SIR - Were you evacuated as a child during the Second World War? If so, I would like to hear from you.

I am currently writing a book on the social history of the evacuation of school children during the war, which is to be published in September 2009, on the 70th anniversary of the evacuation.

I need more stories from people who were there. If you were evacuated, what do you remember about going to the train station? What was the journey like? What was it like to experience the countryside for the first time?

Did you get on with the family you were staying with? Were you evacuated overseas, for example to Canada? And what was it like when you finally returned home?

If you weren't evacuated yourself, do you remember evacuees arriving in your town or village? What were they like? Did you feel they were very different to you and your friends? Did your experiences change the way that you thought about life in your home city?

Send your stories, long or short, to me at the address below, or e-mail them to j.welshman@lancaster.ac.uk John Welshman, Institute for Health Research, Lancaster University, Alexandra Square, Lancaster, LA1 4YT