September 3 passed with barely a mention of this country's declaration of war on Germany 65 years ago.

To the youngsters of today this is, of course, history but to those of us who were alive then it is a day that remains in our memories.

Therefore it was good to see Simon Lillywhite's feature "As Brighton woke up to war one Sunday" (The Argus, September 4).

I was of a similar age to the children depicted and attended Taunton House School in Stanford Avenue as a boarder.

The boarding part of the school was evacuated to Somerset in the summer of 1940 while the day school continued to operate in Brighton.

How naive the Government must have been in 1939 to think Brighton was a safe haven from the expected bombing of London for these children.

When the very real threat of invasion became apparent the following year, many children were evacuated from Brighton. The beaches were mined and barbed-wired, gaps were blown in both piers and a curfew was imposed.

The district became a prohibited area and a pass was needed to enter.

Policemen would board the buses as they entered the area to inspect identity cards and to make sure that only authorised persons were allowed to proceed.

Simon is wrong in one respect, namely in saying a train-load of evacuees steamed into Brighton.

They would, in fact, have arrived on the relatively new electric trains which were painted in the olive green livery of the Southern Railway Company.

-Peter Bailey, Brighton