Welcome Home

by Margaret Dickinson

  ‘Edie – and Lil – how fortuitous,’ Jessie greeted them, her hands spread wide in welcome. ‘I was thinking of coming round to see you two.’

  ‘She always did use big words where a simple one would do,’ Edie muttered in Lil’s ear. ‘Though I expect she’d say “would suffice”.’

  Lil had difficulty in stifling her laughter as Jessie gave up her position and came to stand by them. She was wearing a kind of uniform; a green tweed coat and skirt and a matching felt hat with a red band. ‘I’ve joined the Women’s Voluntary Service and we need more volunteers, you know,’ Jessie was saying, ‘and I thought you two would be just perfect.’ She nodded towards Lil and added, ‘Your sister, Norma, has already joined us.’

  Lil pulled a face. ‘Getting everyone organized, is she?’

  Jessie chuckled. ‘She’s trying.’

  ‘Oh, very trying, I’d say,’ Lil muttered.

  ‘But I bet she’s no match for you, Jessie, is she?’ Edie put in.

  ‘Absolutely not, Edie. We’ll be very busy if they evacuate all the kiddies like they’re saying might happen. Will you send Reggie, Edie?’

  Edie shook her head firmly. ‘No, he’ll stay at home with me.’

  Jessie pulled face. ‘You ought to think about it seriously. Grimsby’ll be right in the line of fire, if you ask me. Anyway, there’s no reason why the two of you can’t help out now and again. Do come along some time.’

  ‘We’ll see,’ was all Edie and Lil would promise. ‘We’ve got a wedding to organize, Jessie.’

  ‘I heard,’ Jessie smiled, ‘but I’m still waiting to be asked.’

  Edie chuckled. ‘Don’t hold your breath for an official invite, Jessie. Printed ones cost money. Just take it that you and Harry are invited.’

  Impishly, Jessie said, ‘And would you like me to extend the invitation to your Norma when I see her, Lil?’

  Lil sighed. ‘Aye, you might as well. I suppose she’ll have to come.’

  The three women glanced at one another and began to laugh.

  Five

  On Sunday, 3 September, a sunny, sultry day, Britain officially declared war on Germany and Laurence sent word that he would not be able to attend the wedding; he was likely to be amongst the first British soldiers to be sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force. A cloud settled over the family, not only because the whole country’s fears had been realized, but also because Laurence would not be with them for their special day.

  ‘It’s starting,’ Edie moaned to Archie. ‘My wonderful family’ll be split up before we know it. They want to evacuate the youngsters. Jessie came round last night and she was telling us that a lot have gone already, but where are they sending them, that’s what I’d like to know? I’m not letting Reggie go to live with strangers.’

  ‘They’re not going far,’ Archie tried to console her, but he had his own worries, concerns he had not yet shared with his wife. Just what was going to happen to his livelihood now? The North Sea and beyond would be an even more dangerous place. ‘It’s true some are going to Derbyshire,’ he went on, trying, for the moment, to concentrate on Edie’s anxieties. ‘But a lot are only going as far as Skegness, Alford or Spilsby or even just into the Wolds. Reggie could stay relatively near home, just so long as he’s out of the town.’

  ‘It’ll be far enough. Transport to get to see him will be difficult.’ Edie paused and then asked in a small voice, ‘You think I should send him?’

  ‘To be honest, love, I don’t know. Let’s just see how things work out, eh? He can always go later.’

  ‘I don’t know whether he can. They’re already saying that if they miss the first evacuations, they might not have the chance again.’

  Archie put his arm around his wife’s shoulders. ‘Let’s not worry about it now. In fact, let’s not worry about anything except enjoying this wedding.’

  ‘I can’t now. Not when Laurence won’t be with us.’

  ‘Just try, Edie love. For Frank and Irene’s sakes, just try.’

  When the news had reached them from Laurence, Frank had sought out Reggie. ‘You’ll have to be my Best Man now. Think you can do it?’

  ‘Of course I can – if you tell me what I’ve got to do.’

  Frank laughed. ‘Stick close to me and make sure I don’t run away at the last minute.’

  Reggie blinked and asked solemnly, ‘You’re not going to, are you?’

  ‘Of course I’m not. I want to marry Irene more than anything in the world and, if I’m likely to get called up, then the sooner, the better. By the way, has Mam said whether she’s going to send you into the country with the rest of the kids?’

  Reggie shrugged. ‘She’s not said owt, though I reckon Dad thinks she ought to.’

  Frank squeezed his brother’s shoulders. ‘You wouldn’t be far away. Anyway, let’s forget all about that. We’ve got a wedding to enjoy first. Oh, and you have to keep the ring safe. I’ll give it to you when we get to the church. You have to hand it to me in the service.’ Reggie nodded, feeling important.

  ‘Oh, you look beautiful, Irene,’ Shirley said, as the three girls readied themselves in Irene’s bedroom on the morning of the wedding. ‘That dress fits you a treat. You’ve got such a lovely figure.’

  ‘And you don’t look so bad yourself,’ Irene said. ‘Your hair looks really pretty, curled up like that. And you’re getting a very nice shapely figure too.’

  Shirley blushed, whilst Beth grimaced comically. ‘More than can be said for me. I can’t seem to get any voluptuous curves, however much of Mam’s cooking I put away.’

  ‘Thanks for doing my hair, Beth,’ Shirley said. For once, she was feeling involved with the excitement of the day. ‘I can’t seem to get it right myself. I get this side all nice and then this side seems to flop.’

  ‘When you leave school, chérie, I’ll treat you to a perm,’ Beth promised. ‘Now, Irene, it’ll soon be time we were leaving. Let’s have a last look at you. Dad’ll be round in a minute.’

  Archie was to give Irene away.

  ‘You were Tom’s best friend, Archie,’ Lil had said. ‘It’s what Irene and I both want – and it’s what he would have wanted too.’

  Irene was wearing a full-length, long-sleeved gown of ivory satin with a heart-shaped neckline and a small train. She had a full-length veil, held in place by a pearl tiara, and was carrying a bouquet of pale pink roses and fern.

  ‘You look amazing,’ Beth said now, a catch in her voice. Even Shirley had tears in her eyes. She envied both Irene and Beth their good looks, but they were both doing their best to show her how to make the most of herself.

  ‘Come on, Shirley. Time we were going.’

  They all enjoyed the day; even Norma unbent enough to accept a glass of sherry and then seemed to be laughing rather loudly.

  ‘Is your Aunty Norma drunk, d’you reckon?’ Frank asked his new wife.

  Irene giggled, a little tipsy herself. ‘I wouldn’t know, though I’ve never seen her laughing like that before. And just look at Mum’s face. It’s bright red. I think she’s had one too many.’

  ‘Come on, let’s leave them to it.’ Frank squeezed her hand. ‘Time we were going.’

  Frank had splashed out on a couple of nights in a nice hotel in Cleethorpes and he had no intention of wasting a minute of the money it had cost him. It wasn’t far away but distant enough to make them feel they were really on honeymoon. The couple made their farewells and left in a taxi to the sound of everyone’s good wishes ringing in their ears.

  As the vehicle drew away, only Edie said sorrowfully, ‘Another one of my family gone.’

  ‘Come on, Mam,’ Beth said, linking her arm through Edie’s, ‘don’t get maudlin. They’ll soon be back and living next door. He’s not exactly gone very far, now has he?’

  ‘No, but for how long? How long will it be before Frank is called up? And I expect you’ll be the next to be off to London or somewhere to join up.’

  Beth did not answer.

 
; Immediately after the wedding, Jessie came round to see both Edie and Lil.

  ‘Now, you two, you’ll have to do some sort of war work sooner or later, so how about sooner?’

  Jessie explained everything that the members of the WVS were likely to be involved in. ‘There are plans for us to run a mobile canteen,’ Jessie told them. ‘The meals are going to be prepared in Doncaster and brought over here and then we distribute them. And thanks to Harry, I can drive.’

  Edie frowned. ‘But who are we taking meals to?’

  Jessie ticked them off on her fingers. ‘Gun crews, barrage balloon personnel – anyone stationed in and around the town, really. And then, if we do get bombed – Heaven forbid, but it’s very likely it’ll happen sooner or later – there’ll be the rescue parties to be fed and watered. And I understand that the Town Hall will be a centre for families who get bombed out and we’ll be in charge of looking after them.’

  Edie said, ‘I have to say, it sounds worthwhile work and the sort of thing we could do. What d’you think, Lil?’

  ‘I’m doing my bit, Edie,’ Lil protested. ‘I’ve still got my nets to do.’

  ‘I know, I know, but surely there won’t be so much demand for fishing nets, will there? Archie was saying he expects a lot of the trawlers will be commandeered by the Royal Navy.’

  Lil smiled. ‘Well, I was just coming to tell you summat when Jessie arrived. I saw Mr Blake from Coal Salt yesterday and he said the authorities are looking for folk to make camouflage nets and they want them just like we make our fishing nets. They’re taking on women to work in the old bus sheds in Cleethorpes, but I’ve got permission to work from home.’

  ‘Eh, Lil, that’s grand for you, duck. Me an’ Archie have been worried that your work might fall off a bit. I hope they pay you well.’ Then her face fell. ‘So, I s’pose you won’t have time for voluntary work, then? We’d make such a good team, you an’ me.’

  Lil chuckled at the thought of them walking side by side to the centre. They looked a comical pair when they were out together. Edie walked with a straight back and a stately gait, her head held high and her dark hair dressed in tight waves beneath her felt hat. Lil, whose head only came up to Edie’s shoulder trotted along at the side of her, her short, fair curls blowing in the wind.

  ‘Oh, I’ll come along, Edie. It’ll give me a break now and then from housework and the nets.’

  Edie nodded. In the early days of her marriage she, too, had made and mended nets in her backyard. However, when Archie was promoted and the children came along – the first four in fairly quick succession – she was able to give up the work and concentrate on looking after her family, which fell heavily upon her when Archie was at sea for weeks at a time. When he became a skipper, the Kelsey family could have moved to the outskirts of the town, to a bigger and better house with a proper garden at the back, but Edie loved the neighbourhood where she lived. She knew nearly everyone down the long street of back-to-back terraced houses and they knew her. Besides, she hadn’t wanted to leave Lil. And it was nice to have her sister, Jessie, living at the opposite end of the road too. There were only the two of them left now, their parents having succumbed to the dreadful Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 and 1919. The sisters were very different. Edie was a fine figure of a woman but it was Jessie who was the prettier of the two. Her sweet face was framed with dark brown curls and she was vivacious and bubbly. She’d married Harry Charlton, a soldier who had survived the carnage of the Great War, and they’d rented the very same terraced house where Edie and Jessie had grown up. Much to the sadness of both Jessie and Harry, they had no children, but Jessie had compensated for that by being involved with Edie’s growing brood. She’d always been on hand for baby-sitting duties, though always second to Lil, and had taken care of the whole family whenever Edie had been unwell or had been having another baby! And Harry had been a doting uncle-by-marriage.

  ‘So,’ Jessie prompted the two friends. ‘Can I count on you both?’

  As they glanced at each other and then nodded, Jessie beamed. ‘That’d be great and I can assign you work together, if that’s what you’d like.’

  ‘We would,’ the two friends chorused.

  The three women laughed and, with the matter settled, their thoughts turned to other topics as they sat around Edie’s table drinking tea and eating biscuits. Jessie loaded a teaspoon with sugar from Edie’s sugar bowl and then paused. ‘I suppose we’ll have to cut down on all this sort of thing.’ She was still hesitating, the spoonful hovering over her cup.

  Edie smiled and nodded. ‘Go on, Jessie. It’s not happening yet.’

  ‘But it will,’ her sister said, serious for a moment. ‘I remember the last time. I was sixteen when it started.’

  ‘And I was eighteen and courting Archie in secret. It was easy really, with him being away at sea such a lot. Mam didn’t find out for months.’

  ‘You went to work at the Victoria Flour Mills, didn’t you – in the war?’

  Edie chuckled. ‘Much to Mam’s disgust. And you weren’t much better – in her eyes anyway.’

  ‘No, she didn’t like me working at the local War Hospital Supply Depot but I so wanted to be a nurse and I thought that would be a way in, but she was against that too.’ Jessie pulled a face. ‘There wasn’t much I could do about it and by the time I was old enough not to need her permission to apply for training, the war was over. Besides,’ she shrugged, ‘I’d met Harry by then, so I ended up working in Ticklers’ jam factory. She wasn’t best pleased about that either, but it’s a lovely place to work.’ There was a pause before Jessie asked, ‘What about you, Lil?’

  Lil’s shoulders sagged as she remembered the drudgery of her young life. ‘I was at home helping my mam. She wasn’t strong and having six children hadn’t helped. I didn’t get involved with anything in the war, I’m afraid, but,’ she added with a new determination in her tone, ‘I will this time.’

  ‘That’s the spirit,’ Jessie said. ‘We’ll soon have old Adolf licked.’

  ‘What do you think we should put by?’ Edie said, her mind returning to providing for her family. ‘Food, I mean.’

  ‘I remember our mam sending me out to buy extra sugar and tea,’ Jessie said. ‘And soap. She was terrified we’d run out of soap.’

  Lil laughed wryly. ‘That didn’t bother anyone in our house. We must have been a mucky lot, looking back. No wonder I never had any friends.’

  Edie reached across the table to touch her hand. ‘You’ve got plenty of friends now, duck.’

  Lil smiled gratefully at her. ‘I think the only thing we bought extra of was Dad’s baccy. Selfish to the last, he was.’

  ‘I know what I’m going to do,’ Edie said suddenly. ‘I’m going to clear the top shelf in my pantry and put some extra things there that will keep – tins of corned beef, salmon, mebbe cocoa and tinned fruit that I can bring out on special occasions.’

  ‘Just be careful it’s not too much of any one thing, Edie,’ Jessie warned, ‘or you might get accused of hoarding.’

  Edie waved her hand dismissively. ‘That’s when you stockpile stuff – far more than you could ever need. I won’t be doing that, Jessie.’

  On the day that Edie and Lil had presented themselves at the WVS centre, they found that Jessie was already there, organizing with a cheerful firmness that had everyone following her orders without question. All except one person, who stood on her own at the back of the room, her mouth pursed in disapproval.

  ‘Oh heck! She’s here?’ Lil had muttered to Edie.

  Edie glanced around. There were several women from their street and from the surrounding area too. And then she saw Norma.

  ‘Let’s ask Jessie what she wants us to do,’ Lil said, firmly, leading the way across the busy room towards her.

  ‘Aren’t you going to speak to your sister?’

  Lil paused and glanced once more across the room before saying tersely, ‘Eventually.’

  That first day was taken up with everyone ge
tting to know each other. And gradually, Norma was included in the work, though it was obvious to Lil, if to no one else, that her sister resented anyone else taking charge. It was true what they said about leopards and their spots, Lil thought, hiding her smile. Norma had always been the bossy one even though she was two years younger than Lil.

  So, too young to be conscripted, and now also married, Frank continued to go to sea whenever he could, though as the weeks and months passed more and more trawlers stopped fishing. Many were turned into minesweepers to assist the war effort.

  The time came when Frank could no longer find regular work.

  ‘You could take him with you, Archie. You’ve still got a ship,’ Edie pleaded once more.

  ‘You know my feelings about family members on the same ship. I won’t do it, love.’

  And then, Edie broke her golden rule never to quarrel with Archie just before he put to sea. ‘You’d sooner see your own son be shot by Hitler’s Nazis than take his chances with you at sea, would you?’

  Archie had sighed heavily, patiently holding on to his resolve. ‘Edie, love, you know fishermen are a superstitious lot. I’m not, in general, but in this one thing I am. I always have been and I won’t break my rule now.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Not even for Frank.’

  Six

  ‘Archie Kelsey, if you think I’m going to let you dig up the only strip of garden I’ve got – or am ever likely to get – for a shelter then you’ve got another think coming.’

  ‘We could have moved to a better part of the town years ago,’ Archie said mildly with a twinkle in his eyes, for he knew very well what was coming next. ‘You could have had as big a garden as you wanted.’

  ‘There’s no better part of town than our street, let me tell you. I’ve lived here all me life and I aren’t going to live anywhere else. Besides, I wouldn’t leave me neighbours. Salt of the earth, they are, each and every one of them. And you know I couldn’t bear to be living anywhere else but next door to Lil. Really, Archie, fancy bringing that up again.’