her grandmother came to take Lotte to her home in Hammersmith for a visit. They walked in darkness from the tube station, her grandmother using a torch, and came upon the smoldering ruins of a house, flattened by a bomb. Her grandparent's house also had its windows blown out by a bomb, but fortunately they were not inside.

While back in London, Lotte found it difficult to adjust to having the 'black out' because in Herefordshire, they were allowed to keep the blinds open and were relatively untouched by the war. Lotte's grandfather, AP Herbert, had been in the Navy in the First World War and befriended Winston Churchill. He trained thousands of volunteers to hold patrols along the Thames.

In 1943, Lotte's parents decided to move to Kent and the children were brought back home. They lived in a big house which had underground caves nearby, which were turned into bomb shelters. While the children got used to being in the shelters, playing games and even sleeping there, they were exposed to the losses experienced by local people whose homes were bombed or who had family members killed.

Lotte's family were friends with important politicians, literary people, and the celebrities of the day, (Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, HE Bates, W H Auden, Benjamin Britten) but she was often lonely and turned to writing to express herself.

When she became a teenager she decided to concentrate on dance and was selected by the Royal Ballet School to be a ballerina. However she grew too tall and was later rejected, turning to acting and later writing which she finds very fulfilling. She married husband Chris when she was aged 38 and he is very supportive of her career, patiently typing her hand written manuscripts. Sadly, her parents died before her writing career flourished.

Lotte and the cast are urgently looking for two props for the play. They would like anyone who could loan a gas mask, or a small wooden wartime radio, to get in touch with the theatre.

Tickets are £10 adults, £6 children. The show is 50 minutes long.

Tabardtheatre.co.uk or 0208 995 6035

Anne Flaherty

March 14, 2018