A SECOND World War evacuee who was sent to Blaenavon is to return to the town to visit the house in which she stayed, as well as meet faces from the past.

Ann Seale, 75, was just four and a half when she was sent by train from her home, which she shared with six siblings and her parents in Dover, to Blaenavon.

Authorities sent children away to the countryside that was deemed safer as war broke out.

On arrival Mrs Seale clung to her older sister, Brenda, and finally, after a day of waiting for a family to choose them, the authorities handed them over to American Anson Powell, a widower who lived in a large house called Edlogan.

Mrs Seale has fond memories of the house and the housekeeper, Sarah, and she got used to the privileged lifestyle. She said: “In 1940, we spent our first Christmas there and it was like no other we had ever experienced. On Christmas morning we awoke to so many presents that I became hysterical with excitement, so half of them had to be locked in the music room.”

Mr Powell owned a grocer shop and a cake shop and was one of the wealthiest people in the town. For a while, following the death of Mr Powell’s sister-in-law Rose, Mrs Seale was sent to live in a farmhouse.

She recalls that life there was different to that at Mr Powell’s and she found it dark and scary at night.

Once she woke up to find she was on her own, later discovering that the owners, Mr and Mrs Davies, were only in the nearby barn, but she panicked and jumped through a glass window, cutting her arms and legs. After this she was taken back into the care of Mr Powell.

She went to school but her memories are sketchy.

She said: “I do remember being taught the Welsh National Anthem, which I remember even now.”

The house, on Cwmavon Road, is now a bed and breakfast owned by Peter and Kathy Williams. Mrs Seale will be returning to stay at the property in July.

She added: “I have an interest in returning after I saw that the house was now a bed and breakfast and I could actually stay there.”

Mrs Seale hopes to meet with anyone who remembers her from her stay in Blaenavon, on July 21 at the Edlogan bed and breakfast.

If you wish to contact her, call 01843 863649.