Victory for the East End Angels

by Rosie Hendry

  The film started off with the parents of an airman posted to Egypt, who were eagerly listening to the wireless on Christmas morning in the hope of hearing his voice on one of the recorded messages made by members of the services to family back home. Bella took hold of Frankie’s hand, aware of how the film must be touching her with Alastair in Egypt. She, like many people in the audience, had a loved one serving overseas and could relate to the couple on the screen waiting in hope to hear their son. But this was a film designed to raise money, and the fate of the son in the film quickly took a turn for the worse, his parents receiving a telegram that same Christmas morning to say that he was missing in action – there would be no message from him on the wireless.

  In the next scene, the parents having heard the good news a while later that their son was alive and now a prisoner of war, and in the way of all caring parents, they wanted to do all they could for him. The parents visited a Red Cross office and found out exactly where their son was being held and were shown one of the food parcels that prisoners were sent every week, the contents – which Bella was so familiar with, having packed hundreds of them over the past few years – giving the audience a good idea of exactly what their money would be spent on.

  The woman manning the Red Cross office went on to explain the shocking numbers of just how many British POWs were being held – nearly 150,000 in Europe – and that the Red Cross were spending £12,000 a day on sending out parcels, books and equipment to help them get through and survive their captivity. Bella could sense those astonishing figures having a sobering effect on the audience; no doubt many of them knew somebody who was a POW, but to know collectively just how many there were, and how much it cost to keep sending out parcels, was staggering.

  Finally in the film, the father looked straight towards the camera, seemingly out of the screen and directly to the audience, saying he was sure they would gladly help and now was their chance as there’d be a collection box going round.

  The very last shot of the film emphasised the importance of the POW parcels, showing a quote from a POW’s letter in large text across the screen. Bella read it knowing how true it was, and if any of the audience were in any doubt of the value of the Red Cross parcels this should show them how vital they were: ‘If it was not for the Red X parcels many of us would never see Blighty again.’

  The audience sat in silence for a few moments after the Red Cross appeal film finished, while the projectionist readied the main feature.

  Winnie leaned forward in her seat on the other side of Frankie. ‘If that doesn’t get people to put their hands in their pockets afterwards, then nothing will,’ she said in a voice loud enough for nearly the whole picture house to hear. ‘It could happen to anyone’s son, husband, father or brother.’

  Bella smiled at her friend who was the perfect ally to have with her, she wasn’t shy about getting the point across. ‘I hope so.’

  ‘We’ll be rattling our tins,’ Frankie added.

  Flickering on the screen announced the beginning of the feature film, and Bella settled back into her seat, ready to enjoy watching Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine as Mr Rochester and Jane Eyre.

  As the credits began to roll at the end of the film, Bella felt the familiar sense of having to pull herself back to reality; always a sign she’d enjoyed it and had been swept away from her everyday life for a while. This film had pulled her in more than usual as it was based on one of her favourite books, a story which she’d read so many times over the years, and seeing it brought to life had been a joy.

  ‘Come on, Bella.’ Frankie got up from her seat. ‘We need to get in place to take the collection.’

  The collection – of course, that was what they were there for, to collect money for the Red Cross. Bella picked up her collection tin from where she’d put it by her feet and got up from her seat at the end of the aisle. With Frankie, Winnie and Rose following, they made their way to the exits. She and Frankie would go around to the door at the other exit, while Winnie and Rose would wait with the collection tins at this one. Hurrying around to the other door they were in place just as the audience started to filter out.

  ‘Give your donations to help send more POW parcels ’ere!’ Frankie said, rattling her collection tin as the film-goers passed by.

  Bella was pleased to see that the Red Cross film had obviously touched people as most of them gave some money as they passed by and her collection tin quickly grew heavy.

  ‘My son’s a POW,’ one woman said as she put some coins in Bella’s tin. ‘I had no idea it cost so much every day to keep those parcels going. I know how important they are to him.’

  ‘My brother’s a POW, too,’ Bella said.

  The woman smiled sympathetically. ‘We won’t settle until they’re home again, eh?’

  Bella nodded. ‘In the meantime, it’s the parcels that help keep them going.’

  After Bella had handed in the collection tins to the manager of the picture house to be put in the safe ready for someone from the Red Cross to collect tomorrow, they all headed to a nearby café for tea and toast.

  ‘That Red Cross film nearly had me in tears,’ Winnie said, reaching for a piece of toast from the plate the waitress had put in the middle of the table.

  ‘It was meant to pull at your ’eartstrings,’ Frankie said. ‘That bit at the start when they were waiting to hear messages on the wireless from servicemen in Egypt . . . ’ She stopped, her voice wavering.

  ‘Made you think of Alastair?’ Bella touched Frankie’s arm.

  Her friend nodded and took a sip of tea.

  ‘The main thing is that it made people put their hands in their pockets,’ Winnie said. ‘We must have collected quite a bit and if they’re showing that film in all picture houses it’s going to bring in a lot of money to the Red Cross.’ She smiled. ‘I rather enjoyed shaking my collection tin at the audience as they came out.’

  Rose laughed. ‘You embarrassed that man who walked past without giving a donation.’

  ‘He said he’d forgotten, but at least he came back and gave some money, he’d have walked off and not given a penny if I hadn’t called after him,’ Winnie said.

  ‘You want to watch out, the Red Cross will be ropin’ you in to collect after all the films,’ Frankie said. ‘No one would dare say no to you when you’re in full flow . . . ’ She stopped as the familiar sound of the air-raid siren began its plaintive wail over the London roof tops. ‘Not again!’

  ‘Come on, grab a piece of toast,’ Winnie said, taking another piece herself. ‘We need to get to the nearest shelter.’

  Joining the throng of people flooding down into the nearest Underground station, Bella felt sick and had to fight the urge to turn around and run back out into the street. She hated going down into the depths of the Underground at the best of times and, with the air-raid siren still wailing and the imminent arrival of enemy bombers, the packed station was making her heart race and she struggled to keep calm.

  Reaching the platform, Winnie led them to some space at the far end, picking her way through the people that were already setting up with their blankets and bags ready to spend another night sheltering underground. Bella trailed behind the others and was glad when she finally sat down next to Frankie and leaned back against the cool tiled wall of the station, her legs feeling as if the bones had been removed and replaced with jelly.

  ‘My toast is stony cold now,’ Winnie said, before taking a bite. ‘Tastes all right though. Do you remember the last time we spent the night in the Underground?’

  ‘I hope no one’s going to ’ave a baby down here tonight,’ Frankie said. ‘We haven’t got Alastair here to deliver one.’

  ‘What happened?’ Rose asked.

  ‘We were out dancin’ at the Lyceum during the last Blitz, when the air-raid siren went off and we had to shelter in Aldwych Underground station,’ Frankie explained. ‘And while we were down there a woman went into labour and Alastair delivered the baby with the rest of us holdin’ up
blankets to give her some privacy.’

  ‘The mother-to-be nearly squeezed your hand off, Frankie, as I recall,’ Winnie said. ‘You had the job of assisting Alastair while the rest of us held the blankets. It was rather lovely being there when a new life came into the world, even if it was in the middle of an air raid. Do you remember how everyone cheered and clapped when the new-born baby started to cry?’

  ‘And the stationmaster brought us all a cup of tea,’ Frankie added.

  Bella listened as they told Rose about that night which had brought a mixture of emotions, from the discomfort and fear of sheltering underground in the raid to the wonder of a new baby being born. Unfortunately, that hadn’t been her only experience of Underground stations during air raids; by comparison, that night had ended well. Bella shivered at the memory of when she and Frankie had been called to Bank station during the Blitz. It had received a direct hit, killing and injuring many people, most of whom were there seeking shelter in a place they’d thought was safe but had turned out to be anything but. Some had been killed while they slept on the stilled escalators, the blast from the bomb, which had hit the booking office, hurtling down the enclosed tunnels right to the platform where people had been blown onto the rails.

  ‘Bella? Are you all right?’ Frankie’s voice brought Bella back to the present.

  She looked at her friend who was gazing at her, her blue eyes filled with concern. ‘I . . . I don’t like being down here.’ Bella told her. ‘It reminds me of what happened at Bank station.’

  Frankie nodded and linked her arm through Bella’s. ‘That was a bad night and not something you’ll forget in an ’urry, but that was exceptional and if you think of all the other nights that people have sheltered in the Underground, for the majority of the time it’s been safe, better than being out on the streets like we usually are if we’re on shift and called out.’

  ‘I know, but I just don’t like being down here so far underground . . . It makes me feel trapped.’ Bella wrung her hands together, doing her best to ignore the first crumps and thumps that began echoing through the ground from falling bombs, and the gentle patter of dust that fell like dirty snow from the ceiling of the tunnel.

  ‘Bella, do you remember . . . ’ Winnie started but was silenced by a look from Frankie. She got up and came over to where Bella was sitting and crouched down in front of her. ‘You’re awfully pale, are you feeling ill?’

  ‘She’s just feelin’ a bit uncomfortable down ’ere, that’s all,’ Frankie said. ‘Bella ain’t very fond of Underground stations in air raids ’cos she ain’t had the best experiences in them.’

  Winnie nodded, her face serious as she took hold of Bella’s hand. ‘I know, but we’ll be all right and will get out of here just as soon as we can. Hopefully this raid won’t go on for long and then we can all go back to Connie’s house for the rest of the night.’ She smiled brightly. ‘So, I’ve been wondering what we’re all going to do when this war is finally over,’ she said, changing the subject. ‘Frankie, are you planning on going back to the garment factory?’

  ‘Not if I can ’elp it,’ Frankie said. ‘I ain’t sure what I’ll do but one thing’s for sure: I’ll be making a home for Stanley to come back to, and Alastair. I suppose he’ll go back to working at the London, but as for me . . . ’ She shrugged. ‘After working for the Ambulance Service I don’t want to sit sewin’ clothes all day again, I’ll need to find something else.’

  Bella listened as her friends talked, knowing full well what Winnie was doing; she was trying to distract her, and doing her best to make being down here more bearable.

  ‘What about you, Bella?’ Winnie asked.

  ‘Well I’m not going back to my old job either,’ she said.

  ‘What did you do before?’ Rose asked.

  ‘I was a housemaid here in London, and I hated it,’ Bella said.

  Rose looked surprised. ‘I always thought you were a teacher or something like that, you’re so clever, Bella.’

  ‘I wanted to be a teacher, but after my father died I had to leave school and get a job. Working as a maid gave me a job and a home of sorts. The only good thing about it was I could read any of the books in the house library.’

  ‘So, what do you want to do next?’ Winnie asked. ‘Or should I make a guess.’ She smiled. ‘You’d like to carry on with your writing, you’re doing so well with it now, and if you could write full-time imagine what you could achieve.’

  Bella’s face grew warm. ‘Well, I’d love to write full time, but I’ll have to wait and see. What about you, Winnie, you’ve been asking us, now it’s your turn.’

  Winnie laughed. ‘I want Mac to come home so that we can live a normal married life, just that, and it would make me happier than anything else.’ She paused for a moment before going on, ‘Of course, I’m sure I’ll have to find something else to do, you know me, but what it might be I don’t know yet. Nothing with lots of rules and regulations though, you know how much I hate them.’

  ‘And there speaks the Deputy Station Officer of Station 75!’ Frankie said. ‘The woman who has strained and bent the rules more than the rest of us crew members put together.’

  They all started to laugh, and a pink bloom spread across Winnie’s peachy complexion.

  ‘What about you, Rose?’ Bella asked.

  ‘I need to find my parents,’ Rose said, her blue eyes filling with tears, ‘and then I will see.’

  Frankie put her arm around Rose’s shoulder. ‘We all hope you’ll find them and be a family again.’

  Bella nodded and smiled at Rose, who had become like a younger sister to them all since she’d come to work at Station 75. It was heart-breaking to see her so worried about her parents. She’d had no word from them for a long time and had no idea where they were now. The poor girl lived in hope that they would once again be reunited when the war finally was over.

  Chapter 6

  Winnie had just fallen into a light doze when the steady wail of the all-clear jolted her awake. Glancing at her watch she saw that it was only half past one in the morning. She stretched her back, which was aching after leaning against the cold tiles lining the platform walls, and looked around her. Bella was sitting upright, wide-awake, her arms wrapped around herself, and it was obvious from the dark smudges under her eyes that she hadn’t slept a wink. Whereas Frankie and Rose were both asleep, their heads resting against each other, Frankie’s auburn hair contrasting with Rose’s brown. They weren’t the only ones who’d managed to fall asleep – looking further along the platform, Winnie saw many huddled forms lying down or propped up against the wall, all sleeping, probably used to having to spend their nights down here. Winnie, though, wanted her own comfortable bed, and with several hours of the night still to go, she’d much sooner go home and get some proper sleep rather than trying to snatch any more down here.

  ‘Shall we go?’ Winnie whispered to Bella.

  Bella nodded and quickly stood up, clearly wanting to get out of here as soon as possible.

  After gently shaking Frankie and Rose awake, Winnie got up and stretched some more. ‘We’ll all go back and get a bit of shut-eye at Connie’s, it’ll be a lot more comfortable there,’ she whispered, rubbing her aching back. ‘We’ve got to be at work at nine and I need some better sleep before then.’

  Winnie picked her way across the platform, carefully stepping over the sleeping forms with Bella and a bleary-eyed Frankie and Rose following.

  Back at Connie’s house, Winnie organised a place for Frankie and Rose to sleep in one of the spare rooms and everyone quickly took themselves off to bed, glad of a chance to lie down properly and get some sleep before they had to report for their shift at Station 75 later that morning.

  Connie was already in the kitchen, with Bella, Frankie and Rose sitting around the table eating porridge, when Winnie went downstairs a little after eight. Trixie, who had, as usual, slept in Winnie’s room, was delighted to see everyone and threw herself at Bella, Frankie, Rose and Connie in t
urn, her tail wagging so hard that her whole body swung from side to side.

  ‘Good morning,’ Connie said cheerfully as she poured out a cup of tea from the bone china teapot and put it in front of Winnie as she sat down at the table. Trixie plonked herself by her side, having completed her greetings, and leaned against her mistress’s legs.

  ‘Mornin’, Winnie, thought we were goin’ to have to come and wake you up,’ Frankie said, smiling at her.

  ‘I could still do with more sleep,’ Winnie said, running her hand through her honey-blonde hair which hung loose around her shoulders as she hadn’t yet put it into its usual rolled style that she wore at work.

  ‘We all could.’ Bella scooped up the last of the porridge from her bowl. ‘I just hope we don’t get a raid tonight, so we can catch up on a bit of sleep later.’

  ‘Would you like some porridge?’ Connie asked Winnie.

  ‘Yes, please. Were you all right here last night, Connie?’

  ‘Absolutely, I was a lot more comfortable than all of you in the Underground.’ Connie always sheltered in the large cupboard under the stairs during air raids, which they’d made comfortable with a mattress. ‘I had a rather surprising telephone call before the siren went off, heard some wonderful news.’

  Winnie looked at her godmother who was clearly bursting to share the news. ‘What is it?’

  Connie handed Winnie a bowl of porridge and sat down at the table opposite her. ‘Well, it was Harry, he telephoned to tell me that he’s going to be a father! He and Meredith are expecting their first child in August,’ she said happily. ‘He’s quite over the moon about it.’

  Winnie was lost for words for a moment – her brother was going to be a father. After all he’d been through, having been badly burned when his Spitfire was shot down during the Battle of Britain, this was a lovely thing to happen for him, he would make a wonderful father. ‘That’s marvellous. James would have been delighted. He’d have made a smashing uncle. Is Meredith well?’