I remember King Edward’s abdication speech on the wireless and my Dad saying it was quite a shame, as he thought Edward would have been a good King, and that he should be allowed to marry whom he liked. We went to another party at the Welfare Hall, this time it was George the Sixth’s Coronation. This time I knew a little bit more about it, and did not expect the King to be there as I had done for his father King George the Fifth’s Jubilee.

Hannah and Dad went to the town and came back with the two new suits he had ordered, made-to-measure at the bespoke tailors. They were very smart, one was fawn with a fine brown fleck, making it look the colour of sand, the other was brown with a blue fleck. It became my proud job to keep Dad’s suits well brushed. He always asked Ron or me

“Which one should I wear ?”

We thought this to be quite a privilege. I always polished his shoes and took great pleasure acting as his valet, pleased to see him look so happy.

Ronnie passed his Scholarship to Grammar School, we were all so pleased for him. Bernard announced that he wanted to leave school and go to work. Dad did all he could to persuade him to stay and take his final certificate, but Bernard was adamant. Hannah was furious about the five pounds which had to be paid to release him from school.

“That’ll take a big lump out of the savings” she protested.

Bernard won and started work at Fishburn Pit. He gave Hannah his wages same as Dad did, receiving pocket money just as Dad did. This was the usual thing in most families. I don’t know how families with Father and many sons working all managed to get bathed. I remember it being quite a big thing to get Dad and Bernard bathed. Water had to be boiled, the tin bath brought in from the yard and a sheet put down in front of the fire. The bath was placed on the sheet to prevent the carpet getting wet as Dad washed his arms and legs. He washed his head next and I would wash his back. I then left the room as Dad sat in the bath and finished himself.

Dad told Ron and me that many men (mainly the older ones) never washed their backs, they said it would weaken them. So they had a permanent black square on their backs. We thought that Dad was joking, but it was true.

It rained all of the weekend and we couldn’t go out. I had been given an umbrella for Christmas, so enjoyed taking it to school on Monday morning. Enjoying my trip down the street and as I walked over the railway bridge at Deaf Hill I paused to watch a train coming down the line. I wondered where had it come from, where was it going. How wonderful I thought, to be travelling on a train miles and miles away, even to Timbucktoo (that’s where Granddad in the bed place always said he was going to) .I stood there so long completely forgetting about school until a policeman interrupted my daydream.

“Why aren’t you in school today, young lady?”

“I’m going now.”

“You’ll be awful late and you’ll get the cane, by gum!” and off he went

I took fright and went up to school but I was afraid to go in. It had stopped raining so I went down the road and sat on the grass in a spot where I could see the school come out. I decided to say nothing and hoped I would not be found out.

Returning home there was a large van outside our house and as I approached I heard Hannah and Granddad Oliver arguing.

“I want my china,” Granddad said

“Twenty-one guineas a set that cost, I bought it as a present for my wife in 1889. Forty-two guineas those two sets cost and it’s mine.”

Granddad and Hannah had done nothing but argue since she came, and now Granddad had had enough. He was going to live with his sister in Birkenhead. I had no way of knowing that almost everything in our little home belonged to Granddad. Apparently when Grandmother Oliver died and he came to live with us, his daughter (My Mammy Irene) had discarded most of the furnishings to make room for Granddad’s as they were far superior to what she and Dad had.

As I looked into the bare room there was no carpet on the floor, no table or chairs, the sideboard and piano had gone, even the silver framed picture of Mammy Irene wearing what I now knew to be her cap and gown. It also belonged to Granddad. It was all packed into the big van.

“You’re not getting it” Hannah stressed the point by banging onto Granddad’s chest with a bunch of keys.

“You aren’t leaving us with nothing to eat from you old sod.”

Eventually they came to a compromise and he took one set of china and left the other. It was Crown Derby, no wonder he prized it so. Next day Hannah went to West Hartlepool to order new furniture from Levinsons. Thank goodness Granddad had left the beds, we had at least somewhere to sleep.

On Friday the new things arrived, a new dining suite. this was nice but could not compare with the beautiful mahogany Queen Anne which was gone. A large box of glasses and cutlery, Granddad had also taken the hand cut crystal and silver. A new carpet to replace the beautiful Persian one which Granddad had brought home from abroad. We now had everything replaced all but the piano. Gran Morgan said when she came to see the new stuff that Granddad had no right to take the piano. It was always understood to be Grandmother Oliver’s wish for the piano to be handed on to Bernard. It had been bought for her daughter with the intention that her grandson Bernard was to inherit it. Nothing was in writing, so nothing could be done.

Things seemed to settle down and Dad bought a new car, a powder blue Ford. Mam, Dad, Gran, Ron and me with Trixie all set off for a day out to – – -, I didn’t know where.

I whispered to Ron

“Where are we going?”

“I don’t know, you ask”

“Oh no, I don’t dare you ask, you are more likely to get an answer than me”

Neither of us dare ask, for we had always in the past been told to wait and see. This was our first outing all together since Hannah came so we were eager to know where. We ended up in a little village called Thwaite, this was in Swaledale. A magic little place with about twelve cottages, a farm, one shop and a beck which ran under the small bridge we had just gone over. Rose Cottage was the name on the wall of where Dad stopped the car.

“OK get out, we’re here.”

Puzzled but excited we jumped out of the blue car. Dad had rented this dream of a cottage for one whole month for a holiday. Whilst we were getting settled Dad made two journeys to Richmond, one to pick up Aunt Emma, Brian, George, Aunt Lil and a little boy called Geoffrey who lived next door to her. The other to pick up Aunt Ruth, Teddy and Nancy. They had travelled there by bus from Hartlepool. He then returned home with Gran, she was going to look after both him and Bernard, they still had to go to work. What a time we had, four sisters, seven children and a dog. We had three bedrooms, one large living room and a small kitchen. The upstairs room was so low the Aunties had to bend down to walk. But it was cosy and we all got on very well together. at the back of the cottage was a hay field ready to be cut. Aunt Emma and Ruth whilst talking to the farmer, Mr. Calvert who also owned the cottage, volunteered themselves and the rest of us to help with the getting in of the hay. All ten of us, Brian was too young. He sat in his pram watching, that is when he was not asleep. About three days after the hay was cut and the top side was dry, we all helped to turn it so the underneath could dry. When it was all dry the farmer raked it into long rows ready to make it up into haycocks. This made me think of the farmer back home, and to the time when Ron and I had knocked them down, now realising the importance of these little mounds called haycocks. They were to keep the hay dry if it rained. The sun continued to shine and soon the hay was ready to be taken into the hay loft which was joined onto our cottage. Each day the farmer’s wife brought us a large jug of hot cocoa, meat pie and homemade scones in a large basket, this was for our dinner. What a time we had jumping up and down flattening down the new hay as it was put into the loft. The farmer thanked us all saying that he had never before got the hay in so quickly. He came along the next day with a bag of coal for the fire at night. A whole pound of farm made butter, a pound of cheese, two dozen eggs and two pints of milk in a big jug.

The weather was very hot and we spent the time visiting the nearby villages. This had to be done on foot, the only bus there was came on a Friday and then only to Gunnerside. We must have walked miles each day. On one of these occasions we went to Keld and there in a little tea shop we had a wonderful tea of cakes, scones with cream or jam, fruit and jelly. There was a lovely river with a waterfall in the shallow steps of rocks. We were able to walk along these steps and Aunt Lil took a photo of us all standing in the middle of the water. The beck back at Thwaite was very shallow and the fresh water ran over the shiny rocks. We spent hours there playing in the water. One day Hannah and all the Aunties joined in, Ron and I were most surprised that Hannah was very calm and pleasant, I don’t remember her snapping at us at all. I liked to think it was the magic of this place or did she like us after all? We were all wading happily when all of a sudden Aunt Ruth slipped onto her bottom and slid all the way down the rock bed. She was not hurt so we all howled with laughter, but she did not see the funny side. Even though it was hot weather it still took all of the next day to dry out her steel stayed corsets. The last Saturday of the month we set off to walk to Gunnerside, the furthest away place. We would come back by bus. Aunt Emma suggested we take a packed dinner and lots of pop to drink, so off we went. It was not long before we found that we had taken on more than we could comfortably manage. The sun was so hot it melted the tar on the narrow road, we were almost exhausted with the heat, and had to stop many times. Aunt Ruth said it was nearer to keep going than it was to turn back, so on we went. Ron said that it reminded him of a film he had seen where the soldiers struggled through the desert to reach the fort, desperate for water, as we were after drinking the last of our pop. I heard Trixie whimpering as she lagged behind us and stopped to see what was wrong.

“Oh dear, stop” I called out to everyone.

The tar had become congealed onto her feet and I could see blood coming from one of them. Aunt Emma took Brian out of his pram and Hannah lifted up Trixie putting her into the pram. She then took out her box in which kept her face bandages, binding Trixie’s feet after first spreading them with Vaseline. I thought how kind of Hannah, this changed person who just three weeks ago had been so snappy with us. Aunt Emma and Aunt Ruth did not mind, as they took turns carrying Brian.

We finally reached Gunnerside to find the only shop shut, a bus was stood in its parking bay. This we were told was to be the last one that day and it left in five minutes. We all scrambled onto that welcome bus which took us straight back to Thwaite. So we saw nothing of Gunnerside and were all so tired that we went straight off to bed, not even getting washed. Dad came on Sunday morning to take us home, taking Hannah, Emma, Teddy, Nancy, Ron and me. He went back for the others in the afternoon. We drove along those narrow country roads, through miles of rich green fields, also some golden with ripened corn which had not been cut. Across the moorland with patches of fir trees dotted here and there. I was not looking forward to going home I just wanted to stay in our magic cottage for ever.

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