The Bomb Girls

by Daisy Styles

  Luckily, the plans for Elsie’s wedding to Tommy, due to take place in the summer when he’d be home on leave from North Africa, were claiming everybody’s attention. Because Elsie in effect had no family, Emily, Agnes, Alice and Lillian saw themselves as her next of kin and were therefore determined to put on the best wedding they could for her. Along with Tommy’s mother, they had pooled their clothes and food coupons and begged, borrowed or traded anything they could.

  Elsie found a picture of a wedding dress in a magazine.

  ‘This is my dream dress,’ she said shyly, as she showed it to her friends.

  They all scrutinized the cut and style; it was modest and delicate, just like Elsie.

  ‘Right,’ said Lillian, and grabbing a tape measure she expertly spun Elsie around. ‘Thirty-three … twenty-two … thirty-four,’ she measured.

  Elsie looked baffled.

  ‘How are you going to make a wedding dress without a pattern to work from?’ she asked.

  ‘Watch!’ said Lillian with a confident smile.

  With Elsie’s measurements as a guide, Lillian sketched out the pattern on sheets of newspaper then fitted and pinned it around Elsie’s slender frame.

  ‘All we need now is a bit of silk and lace,’ she said with great confidence.

  ‘Silk and lace!’ Agnes scoffed. ‘There’s a war on!’

  ‘We’re not having our little Elsie getting wed in sackcloth and ashes,’ Lillian said firmly. ‘This will be “fashion on the ration”,’ she said, quoting one of the familiar slogans of the day.

  When they had an hour to spare Emily and Alice went into Pendle to scrounge anything they could from friends and family. Alice’s mum didn’t want to part with her wedding dress, which she was keeping for Alice, but she had her sister’s old one stored in the attic. It was faded and moth-eaten in parts but the old-fashioned style was a bit like the wedding dress worn by Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, now Queen of England, and it had plenty of good cream lace. In a pawn shop they found a length of satin that just needed a proper wash, and Mrs Carter donated her wreath and wedding veil.

  ‘I’ve kept them wrapped up on the top shelf of the wardrobe for twenty-five years,’ she said. ‘It’s about time they were put to good use.’

  ‘All sorted!’ said Lillian gleefully.

  Using a hand-driven Singer sewing machine with a heavy treadle, Agnes and Lillian took it in turns to stitch the dress whilst Elsie watched them in rapt delight.

  ‘It’s beautiful,’ she sighed. ‘So, so beautiful.’

  Elsie had grown up darning socks and mending threadbare clothes but she’d never done delicate needle work and she took to it with great enthusiasm once Agnes showed her how to sew a fine seam.

  Meanwhile Emily was in her element planning the wedding breakfast and the cake. Sitting at a canteen table during one of her breaks, she drank strong sweet tea as she wrote down a long list of ingredients. Agnes and Alice settled down beside her with wedges of toast, marg and rhubarb jam.

  ‘Where are you going to get all that sugar and dried fruit?’ Agnes asked.

  ‘If we pool together all our food coupons –’ Emily started.

  ‘Nowhere near enough!’ Alice pointed out.

  Emily slumped back in her chair.

  ‘I know …’ she groaned.

  ‘You could make a cardboard cake and use fake icing … ?’ Agnes tentatively suggested. Seeing Emily’s blue eyes grow big with disapproval, she quickly went on, ‘Betty in packing did that. She said it looked nice …’

  ‘But tasted of nothing!’ Emily laughed. ‘Actually,’ she said with a secret smile. ‘I was thinking of Malc … ?’

  Agnes and Alice shook their heads in unison.

  ‘No chance,’ Alice replied.

  ‘He and Lillian avoid each other like the plague since the explosion,’ Agnes reminded Emily.

  ‘It wasn’t Lillian I had in mind. I was thinking maybe Elsie could sweet-talk him?’ Emily explained.

  Agnes smiled.

  ‘It’s worth a go.’

  Surprisingly, timid Elsie agreed to talk to Malc.

  ‘He might bite your bloody head off!’ Lillian warned.

  ‘As long as he doesn’t knock mi bloody ’ead off, I don’t mind,’ Elsie said cheerfully.

  The next day Malc, ignoring Lillian, who glared at him from across the conveyor belt, walked up to Elsie on the cordite section.

  ‘All sorted,’ he said quietly in her ear. ‘You’ll have ’em by Friday.’

  Elsie turned and smiled gratefully at Malc.

  ‘Consider it a little wedding gift from me to you and Tommy,’ he added awkwardly.

  Then he quickly walked away before Elsie could say a word.

  ‘What the ’ell ’ave you got that I haven’t?’ teased Lillian.

  ‘I didn’t do anything cheeky, like,’ Elsie blurted out. ‘Just said we was getting married.’

  ‘It was always NORWICH when I asked him for any favours,’ Lillian laughed.

  ‘What’s NORWICH got to do with anything?’ innocent Elsie enquired.

  Stressing each word, Lillian answered, ‘Knickers … off … ready … when … I … come … home.’

  Watched by her grinning friends, mystified Elsie slowly repeated her words.

  ‘Knickers off ready …’

  When the penny dropped, Elsie blushed to the edges of her turban.

  ‘Ooh, Lillian!’ she gasped in embarrassment.

  As the conveyor belt rattled and rolled along and every girl on the line began to laugh, Elsie laughed so much tears rolled down her face.

  Before things got out of control, Agnes called out to her section.

  ‘Ladies! Can we forget about Norwich and get back to the business of bomb-making right here in Pendle!’

  As Emily became inventive and creative with donated food coupons and limited rations, Lillian, Elsie, Alice and Agnes sewed well into the night every night. Not only was there Elsie’s wedding dress to make, there were their own bridesmaids’ dresses too and a sweet little blue silk dress for Esther, who was going to be a flower girl. All the girls were determined they would manage to get her there.

  Alice’s imminent departure to London was the only thing that spoiled the happy, excited wedding planning.

  ‘I’ll be back for the wedding! It’s not like I’m going forever,’ Alice pointed out to Elsie, who got upset every time Alice talked about leaving.

  ‘Promise you’ll come back,’ the anxious bride asked.

  ‘Cross my heart and hope to die,’ Alice said as she hugged Elsie, who immediately thought of something else to worry about.

  ‘How’re we going to finish your frock if you’re in London?’

  ‘I’ve cut out the pattern for her dress and I’ll sew it whilst she’s away,’ Lillian assured Elsie.

  ‘But what if she loses weight down in London?’ Elsie persisted.

  ‘Then we’ll have to fatten her up as soon as she gets back!’ Lillian joked.

  Before Alice left for the War Office, she and her mother went on a shopping trip to Manchester. In the Cooperative department store Alice bought her heart’s desire: a bright lilac tweed skirt, cut short and swirly, with a matching jacket and a natty navy-blue, military-style felt hat that framed her face and emphasized her dreamy silver-grey eyes.

  Mrs Massey, who was torn between pride and sadness at her daughter’s promotion, insisted that her daughter should have a number of new clothes. ‘We can’t have them southerners thinking we go about in clogs and rags in the north,’ she joked.

  Alice chose a mushroom-coloured crêpe dress trimmed with orange velvet ribbon plus a short grey summer coat and a pair of soft, navy-blue leather brogues.

  ‘Sensible working shoes,’ her mother said as the shop assistant parcelled up their purchases.

  Back in the digs, as Alice showed off her new wardrobe, Emily returned from picking up post from their pigeonholes in the Phoenix. Without saying a word, she rushed into the room she shared with Alice and sl
ammed the door.

  ‘Oh-oh! Trouble,’ Lillian whispered.

  ‘I’ll go,’ Alice said.

  She found Emily flat out on her bed, weeping bitterly into her pillow.

  ‘He’s finished with me,’ she sobbed. ‘Bill’s dumped me!’

  Alice picked up the letter that Emily had dropped on the bedroom floor.

  A family friend saw you and a man on Pendle moors. I can’t believe you could do this to me, Emily. I’ve loved you all my life, nobody else but you, yet whilst I’m away on active service you’re running around with a fella in a Royal Canadian Air Force uniform.

  You’ve broken my heart, Em.

  You can keep the ring I bought for you but our engagement is over. Please don’t get in touch with me again.

  Bill

  There was nothing Alice or any of the other girls could do to ease Emily’s heartache. Lillian did whisper mutinously in the kitchen that she’d like to shoot the man who’d blabbed Emily’s wicked secret to Bill.

  ‘He should’ve kept his big nose out of other people’s business,’ she seethed.

  ‘It’s a small town,’ Agnes reminded her. ‘News gets around.’

  As they comforted her with a hot-water bottle, a nip of brandy and a mug of cocoa, Emily continued to weep.

  ‘What Bill doesn’t know is that I stopped!’ she cried. ‘I knew what I was doing with Freddie was wrong and I stopped,’ she repeated.

  ‘Well, I’m not sure that would redeem you in Bill’s eyes,’ Lillian pointed out.

  Removing her modest engagement ring, a tiny diamond set in marcasite, Emily returned it to the velvet box Bill had given her.

  ‘I’ve hardly worn it since I got here,’ she murmured. ‘And now I’ll never wear it again.’

  Sobbing, she stuffed the box under her jumpers in the bottom drawer of the wardrobe. Then she climbed into bed, where she rolled into a ball and lay weeping in the foetal position till dawn.

  The morning that Alice left the Phoenix she handed Emily an envelope.

  ‘Will you take it to Henri at the airbase?’ she asked.

  White-faced Emily, who had dark bags under her eyes from days of crying and sleeping badly, looked puzzled, then remembered the man Alice had danced with at the swing night and nodded.

  ‘It’s just to tell him I’m going to London and won’t be able to see him again,’ Alice explained as she snapped the lock on her suitcase.

  Emily looked at her curiously.

  ‘Why not? It’s not like you’re never coming back here, is it?’ she asked.

  Alice shrugged as she lifted her case off the bed.

  ‘There’s no point in stringing him along,’ she answered.

  She was grateful that there was nobody in the digs but her and Emily, who had been given twenty minutes off by Agnes so she could accompany Alice to the nearest bus stop. Her farewells to Lillian, Agnes and heartbroken Elsie the night before had reduced Alice to streaming tears. Standing at the open door and looking back into the sitting room where they’d spent so many happy hours, laughing and chatting, sharing each other’s secrets, Alice choked up again.

  ‘What will I do without you all?’ she whispered.

  ‘We’ll keep in touch and you’ll be back for the wedding,’ Emily said as she firmly guided Alice out of the digs and down the cobbled lane to the bus stop outside the Phoenix.

  When the bus loomed up the girls embraced each other. Holding back tears, they smiled bravely then Alice hopped aboard.

  ‘À bientôt!’ she said with forced jollity.

  ‘See you, cock!’ Emily answered, using the old local endearment familiar to them both.

  As the bus pulled away, she blew a kiss and waved.

  ‘Take care, Al. Love you!’ she called.

  It was odd in the digs and on the cordite section without Alice. Her happy, smiling face and insightfulness were missed by all the girls, but it was Emily who suffered her going the most. Unhappy and nursing a broken heart, Emily preferred to be outside rather than inside after her shifts; walking the moors brought back happy childhood memories of Alice, which lifted her low spirits.

  The afternoon that Emily set off to take Alice’s letter to Henri at the Canadian airbase she wondered what she’d do if she bumped into Freddie.

  It’s not like I’m an engaged woman any more, she thought bitterly as she struck out over the hills with skylarks singing all around her. Forcing herself to stop thinking of Bill and the love she’d so carelessly destroyed, she quickened her step.

  There’s no point in beating yourself up about the past, she told herself. You’ve got to move on whether you like it or not.

  As she neared the airbase, where she could see dozens of airmen busy about their daily routine, Emily’s heart gave an involuntary lurch. It was impossible to hold back the images that surged into her head: Freddie’s heart-stopping smile, his intense blue eyes, his husky Canadian accent and the unforgettable smell of pines and limes that she always associated with him. He’d turned on her last time they’d been together but perhaps she’d asked for it after pulling back. Maybe he deserved a second chance?

  Emily muttered sternly to herself as she approached the main gates of the base, where the Canadian flag flapped briskly in the stiff north wind.

  ‘Don’t make a fool of yourself again, Emily Yates!’

  When she enquired after Captain Laurent she was told that he was off base.

  Taking a deep breath, she nervously asked, ‘Is Lieutenant Bilodeau on base?’

  The guard on duty checked the roster and shook his head.

  ‘Sorry, ma’am, he’s not available either.’

  Feeling deflated, Emily left Alice’s letter with the guard then walked back over the moors, where she was suddenly overcome with curiosity to see the old stable where things had gone so wrong with Freddie. Without a deep covering of snow the stable exterior looked dirty and decrepit, but just as she was turning away she heard loud girlish laughter coming from inside the building. Ducking down behind a boulder, she peeped out and saw Freddie walking out of the stable with a pretty young girl from the Phoenix on his arm. He stopped to gently remove straw from the girl’s cardigan then his hand lingered there to caress her well-formed breasts.

  ‘God, honey, you’re gorgeous,’ he said as he kissed her full on the mouth.

  Wriggling and giggling with pleasure, the girl kissed him back then turned to go.

  ‘Same time tomorrow?’ he called after her.

  ‘Same time,’ she answered with a happy smile.

  Emily slid down the boulder and crouched in the heather where, blinking back tears of anger and shame, she raged at her own stupidity.

  Of course there’d be a string of other girls, she thought. Like Lillian said, Freddie wouldn’t nurse a broken heart when he could get what he wanted elsewhere.

  When both Freddie and the girl had disappeared Emily stood up and, looking one last time at the dilapidated stable, she took a deep breath and set off across the moors for home. She lifted her face to the falling rain and let it mingle with her tears. What a price she’d paid for a kiss and a cuddle. A few mad, infatuated hours had cost her the best man she’d ever known, and all for a player like Freddie. Stumbling and sobbing, Emily headed back to the digs and the comfort of her waiting friends.

  CHAPTER 14

  Helford House

  Wearing her new lilac tweed suit and navy-blue hat, Alice felt a lot more confident when she walked into the War Office than on the previous occasion.

  At least I look fashionable, she thought to herself.

  Thinking she would be given a briefing, Alice was surprised when a prim, middle-aged secretary simply handed her a letter then returned to tapping away on her Remington typewriter. As the machine dinged back and forth in the background, Alice opened the envelope and took out a railway ticket and a letter which instructed her to take the twelve forty-five from Paddington to Helston in Cornwall where she would be met on arrival. Baffled, Alice folded up the letter,
pocketed the ticket and picked up her case before doing exactly as she was told.

  Paddington was packed with servicemen, mostly sailors blocking the way as they lounged on the ground, leaning against their bulging duffle bags and smoking. Amidst a chorus of wolf whistles and appreciative winks from admiring young men happy to see a beautiful girl, Alice made her way to the train on platform ten. Luckily her seat had been pre-booked. After stowing her case in the overhead netted luggage rack, Alice settled in a corner and watched bomb-torn, ravaged London drift by. She stared in horror at the ruins of suburban Acton, Ealing Broadway, Wormwood Scrubs, where MI5 were housed, Southall and Slough. The barrage balloons receded as the train gathered speed and cast plumes of thick smoke in its shadow as they rumbled through Slough and Reading, both devastated by air strikes. Once past Swindon the English countryside opened up before her, vernal green and breathtaking in the sunshine. Desperate for air, Alice pulled on the leather strap to open the window and release the dense cloud of cigarette smoke that had built up since their departure from Paddington.

  The train slowly emptied out at Bristol and at Exeter, and by the time they left Plymouth there wasn’t a sailor in sight. Starving hungry and very thirsty, Alice had enough time to pop out of the train at Bodmin station to buy a cup of tea and a stale bun. As the train continued on its journey, the sun slowly set over the sea. Alice sighed as she watched it slide over the horizon in a blaze of red and gold. When confronted by such perfect beauty it was impossible to believe that, just across the English Channel, a mad German was hell-bent on a world war that was destroying the happiness of millions.

  Lulled by the rattle of the wheels on the track, Alice fell asleep, then woke with a start when the train pulled into Truro. Standing on the dark platform with a cold wind gusting around her, she shivered as she waited for the train to Helston. Tired, hungry and cold, she wondered when this long journey from the north-west would ever end. A slow, local train puffed up to the platform and, after it had stopped at numerous empty stations to pick up the night mail, Alice finally disembarked at Helston at nearly midnight. She waited for the train to clank away in a plume of smoke then, blinking in the dark, she looked around for her lift. There was nobody on the platform but a car parked behind a picket fence flashed its lights and Alice approached.