Daughters of Courage

by Margaret Dickinson

  ‘We’ve been incredibly lucky, Emily,’ Trip said. ‘All our premises are unscathed. I can hardly believe it.’

  On the Monday morning, Emily told the other women about Lizzie. ‘She’s left home without even giving her mother her new address. It seems she wants to cut herself off entirely from everyone.’

  ‘She’s up to no good, that one,’ Nell remarked. ‘And I expect Jane is no better. Anyway, Emily, have you seen those two lasses I told you about?’

  ‘I have, Nell. I saw them early this morning before I came into work. They’re starting next week.’

  ‘Aren’t you going to try them out on a wheel first?’

  Emily laughed. ‘No need, Nell. If you trained them, they’ll be fine.’

  The two girls fitted in well, but Emily missed Lizzie. They’d had their ups and downs, but their lives were intertwined, or so she’d thought.

  Bess, living alone now, threw herself even more into her WVS work, but although her days were again fully occupied, she found it hard to live alone. She missed not being able to cook for someone else other than herself so she spent much of her spare time at Emily’s home on the pretext of cleaning, cooking and washing for them for longer than was strictly necessary. The house gleamed, all their clothes were washed and ironed almost before they needed them and they had more than enough to eat with Bess’s ingenious ways with the rationing.

  ‘I still don’t understand why Lizzie left home. I suppose I used to remark about her going out at night and she didn’t like it. I can’t get used to the fact that she’s a grown woman, you see, and has the right to do whatever she likes.’ Bess smiled wryly. ‘Even if I don’t approve. Now, I’ve lost them both, Emily. I know the boys are gone – and you and Nell must be missing them dreadfully – but at least you both know they’re safe. I dread to think what might have happened last week if they’d been here.’

  Sheffield slowly recovered from the two dreadful nights of bombing, but things would never be quite the same again.

  ‘You can rebuild houses and shops and factories,’ Emily said sadly to Trip, ‘but you can’t restore people’s shattered lives. All those poor folk who lost loved ones. It’s a miracle we haven’t lost someone close to us.’

  The following weekend Billy came home on compassionate leave. He had not been posted abroad and so was able to request a forty-eight-hour pass.

  ‘They let me come because of last week’s bombing,’ he told Bess, as he dropped his kitbag on the floor in the narrow hallway. ‘Where’s Lizzie? Still at work? I’ll go and meet her. Give her a nice surprise.’

  ‘Oh Billy, lad. I’m afraid it’s you who’s in for the surprise and it’s not a very nice one at that.’

  ‘You – you don’t mean she was injured in the bombing or . . . ? Oh no, don’t tell me . . .’

  ‘No, no, nothing like that. As far as I know, she’s fine.’

  ‘What d’you mean – as far as you know?’

  ‘Come and sit down. I’ll mash tea.’ Bess turned and led the way into the kitchen. Billy followed but said, ‘I don’t want to sit down. I want to see Lizzie. Where is she?’

  ‘That’s just it, Billy. I don’t know.’

  ‘D’you mean she’s missing? Since the bombing?’

  ‘No – no. She was out the first night . . .’ She tempered it by adding, ‘With Nell and Emily, but they got home safely.’ Bess bit her lip. She was on the verge of telling lies. Already she was deliberately misleading him.

  They were standing in the kitchen and Billy glanced at the mantelpiece. He pointed with a finger that shook slightly towards a letter tucked behind the clock. ‘Is that my last letter to her?’

  Bess nodded. ‘She’s left home, Billy, and that arrived after she’d gone.’

  Billy ran his hand over his short-cropped red hair. Flatly, he said, ‘You mean she’s gone off with someone else.’

  Nervously, Bess plucked at the corner of her apron, but said stoutly, ‘No, I don’t mean that at all. She’s gone to be a lady welder and wanted to live closer to the work. That’s what Emily told me, anyway.’

  ‘Emily? Emily told you this, not Lizzie herself?’

  ‘Yes, I’m guessing it’s somewhere the other side of town. She and Jane went together. But I don’t know where they are.’ Sadly, she added, ‘Lizzie didn’t even bother to leave me a note to say “goodbye”.’

  ‘When did she go?’

  ‘Last Saturday.’

  ‘Before the second raid?’

  Bess nodded.

  ‘So – you don’t really know if – if she’s all right?’

  Bess stared at him, suddenly anxious. ‘I’d’ve heard. Wouldn’t I?’

  Billy shrugged and then said, grimly, ‘I’d better see Emily. I’ll get it out of her.’

  Bess caught hold of his arm. ‘Don’t be too hard on Emily. It’s not her fault. In fact –’ she paused and then the words came out in a rush – ‘Emily and Nell might well have saved Lizzie’s life.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘They were in The Marples that night and Lizzie wanted to go down into the cellars there, but the other two insisted on trying to get home. They didn’t make it here, as it happened, but took shelter in the workshop where Trip had had a shelter built under the stairs.’

  Now Billy turned white and sat down suddenly in a nearby chair. He’d heard all about the hotel.

  ‘So, please, Billy, be careful what you say to Emily. I don’t think she knows any more than I do about where Lizzie’s gone.’ Mentally, Bess crossed her fingers. She believed that Emily didn’t know where Lizzie was now, but she did think that the young woman knew a little more than she was saying about why her daughter had left so suddenly.

  ‘I’ll have that cup of tea now, Ma-in-law, if I may, and then I’ll go and find Emily.’

  When Billy stepped through the door of the main workshop in Rockingham Street, Emily’s heart sank. She guessed why he had come to find her. She greeted him with a bright smile that she hoped hid her anxiety. ‘How lovely to see you, Billy. Are you well?’

  ‘I’m fine, thanks, but disappointed not to find Lizzie still here. Where’s she gone, Emily?’

  He glanced around the workshop to see the other girls working at their machines and, above the noise, he could hear Nell singing. He wondered if she’d noticed him come in and was studiously avoiding looking at him.

  ‘Come into the office,’ Emily said. ‘We can’t talk out here. Would you like a cup of tea?’

  ‘Why the hell does everyone keep offering me cups of tea when all I want to know is where my wife is?’ He snatched his cap from his head and ran his hand over his hair. ‘I’m sorry, Emily. I shouldn’t snap at you, but I’m that worried.’

  ‘I understand,’ Emily murmured, knowing that the questioning would start now. She’d expected this to happen at some point and decided to get in first.

  ‘We were out that night – the first night of the bombing – having a drink in The Marples. It’s where a lot of folks go when they’ve been to the cinema.’ Without actually saying so, she was implying that that was where the three of them had been. ‘When the sirens went, we decided to make a dash for it, but the planes came overhead quicker than we thought and we made a dash for here. We hid under the stairs. At Trip’s suggestion at the start of the war, we had it reinforced and made into a kind of air-raid shelter. It was a blessing we did, because – well – I expect you know what happened to the hotel. It was dreadful.’

  ‘That’s what Ma-in-law said. That – that you probably saved Lizzie’s life by leaving.’

  Emily shrugged and murmured, ‘It’s the luck of the draw, isn’t it?’

  ‘So you don’t know where she’s gone either?’

  Emily repeated exactly what Bess had told him.

  ‘What about Nell? Does she know any more?’

  ‘Sorry – no. None of us do.’

  ‘And Jane went with her?’

  ‘Yes. The pay is better in munitions, Billy. I couldn’t blame them.’<
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  He frowned. ‘But it’s so odd her not even letting her mother know where she is.’

  ‘Working in munitions can be very secretive, Billy. At some places they’re actually told not to tell their families anything about their work.’

  He sighed heavily. ‘I wish I’d more time, but I never thought when I requested a forty-eight that I’d have to scour the city looking for her. I must catch the early train tomorrow. I was lucky to be allowed to come at all. Mind you, now I almost wish I hadn’t. I’m even more anxious.’

  ‘Try not to worry, Billy. These are difficult times for all of us.’

  He smiled thinly and said stiffly, ‘I’m sorry I’ve bothered you. I’ll be off.’ He pulled on his cap and turned to leave.

  ‘It’s no bother, Billy. I’m sorry I can’t tell you any more.’

  He glanced back briefly and said over his shoulder, ‘Can’t – or won’t?’

  With that, he marched from her office and out of the workshop without looking back.

  Emily watched him go with a heavy heart. In a surprising spurt of bad temper, Emily muttered, ‘Damn you, Lizzie Nicholson. Damn and blast you.’

  It was two months into the New Year before Lizzie came home to visit her mother. Bess had done a lot of thinking since her daughter had left home and she had promised herself that if and when Lizzie chose to visit, she would not ‘go on at her’. So when she opened the door to her one Sunday afternoon, she managed to smile a welcome and not immediately bombard her with questions or recriminations.

  ‘It’s lovely to see you, luv. How are you? Come on, I’ll make you some tea. And guess what, I’ve even made rabbit pie from a recipe Martha Ryan gave me. Would you like a bit? I still like to keep me hand in at a bit of baking, even though it’s so hard to get the ingredients now. I do a lot of cooking for Emily and Trip now they’re busier than ever.’ She was chattering nervously, she knew it, but she was anxious to let Lizzie know from the start that she wasn’t going to interrogate her. But there was one thing she couldn’t avoid telling her. Better get it over with straight away.

  ‘There are three letters behind the clock on the mantelpiece from Billy.’

  She desperately wanted to ask all sorts of questions, especially, ‘Have you written to your husband?’ But Bess literally clamped her teeth on her tongue to stop herself. Instead, she busied herself making tea and warming the pie in the oven.

  ‘Are you orreight, Mam?’ Lizzie managed to say when at last Bess fell silent.

  ‘I’m fine. I’m keeping very busy what with all I do for Emily and at the WVS. They’re a nice bunch of women and, despite all the worry, we have a laugh. Can’t do owt else, really, can you?’ Again she had to bite back the natural questions – ‘How are things with you?’ ‘Where are you living?’ ‘What’s the work like?’ ‘Are you being fed properly?’ – but she couldn’t hold back on one thing.

  ‘Billy came home a few weeks back. Soon after you’d gone. He’d got compassionate leave because of the bombing we’d had. He was very upset you weren’t here and angry when I couldn’t tell him anything. I’m not sure he believed me when I said I didn’t know where you were. And he was even madder at Emily because she wouldn’t say owt either.’

  ‘That’s a surprise,’ Lizzie murmured softly. She reached for his letters from the mantelpiece and pushed them into her pocket, promising, ‘I’ll write to him and explain.’

  ‘I wish you’d explain to me.’ The words were out of Bess’s mouth before she could stop them. ‘Sorry, luv. I vowed I wouldn’t ask questions.’

  At last Lizzie sighed and then said, ‘Go on, Mam, ask whatever you like.’

  Bess chuckled. ‘You know me too well, Lizzie. That’s the trouble.’

  ‘We’ve found nice lodgings with an elderly lady who lost her husband in the last war and now her two sons are away in the forces, so she’s glad of the company. She cooks lovely meals,’ Lizzie grinned impishly, ‘though not as good as yours, Mam.’

  ‘Away with yer flannel, our Lizzie. Go on.’

  ‘I can’t tell you much about the work we’re doing.’ Lizzie was serious now. ‘’Cos we’re not supposed to talk about it, either what we do or even where we are.’

  ‘I understand that.’

  ‘All I can tell you, Mam,’ Lizzie laughed, ‘is that it’s just as mucky a job as buffing.’

  They laughed together and talked a while longer until Lizzie said she had to go.

  As she waved her off at the front door, Bess kissed her cheek and said, ‘It’s been lovely to see you. Come again, when you can.’

  As Bess closed the door behind her, she realized that Lizzie had not asked one question about Emily or Nell.

  The rift between the former friends went even deeper than Bess had known.

  Fifty-Two

  Sheffield was slowly getting back to normal, or as normal as it was going to be after the devastation wrought on the city. The weeks and months passed as folk everywhere struggled to cope with the hardships of wartime.

  In May, they read of the dreadful night of intensive bombing on London.

  ‘Poor folks,’ Trip murmured, as they listened to the wireless. ‘They’ve had nine months of the Blitz.’

  The report said that the moonlit night had helped the enemy planes, but it must also have helped the British fighter pilots who’d shot down twenty-nine German bombers.

  ‘I hope Harry wasn’t one of them,’ Emily murmured, her thoughts never far from her beloved nephew.

  Trip would have liked to have been able to soothe her fears, but he couldn’t. They had no idea where Harry actually was now; just that he was down south somewhere.

  At the end of May, Trip was jubilant as he read of the Bismarck being sunk. ‘That’s hit their morale.’ But at the end of June, he was mystified by the actions of the Fuhrer. ‘Is he mad?’

  ‘Of course he is. We’ve always said that. What’s he done now?’

  ‘Attacked Russia.’

  ‘No! Really? But I thought they had a mutual non-aggression agreement?’

  ‘They did – at the beginning of the war.’

  ‘Will it take the heat off us? He can’t fight on two fronts, can he?’

  ‘There’s no knowing what that megalomaniac believes he can do.’

  Over the coming months, whilst Emily struggled with rationing and keeping her employees fully occupied, Trip followed the news even more avidly, bending close to the wireless set to listen to the bulletins.

  ‘You know, America has said it won’t get involved in our war and yet, besides providing us with much-needed aid, their troops have landed in Iceland to stop the Germans occupying it.’

  ‘Mm. Trip, can we go to Ashford on Sunday and take Nell and Steve to see the boys and Lucy? Have you got enough petrol?’

  ‘I think so. Yes, it would be nice to get away from it all even for a day.’

  By September, the Nazis were attacking Leningrad and in Germany a law was passed forcing Jews to wear the yellow star of David.

  ‘How dreadful for them,’ Emily said, touched by their plight. ‘Can you imagine that happening here?’

  ‘I expect it will be enforced everywhere that Germany occupies.’

  By October, Hitler was celebrating as he neared Moscow.

  ‘You know the Russians have one great advantage on their side.’

  ‘What’s that, because I can’t see anything that’s going to stop him?’

  ‘The Russian weather. That could be his downfall, like it was for Napoleon. You wait and see.’

  ‘Put the wireless on, Trip, but please no more war news. Not tonight. Let’s listen to ITMA. I like Tommy Handley.’

  With a smile, Trip turned the dial and music and laughter filled the room.

  Another Christmas loomed and still there was no more news from Lizzie. Emily invited Bess to join them for Christmas, and took her, Nell and Steve to Ashford to a local hotel. But it was a very subdued festive occasion this year. Each of them had their own worries, none more so
than Amy and Josh, who hadn’t heard from Harry in weeks.

  ‘But we’ve got real hope now,’ Trip said, trying to instil some cheer into the gathering. ‘Now America’s really with us.’

  The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor at the beginning of December had brought America into the war and Trip was quick to realize the strength of Britain’s most recent ally. ‘They’ve helped us since the beginning, but now we’ll really have their might with us.’

  And George nodded. ‘I really think we’re going to win now.’

  Just days into the New Year of 1942, Emily opened her front door to Bess’s frantic knocking.

  ‘She’s really gone now. She’s left Sheffield. She’s written me a letter, but she still won’t tell me where she’s going. Says she’s been told it’s top secret and even her family mustn’t know.’

  Emily was shocked. ‘Hasn’t she even given you an address you can write to?’

  ‘A post office in Wetherby. That’s all.’

  ‘Wetherby? Oh, right. I’ll see what I can find out.’

  Lizzie and Jane had gone to work at the Royal Ordnance Factory No. 8, a Filling Factory at Thorp Arch, near Wetherby in Yorkshire. Work on its construction had started in May 1940 on 642 acres of land near the River Wharfe. Materials and workers were brought by the LNER’s lines to Harrogate and Leeds. A connecting line was built by the railway company in June 1940 to join up to the newly constructed sidings near the factory. Although it was still not quite complete, the site had been officially opened by King George VI the previous year and certain sections were already being used. The whole site would be completed very soon now. The work was extremely dangerous and there were all sorts of rules and regulations that had to be strictly adhered to for the safety of everyone on the huge site.

  They’d been given the opportunity to work there, having proved themselves as hard workers and discreet too. Both girls had leapt at the chance.

  ‘I don’t care what the work is,’ Lizzie had said. ‘I just want to get out of the city – right away from everything – and this sounds like the answer.’

  ‘Me too. Let’s do it, Lizzie.’

  They’d arrived on the train from Sheffield and reported to a hostel at Wetherby and the following morning they’d boarded the train that had brought them directly to the site.