‘He’s helped a couple of Maureen’s neighbours, so he’s got the hang of it now. He said that next weekend he’d build a wall in front of the door to stop draughts, and knock up a seat and that for inside,’ Sarah said, handing her nan a glass of water.
‘He’s a good lad. I hope he’s had time to build Maureen’s shelter?’
‘She’s not having one. They’ve got a bit of a cellar under the house, so Alan’s cleared it out. It looks quite cosy.’
‘Has he heard anything about the RAF yet?’
‘No. It can’t be much longer. I just hope we don’t have to change the wedding date if he’s called up. It would be such a shame.’
Ruby patted her hand. ‘Don’t you go worrying yourself. We’ll face things as they happen, and your wedding day will be a day to remember. I promise you. Now, what shall we plant in all that earth Alan packed on top of the shelter? I don’t think flowers would be fitting somehow.’
‘How about some potatoes and cabbages?’ Maisie asked as she joined them. ‘Though we’d need to grow a lot going by the amount of bubble and squeak we put away earlier.’
‘I’ll have to put me thinking cap on. The old man was the one for the garden and I never took much notice of how he grew things. My goodness, he’d be upset to see what we planted today and there’s no mistake.’
Sarah put her arm around her nan. ‘He’d understand, Nan. In fact, he’d already have put his name down for this fire-watch training and all. I think perhaps we should start digging over the rest of the garden and see what else we can grow, don’t you? We can have a look at what Gramps had in the shed, and what we don’t know about we can ask. After all, we sell seeds and such like in Woolies, so we might as well make the most of what we have at our fingertips. It’ll be fun.’
‘That’s a good idea, Sarah, and you’re right, love. He’d have been organizing everyone. He’d be right upset to see the state of his garden at the moment. I’ll make it my job to put it all straight. Besides, if we have a nice summer, it’ll be good to be outside and doing something to keep our minds off things that might not ’appen.’
‘It’s gonna ’appen, Mrs C., so you might as well plan ahead to be on the safe side. Me mother-in-law has already started stockpiling tins of food.’
‘Well, that’s enough of this miserable talk. Here comes Alan and we haven’t even thought about some grub to feed everyone.’
‘Don’t you worry none about me, Mrs Caselton. I’ll pop round the corner and help my mum. She said she’d make some sandwiches and such and bring it round for five. She knew we’d all be too busy to think of Sunday tea,’ said Alan, wiping perspiration from his face with the back of his hand. He’d left his muddy wellingtons at the rear door and was wearing the overalls he usually wore when working at the airfield.
‘That’s really good of her. I’ve got a sponge cake in a tin in the pantry. We can have that as well.’
Alan went into the scullery to wash the mud from his arms. They could hear him whistling from where they sat.
‘You’ve got a good one there, Sarah, and no mistake. His mum’s all right as well, but then, they are a local family. No airs and graces there.’ She looked pointedly at Sarah, who knew that Nan was thinking of Irene.
Alan returned, rolling down his sleeves. ‘I’ll shoot round to Mum’s just in case she’s set off on her own and is struggling.’
Sarah leapt to her feet. ‘I’ll come with you.’ She thought it better to escape before her nan got into full flow about her high-and-mighty daughter-in-law. Apart from one trip over to Erith, Irene hadn’t taken much notice of the wedding. She had tried to convince Sarah that a wedding gown from a store in London would be more fitting than a home-made dress, but had had to agree that Maisie was indeed a skilled dressmaker and was doing a good job. She left an envelope for Sarah that generously covered the cost of all the wedding outfits, although she’d declined Maisie’s offer to make an ensemble for the mother of the bride.
13
‘Sit down, Sarah. I’ll be with you in a minute.’ Sarah took a seat opposite Miss Billington and waited as she finished adding a row of figures, then shut the leather-bound ledger. ‘No need to look so glum. I have good news. F. W. Woolworth usually supports the local cottage hospital at their summer fete. This year they’ve decided to have a carnival queen, and we’ve been requested to nominate one of our assistants to take on the role along with an entourage. Mr Benfield and I have had a discussion and we can’t think of anyone more fitting than you, Sarah. Would you like to be the Erith Carnival Queen of 1939?’
Sarah didn’t know what to say. She’d expected to discuss work and had been wondering how to invite Betty to be her bridesmaid; then she had this thrown at her. ‘I really don’t know what to say. What would I have to do? What would I wear? When is it to be held?’
Betty laughed. ‘I think you have a lot to say, don’t you? It’s next month, in August, and will be held in the grounds of the cottage hospital. There will be a parade through the town. I’m told that there will be a band, and a lorry will be decorated so that you and your maids of honour can travel in style. I’ve already spoken to head office and they are going to supply velvet capes and a crown for the carnival queen to wear. It’s hoped that the hospital will keep the regalia to use in years to come. They may even ask you to present the crown to next year’s queen. I think it will be splendid. The fete at the hospital is bound to attract a big crowd and take our minds off what may be ahead in the months to come. Would you like to represent us, Sarah? I know it’s rather short notice, but it will be such a happy occasion.’
Sarah took a deep breath. If she didn’t ask Betty now, the moment would be missed. ‘I’ll do it on one condition.’
Betty’s eyes grew large as she peered at Sarah. ‘Condition? I don’t understand. Whatever do you mean, Sarah?’
Sarah gulped. Perhaps she had made a mistake wanting her boss to take part in her wedding, but it was too late to back down now. ‘I’d really like you to be one of my bridesmaids. If it wasn’t for you, I’d never be marrying Alan. You made me see sense, and you also put up with me crying all over the place. Most bosses would have given me my marching orders, but you understood. It would mean a lot to me if you were there on my wedding day. Please say yes.’
Betty Billington looked astounded. Sarah could see she was trying hard to say the right words. ‘Oh my. In all the years I’ve supervised staff for Woolworths I’ve never been asked that question before.’
Sarah looked crestfallen and rose to her feet to leave the room. ‘I’m sorry. It was stupid of me even to think you’d be interested. Please, just forget I was here.’
Betty reached out and grabbed Sarah’s hand. ‘Don’t be a ninny. I would love to be in attendance at your wedding. It’s the greatest honour anyone has ever bestowed on me. I don’t have a large family, so I’ve never been a bridesmaid. Most of my friends are either in the same boat as me or married quickly while their husbands-to-be were on leave. Losing Charlie, like so many women my age, I knew I’d never be part of a wedding party.’
‘So you’ll do it?’ Sarah asked, somewhat amazed that Betty was so thrilled.
Betty reached for her handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes. ‘Look at me acting so silly. Thank you, Sarah. I’m honoured you asked me, and yes, I’d love to share your wedding day. Now, would you like me to purchase my own gown? I appreciate that these occasions can be expensive.’
Sarah shook her head. ‘No, Maisie is making our outfits. I have the fabric. If you would like to come to tea on Sunday, Maisie could measure you up and I can show you the plans for the wedding.’
‘I can’t think of anything I’d rather do. I’ll bring along the details of the carnival queen and we can have a splendid afternoon chatting about dresses and special occasions.’
Sarah chewed her lip, still unsure about her role as queen. ‘Is there no one else you think could do the job? How about Maisie? She’s so glamorous she would be perfect to sit on the lorry and
wave to the crowds.’
Betty shook her head. ‘No. The carnival queen has to be an unmarried woman.’
‘Freda, then?’
‘Freda is too young. I had her in mind as an escort. In fact, Maisie would be ideal as the second escort to the queen. We can sort out the details on Sunday.’ She clapped her hands together in delight. ‘How exciting this is all going to be. I can’t wait. Can you?’
Sarah smiled. She was looking forward to her wedding and was counting the days to her twenty-first birthday, when she would become Mrs Alan Gilbert. As for her duties as carnival queen, she just hoped that she didn’t fall off the lorry or trip over her cape. At least she’d have Freda and Maisie with her to pick her up off the floor if things went pear-shaped.
‘Blimey, I didn’t expect to ’ave to be on me good behaviour today. It’s worse than being at Sunday school, isn’t it?’
‘Ssh. They’ll hear you, Maisie. They’re only in the next room.’ Freda poked her friend in the arm. ‘I don’t think that Sarah expected her mum to turn up unannounced like that. It must have been the mention of Miss Billington in her letter that had her mum rushing up from Devon like that.’
‘I wonder why. Perhaps she’s not keen on all the bridesmaids being Woolies girls?’
‘Well, let’s get this tea tray in the front room and we may just hear something. Poor Alan looks right uncomfortable in his best suit sitting between his boss and his future mother-in-law. It’s a shame Ruby is off at her whist drive. She’d have loved to witness what was going on this afternoon.’
Maisie nudged the door to the front room with her bottom and carried the tea tray into the stuffy room. Freda followed with a cake stand containing a large chocolate cake, one of Ruby’s, which she’d quickly made when she heard that Betty Billington was coming to tea. It didn’t hurt for her daughter-in-law to see that she could also put on a spread fit for a queen. She’d left strict instructions for the girls to use her best tea plates and had even polished the silver cake knife that had been a wedding gift from her husband’s employers. It only came out on high days and holidays.
‘Help yourself, ducks,’ Maisie said as she held a plate piled high with salmon sandwiches in front of Irene Caselton’s face.
Irene wrinkled her nose at Maisie’s words and took just one small sandwich from the pile. ‘Thank you.’ She smiled politely before turning to Betty. ‘So, Miss Billington, I understand you work with my daughter?’
Sarah cringed. She knew she shouldn’t have mentioned in her letter that she’d invited Betty to be a bridesmaid. Her mother’s response had been a postcard showing her intent to travel up to Erith to ‘sort out a wedding that was turning into a circus full of shop girls’. Now Irene was interrogating her boss. ‘Miss Billington is in charge of all the staff at our branch, Mum.’ She looked up to see Alan wink reassuringly at her. She tried not to grin.
Maisie sat on the side of Sarah’s armchair and bit into a sandwich. ‘If it wasn’t for Miss Billington, none of us would have a job.’
Irene raised her pencilled eyebrows. ‘You’re in management?’
Betty smiled her thanks as Freda placed two sandwiches onto a plate and passed them to her. ‘Yes, Mrs Caselto—’
‘Please, do call me Irene.’
‘Yes, Irene. I started out on the shop floor, just like your daughter, and gradually worked my way up. First as a supervisor, then as staff manager.’
‘You never married?’
‘Please, Mum. I’m sure Betty doesn’t want to be questioned like this. I invited her to be my third bridesmaid, and once we’ve had tea, Maisie is going to measure her for her gown, and then we are going to talk about the carnival queen’s duties.’
‘It’s all right, Sarah. Your mother should know about me. After all, I’m going to be present at one of the most memorable days of her life, when her only daughter gets married. Irene, I lost my intended in the war, so instead of having a husband and family, I devoted myself to my career.’
Irene showed no sympathy as she sipped tea from Ruby’s best china cup. ‘Very commendable. I wish my own daughter would think more of her future than just being a wife and mother. But then, she is going to be the wife of an RAF pilot, so I shall console myself with that instead.’
Sarah closed her eyes. Would this tea party ever end?
Maisie jumped to her feet and grabbed Sarah’s hand. ‘Come on, ladies. Let’s go measure up Betty in yer bedroom. We can have a slice of Ruby’s cake afterwards. Alan, why don’t you show Mrs Caselton the Anderson shelter? She might like to see the rhubarb we planted as well.’
‘You are a very talented seamstress, Maisie.’ Betty ran her hands over the full skirt of the dress that Freda was holding. ‘Are you sure it’s no trouble for you to make another gown, especially as we now have the carnival to prepare for as well?’
Maisie waved her hand in the air to dismiss the question. ‘It’ll only take me a day or two to run up. Now that the queen’s attendants are going to wear their own party dresses underneath the cloaks, there’s not much to prepare for the carnival – just Her Majesty’s frock to alter. I really hope it doesn’t rain, as water is a bugger on satin.’
Betty flinched at Maisie’s turn of phrase and smiled at Sarah. ‘It was fortunate that the carnival committee had a gown that had been donated.’
‘And that the girl who wore it before was larger than Sarah,’ Freda added quickly. ‘It only needs taking in at the waist and the hem shortening slightly.’
Sarah looked sad. ‘I just wish it wasn’t white. I wanted my first full-length white dress to be my bridal gown, not a second-hand carnival-queen outfit. Not that I’m not grateful for being given the honour to be queen,’ she added quickly, in case Betty thought she was being fussy. After being shown photographs and being told the history of how money was raised for the local cottage hospital, along with the part that the Erith branch of Woolworths played in events, she understood how memorable a day it was for the residents of Erith.
‘Hmm, I have an idea.’ Maisie pulled some green taffeta round Sarah’s waist. ‘How about if I make an overskirt of taffeta and add a matching collar to the dress? Once you’re wearing the cloak, there won’t be much white left to see.’
Sarah frowned. ‘But that’s my bridesmaid material and everyone will see it before my wedding day.’
‘Don’t be a ninny. This is the material for Betty’s dress. I can pop up to Woolwich Market and get a remnant for your frock. Give me some ideas for colours and I’ll see what I can do.’
Betty grinned. ‘You are certainly resourceful, Maisie. I’ll make sure you are reimbursed for any money you spend and insist that you are given an afternoon off to complete the preparations.’
Maisie was just finishing the measurements for her boss’s bridesmaid dress when there was a tentative knock at the bedroom door.
Sarah jumped to her feet from where she was sitting on her bed with Freda. She quickly covered her wedding gown in case it was Alan. She felt bad that he’d been left to entertain her mum for so long. ‘Yes. Who is it?’
‘It’s Mummy, darling. Can I come in?’
‘Is Alan with you?’ Sarah called back.
They all heard Irene sigh from outside. ‘Certainly not, and I do hope that you don’t make a habit of allowing young men upstairs.’
‘Come in, Mum. Of course I don’t.’
‘No need to worry about yer daughter, Mrs Caselton. She’s as pure as a lily is Sarah. No man will step over the threshold of her bedroom till she’s got a ring on her finger,’ Maisie called.
The girls all giggled as Irene entered the room and looked around at the fabric and other sewing implements scattered about the small bedroom. ‘This all looks very cosy. I hope Miss Billington doesn’t feel uncomfortable being measured for a home-made dress in your nan’s little house, Sarah?’
Alan had no doubt answered many questions about Betty Billington while keeping Irene company downstairs. She had adopted a deferential air, almost doffing
her cap in front of the other woman, who was presently standing on a stool in her petticoat while Maisie pinned fabric round her waist.
‘Goodness, no,’ Betty exclaimed. ‘I grew up in a house just like this one in Deptford, and my own house is a two-up, two-down in Belvedere. It’s very good of Sarah’s grandmother to invite me to her home. In fact, Sarah, you must remind me that I have a small gift for Mrs Caselton Senior in my bag. I don’t wish to forget and take it home with me again. It’s just a selection of seeds for her garden. I know how much she is enjoying her new hobby, as she told me about it when she visited the store.’
Irene nodded her head graciously and observed Betty as she stepped from the stool and put on her grey woollen dress. ‘Are there many women in management at F. W. Woolworth, Miss Billington?’
‘More by the day, Mrs Caselton. I’ve already informed Sarah that she too could be in a supervisory position one day.’
‘Not if she’s a married woman, and no doubt with child before too long.’
Betty picked up her handbag. ‘Times are changing, Mrs Caselton, and women will be required to do their bit if the menfolk go off to war.’
‘So Sarah could be in management just like you even though she is destined to be a housewife?’
‘That’s correct,’ Betty agreed. ‘Now, shall we go and taste that delicious-looking cake that is waiting for us downstairs?’
As Freda and Maisie followed Sarah down the steep stairs, Freda whispered, ‘Miss Billington is very nice, isn’t she?’
Sarah nodded. Betty seemed to have summed up her mother straight away, and in her eyes that wasn’t such a bad thing at all. She was sure that Betty would be a good friend, and that was marvellous considering her position at work.
Sarah was happy that so much was happening at Woolworths to distract her, as her wedding was beginning to play on her mind. Mr Benfield not only had the staff practising fire drills, but had also arranged for gas-mask training so that customers and staff could join in too. She hated the smell of the rubbery mask but knew that it may well save her life. It was the children who upset her most, as many feared the scary masks, and to see a small baby placed inside such an ugly contraption had brought her to tears more than once. Even Maisie, who could be guaranteed to liven up any occasion, was growing tired of fire drills, although she’d taken up a new hobby making pretty covers for the gas-mask cases. Mr Benfield had pointed out that it wasn’t prudent to fill the small box with lipstick and compact, but Maisie had just laughed. She assured her boss that if there was the slightest chance of her being required to use the mask, she would be the first to pull it out of the carrying box and pull it over her perfectly styled hair.
The Woolworths Girls Page 13