Before The Last All Clear - Softcover

Some recall it as the greatest adventure of their lives. For others, being a wartime evacuee was a nightmare. These are the witty yet deeply poignant memories of a man still haunted by the cruelties he endured. During World War II, around three and a half million British children were evacuated away from possible air raids in the big cities in one of the largest social upheavals Great Britain has ever seen. One of those children was Ray Evans. This is the story of a young evacuee from Liverpool sent to live in the Welsh town of Llanelli. Separated from his mother, brothers and sisters, six-year old Ray was dispatched to a series of families who ignored, exploited and brutalised him. Pushed from pillar to post, he finally finds happiness with a family who make him so welcome that he is reluctant to leave when war ends. Set in a world of ration books, air-raid sirens and ever-present danger, this is a candid and direct account of wartime Britain as seen through the eyes of a child.

Born in Liverpool, England in 1933 into a family of 7, Ray Evans was evacuated to the South Wales town of Llanelli at the outbreak of World War Two. He remained there until the cessation of hostilities in 1945, when he and his family were returned to Liverpool to re-build their family and their lives. Despite his initial dislike of being in South Wales and Llanelli, he grew to love the beautiful Welsh countryside and learned firsthand of the love and genuine warmth of the Welsh people. Ray returned to Liverpool and his own family at the end of the war when he was 12. After finishing school, he initially worked as a Cook's apprentice and then at Hanson's Dairy before leaving to serve 2 yrs National Service in the Royal Army stationed in Egypt. After his return form Egupt Ray met and in 1956 married his wife Lilian they have one son and a daughter. In 1964 Ray started a wholesale clothing business, he and Lilian ran the business together until 1995, when they moved to the USA to be closer to their daughter and grandaughter. Shortly after arriving in the US Ray began writing the book at the suggestion of his daughter and with Lilian's encouragement, to help preserve the stories for their other grandchildren living in UK and for future generations to come. The first edition of Before the Last All Clear was published in 2005, with a second edition (which was voted the #1Readers Choice in the Welsh Book Council's Wales Reads program) published in August 2008 and subsequently being self-published by Ray on Kindle in 2011. Both print editions are currently out of print, a 3rd updated edition with newly discovered photos and a full glossary (to explain the British'isms) will be published in early 2014. The most common question Ray gets asked at book signings and events is, "what happened after the war?" That inspired him to write the next part of his memoir "All I Want Is A Peaceful World...and A Pork Pie!" published on Kindle in November, and in paperback December 2013. In the process of writing both the books, Ray came to realize more than ever before, how the importance of having a home had impacted his life during the evacuation and far beyond. He supports many related charities by actively participating in fund raising events. Ray blogs at www.RayEvansAuthor.com.