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Barry resident shares his story of Operation Pied Piper in new book

Monday, 23 February 2026 at 11:12

By Ken Watkins

A long-standing member of Barry Athletic Bowls Club, has written his life story, some 30 years after being interviewed for a television programme on Operation Pied Piper.

John Holmes was interviewed for a television programme on Operation Pied Piper, the government’s mass evacuation of children in the Second World War. John, originally from London, was among the children moved from the capital to Cornwall.

In 1995 a regional television company in Plymouth was planning a programme about the experiences of evacuees, and a friend of John contacted him after spotting an appeal for former evacuees to take part. John called the company, and was invited for an interview.

“The idea for the book, The Evacuee, A True Story, came from that television interview,” said John. “I wanted to get my story out, for schools, and for people to realise just what evacuees went through.” It wasn’t a long interview, but he was featured in the programme, and still has the video tape.

John, 91, was evacuated with his brother Sydney and sister Fay in July 1944, and they were billeted with different families. He has fond memories of two of the places he stayed in, Caerhays Castle, and Ventonweth Farm, the home of Harry and Violet Watts.

“I was lucky, everywhere I went,” said John, “apart from one who put me in the garden and hosed me down. I thought it happened once, but it was six times, according to my brother. They’d be put in prison for that now.”

The castle, where he was billeted with 23 other boys, was a world apart from what he had known in Hackney, and as well as enjoying the beauty of a country estate on the coast, it was there that a lifelong interest in cars was sparked, the castle garage being filled with some of the best motoring marques. He has since owned a number of top of the range vehicles.

At Ventonweth Farm he formed a close, lifelong bond with Uncle Harry and Aunty Vi, where he was treated as one of the family. Such was their closeness and affection that John inherited their bungalow in Cornwall after they died.

The book also details his life after the war, when his mother moved back to Wales. He worked as a miner in the Rhymney Valley, after leaving school at 15, escaping back to Cornwall on his BSA 650 motorbike as often as possible, before moving back there to work on Ventonweth Farm.

The book, written as a tribute to his late wife Liz, charts his colourful life, family, travels and business ventures, and is lavishly illustrated more than 100 photographs. The Evacuee, A True Story, price £18.00, is available from Miss Holmes and Make Me Beauty Studio in High Street, Barry and from Barry Athletic Bowls Club.

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