The trustees of Tremayne Hall in Mylor Bridge are hoping that the memories of a wartime evacuee to the village will encourage other people to come forward to contribute to the archive centre they are compiling.

Fred Moule was evacuated to Mylor as a ten-year-old in 1944 along with his younger brother.

The evacuees were taken to a hall in the village and were inspected by various grown-ups who were picking out those they were willing to billet.

Mr Moule said: "For some reason, my brother and I were not chosen by anyone. We were the last two left; we must have looked a bit dubious to these people.

"At the last moment, a young woman with red hair arrived in the hall and, on seeing our plight, took pity on us and whisked us off to her home, a cottage in Passage Hill.

"Her mum, Carrie Rickard, had given her strict instructions not to bring home any more evacuees as she had already put up three lots since the start of war. However, Lydia - for the red-headed woman was she - chose to overlook her mother's wishes and presented us to the family in a living room lit by oil lamps. We were made welcome and were well cared for to an extent my brother and I had never experienced.

"Carrie was as good as any mother could be to us both. We, in return, never gave her any cause to regret having us."

They remained in Mylor for a year before moving back home.

They kept in touch with Carrie for many years and on March 7 each year without fail Mr Moule would receive a birthday card and a pair of socks.

In 1956, he returned to Mylor with his wife, Sylvia, and they spent a belated honeymoon with Carrie. By now, Lydia had a large family and lived in a farm house at the top of Passage Hill.

Carrie died in 1985. Every one of the boys she had sheltered from the bombing wrote in tribute to Carrie when she was dying, including one who had become an eminent surgeon in Australia.

The mud and wattle cottage with its orchard, well, chickens and pig have all gone and the site is now occupied by council houses and is known as Avallen Close.

Lydia died in January, 2007. There were 150 mourners at the funeral in Mylor Methodist Chapel.