At the end of August 1940 the Dutch steam passenger ship Volendam was en route to Canada with over 300 evacuee children on board when it was torpedoed late in the evening by a German U-boat in the Atlantic.

Miraculously, everyone survived with the exception of the ship's purser who fell between the ship and lifeboat while rescuing the children. Three weeks later a similar ship the SS City of Benares carrying more evacuee children to the same destination wasn't so lucky and many children perished.

Reginald Booth's late wife Alice and her older sister Betty from Newcastle upon Tyne were two of the lucky children on the Volendam.

"Alice wrote an account of her 'adventure' on the Volendam and kept their luggage tags, photographs, telegram and letter from the Children's Overseas Reception Board who organised the travel", said Reginald, 88, from Poole who met his wife at a Poole dance hall.

Alice Orr was ten years old and her sister Betty, 12, when their mother decided to send them to Canada to stay with her brother Wilf and his wife Emma, "after one night when a string of bombs had been dropped across the park across the road from where they lived, and a huge amount of road landed on our flat roof", said Alice's account.

"I resisted fiercely but to no avail. Arrangements were made with the Children's Overseas Reception Board. Goodbyes were said to all the family. I remember my father's eyes full of tears and he could not actually say goodbye".

She was still arguing about not wanting to go as they went to catch the train to Liverpool with their mother and her helper Cissie.

Alice's brother Thomas had just reached the age of 14, the school leaving age, when war was declared so stayed behind to become an electrical engineering apprentice.

"A very nice young Canadian lady was in charge of our small group from Tyneside on this beautiful new ship. Betty and I were allocated a four berth cabin with curtained bunks and wash basins. The dining room was immense. I remember beautiful sweeping staircases and a grand piano which we passed on our way to our cabin. We were all issued with life jackets and we were taught how to use these and had a lifeboat drill. Many children had birthdays at tea time and lovely birthday cakes were produced", continued the account.

On the second night they went to bed as the grand piano played 'Begin the Beguine'. They were woken by a tremendous boom. They had been torpedoed.

"My sister had difficulty pulling me out of the top bunk and ramming my life jacket over my head as I was by then very sea-sick. There was only emergency lighting and by the time we tried to join the others of our group we could see only the end of the crocodile as they headed for the lifeboats".

The ship was listing as they sat in the lounge in their pyjamas and nighties waiting for instruction. Once on a lifeboat,

"It was very dark and I remember rough seas. I was at the bottom of a pile of children. My sister was unable to see me but kept calling my name and I could hear her".

On reaching a Norwegian ship nearby, Alice who was suffering badly with sea sickness, and other small children were lifted up to the ship in a huge banana basket. The ship had to zig zag across the ocean to avoid further U-boat attacks.

When they arrived in Scotland they were transferred to an old school building in Glasgow and were given old clothes to wear. Many of the children were interviewed and filmed by the press and a large article appeared in the Evening Chronicle.

Their parents received a telegram informing them their children had been rescued. An offer of another ship to take them to Canada was turned down because Alice refused to go and their mother would not allow just one girl to go alone.

"Alice was very proud of being a Geordie and would occasionally mention to family and friends her experience on the Volendam and how lucky they were to survive"

Alice moved to Oakdale after her sister got married in Poole. Reginald and Alice got married in 1951 and had three children. Alice was a short hand typist and worked as a receptionist at a couple of Bournemouth hotels. She also worked at Barclays International and the Southern Ocean Shipyard.

During the war Reginald served in the Merchant Navy. He was then a police sergeant in the Poole area for many years before becoming a fisheries inspector. Reginald and Alice were married for 64 years before she sadly died in 2014.