The Girls of Victory Street: An absolutely heartbreaking World War 2 family saga (The Bryant Sisters Book 1)

by Pam Howes

  ‘I’ll gerrit,’ another voice answered. Footsteps pounded down the hall and the door was flung open by a small boy with freckles and red curly hair that stood out at all angles as though waiting to be tamed with a brush. ‘Hiya, Edie,’ he said, giving her a gap-toothed smile. ‘It’s for you, our Fran,’ he called over his shoulder. ‘It’s yer mate. You’d better come in before me mam moans we’re letting all the heat out.’

  ‘Thank you, Alfie.’ Edie followed the youngest Jackson boy down the narrow hallway and into the back sitting room, where a crackling fire burned in the grate, throwing out welcome warmth.

  ‘Morning, chuck,’ Vera Jackson said. ‘Park yourself on the sofa while our Fran finishes getting ready. Bit nippy out there this morning.’

  ‘It is,’ Edie agreed. ‘Bitter cold.’ She sat down on the sofa and smiled at the elderly grey-haired lady sitting in a rocking chair by the side of the cast iron fireplace.

  The lady smiled back. ‘Are you one of ours, chuck?’ she asked, looking puzzled. ‘You’ve got blonde hair and ours are all redheads.’

  ‘Mam, she’s Doris Potts’s daughter,’ Vera told her, rolling her eyes behind her mother-in-law’s back. ‘For the umpteenth time,’ she muttered.

  ‘Oh, are you?’ Grandma Jackson smiled. ‘And how is Doris keeping these days? I was so sorry to hear about your dad, love. Give my condolences to your mam.’

  Edie nodded her head and tucked a straying blonde curl back under her woolly hat. ‘I will; thank you. And Mam’s doing fine, thanks.’ The same scene played out most mornings in the Jackson sitting room and within the hour Grandma Jackson had always forgotten all about it. Edie’s dad had been dead nearly three years now, following an accident down at the docks where he’d worked with Fran’s dad Bert and the two older Jackson boys, Philip and Donald. Thankfully the others had been fine.

  Edie always knocked on for Fran each morning. Then they met up with their friend Bella Rogers and her sisters on the corner of Grosvenor Street, and all walked to school together. Monday mornings were a good time for catching up on each other’s gossip. Although they’d seen one another at church yesterday, there hadn’t been much time to chat. By the time they’d sung in the choir and the service was over, it was time to get home for Sunday dinner. Her mam didn’t like to be out too long as her late dad’s father, Granddad Potts, couldn’t be left for more than a couple of hours on his own in case he wandered off.

  By the time Fran put in an appearance it was almost quarter to nine and if they didn’t get a move on they’d be late. Today was not a day for running or cutting across The Mystery playground to save time and Edie looked down at her watch, feeling worried.

  ‘Ready when you are,’ Fran said, picking up her satchel and looping it around her arms. She shuffled it into place on her back and pecked her mam on the cheek. ‘See you later, Mam. Bye, Granny.’ She dropped a kiss on top of the old lady’s head.

  ‘Edie’s been waiting ages,’ Vera said, shaking her head. ‘God knows what takes you so long, lady. I see you’ve been curling your hair again. Anyway, it looks nice.’

  Fran flicked her auburn waves into place and grinned, her green eyes twinkling. ‘Well one never knows who one might meet on the walk to school, does one?’ she said in an affected accent with no trace of Liverpudlian at all.

  ‘That’s a perfect imitation of Fenella Harrison, if ever I heard one,’ Vera Jackson said, looking amused.

  ‘Really, Mother?’ Fran raised an eyebrow. ‘I can talk posh when the fancy takes me. And if and when Bobby Harrison asks me to be his wife, I’ll need to have certain airs and graces to match his mam’s.’

  ‘Get away with you. You and your bloody Bobby Harrison. I’ve seen all you girls making eyes at him after church! Oh, Edie, by the way, will you tell your mam that they’ve started a meeting group for the likes of Grandma here and your granddad at the church hall. They’ll have a cuppa and a bit of a singsong and a game of whist. It’s to be held on a Wednesday afternoon starting next week. So if she fancies going with your granddad, I’ll take Bert’s mam along and me and Doris can have a bit of a break in another part of the hall while the older ones are looked after. Be a nice change for us both.’

  Edie smiled and nodded. ‘Mam will enjoy that. He drives her mad at times.’

  Mrs Jackson winked. ‘I know how that feels, chuck. I get fed up to the back teeth of repeating myself over and again. I know they can’t help it, but sometimes… This living to a ripe old age is all very well if you’ve still got your marbles. See you later, gels. Take care out there.’

  Bella stamped her feet to stop her toes freezing while she waited for her friends Fran and Edie to come into view. She wiped Betty’s nose and sighed loudly as Molly rolled a snowball in her gloved hands and chucked it across at two lads who were messing about pushing a large ball of snow in front of them, leaving a slippery path in their wake.

  ‘Where youse going with that?’ Molly yelled across the street.

  ‘The Mystery to make a snowman, this is his body. Youse comin’ with us, Mol?’ the tallest of the pair yelled back.

  ‘No, she’s not,’ Bella called out. ‘The snow will have drifted on there and it will be too deep. We’re staying on the streets today.’ She spotted her friends coming around the corner of Grosvenor Road and waved. ‘And your gloves are gonna be wet through by the time we get to school, so no more making snowballs,’ she said to Molly.

  ‘I’ll put them on the warm pipes down near me feet,’ Molly replied, looking wistfully after the boys as they disappeared from sight around the corner at the top of the street.

  ‘Morning, Fran, Edie,’ Bella greeted her pals and fell into step with them, pulling Betty alongside her as Molly followed, grumbling to herself about it not being fair and never having any fun. ‘Stop moaning,’ Bella said over her shoulder. ‘You know what Mam said.’

  Edie raised an eyebrow in Molly’s direction. ‘What’s up with you, our kid?’

  ‘Our Bella won’t let me go across The Mystery to school.’

  Edie shook her head. ‘You’re best sticking to the footpaths while it’s snowing. The Mystery is lovely when the weather’s nice, but not today, Mol.’

  The girls crossed over Wellington Road and made their way alongside The Mystery park, which had been gifted to the area of Wavertree by an anonymous well-wisher in 1895, earning it its name. The one-hundred-and-four-acre park was popular with the community and provided a safe place for children to play and families to spend their summer weekends. It was also used by cricket and football teams.

  The boys who Molly had spoken to had met up with their pals and were building a snowman. Bella shook her head. Silly lads. By the time they got into school they’d be wet through and freezing cold and have to sit with wet socks on all day. The Wavertree Church of England school, in a building known as Rose Villas, wasn’t the warmest, with its ancient coke boiler that fed the pipes at floor level plus several radiators throughout the building. The system was always breaking down and at this time of year there were often leaks and wet floors to contend with.

  As the girls hurried into the school playground, Edie nudged Bella and nodded towards the large front doors, which were being opened. ‘Here we go,’ Edie said as the hand bell summoning them all to get into their class line-ups rang out. ‘Hurry up everyone. The sooner we get inside today, the better.’

  But Bella stopped as a tall blond boy ran into the playground with a couple of other lads and joined their class line. She smiled at the boy, who waved and nodded at the three friends.

  Handsome Bobby Harrison winked at Bella, who felt her cheeks heating and turned away, making sure that Betty had gone to the right line-up.

  Mr Flynn, the teacher in charge of the bell-ringing, cast his stern eye over the stragglers who were running into the playground at the last minute. ‘Get a move on,’ he shouted. He stood back to let the youngest children in first. Bella waved to Molly, who was leading her class line-up, and smiled reassuringly at little Betty
, who always looked so worried as she went into school.

  When registration had been called it was Bella’s job to take her class register to the head’s office before the morning assembly for the older pupils. She hurried into the hall where the top three classes were ready and waiting, and took her place at the front with the rest of the school choir. Bobby Harrison swapped places with his friend so that he was standing next to Bella and winked at her. She smiled shyly at him as the headmaster read out his agenda for the week and then asked the choir members to please step forward. Fran was also in the choir and moved forward so that she was now in between Bobby and Bella, who felt a little surge of jealousy run through her. She knew Fran really liked Bobby but he always seemed to favour Bella over Fran.

  Bobby’s mother was what Mam called posh. They lived on the well-heeled Prince Alfred Road in a large three-storey Georgian house. ‘All them rooms,’ Mam had grumbled, ‘and her with only one kiddie as well. Such a waste when we’re struggling here.’ His mother, Fenella, was in charge of running the WI at church and always called him Robert. Mam said she was such a snob and thought herself a cut above everyone else.

  But Mam also knew she had a secret past as she’d gone to school with her. A fact Fenella Harrison chose to ignore. Her real name was Elsie Carter and she was from a big, well-known family of crooks from the Old Swan area. She’d changed her name after she met Robert’s father and eventually married him. Robert was a nice boy, shy, but then so was Bella. That was probably why they got on so well.

  Mr Sykes, the head, raised his baton as Miss May, the music teacher, played the opening chords of ‘Jerusalem’ on the piano. Bella loved this song. It was so uplifting and always made her feel cheerful for the rest of the day. She wasn’t looking forward to the next month, when she would be fifteen and leaving the sanctuary of school and looking for a job.

  She’d love to do something nice, go to a college and learn how to use a typewriter so she could work in an office or in a library. Bella loved to read, and to work with books all day would be a pleasant way to earn a living. She could wear smart suits and blouses like the ladies who worked in Wavertree library, all neat and tidy with their hair pinned up, instead of pinnies and turbans like most of the mams she knew wore for work. But she’d need qualifications to become a librarian and there was little chance of that happening. Her mam needed her to earn a living to help the family’s finances. Her voice soared above the rest of the choir as she sang a descant, only to be equalled by Bobby’s, blending in perfect harmony. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and smiled, lifting her spirits even further.

  Mr Sykes peered at his pupils over the top of his half-frame glasses and cleared his throat. ‘Thank you, choir. That was indeed a fine performance. You will do us proud at our Easter end-of-term service next month. Now before they attend morning classes, I’d like Robert Harrison and Annabelle Rogers to report to my office in five minutes’ time, please. The rest of you, make your way QUIETLY back to your classrooms.’

  ‘Oooh, what have you two been up to?’ Fran said in an exaggerated whisper as they left the draughty assembly hall and spilled out into the main corridor, which always had a smell of carbolic soap from the nearby cloakrooms, as well as damp.

  ‘Nothing,’ Bella replied, frowning. ‘Not sure what this is all about.’ She looked at Bobby as the rest of the pupils hurried away.

  He shrugged, looking puzzled. ‘No idea. But come on, let’s go and see.’ He led the way as Bella tried to keep up with his long strides. They each took a seat outside Mr Sykes’s office, Bella chewing her lips while Bobby gazed around him, seemingly miles away. The last she’d seen of the headmaster was him talking to Miss May as the pupils left the hall. He wouldn’t be long now.

  Mr Sykes appeared around the corner, a sheaf of papers in his arms. ‘Won’t be a minute,’ he told them. ‘My secretary will call you in shortly.’

  As he vanished from sight, Bobby blew out his cheeks and smiled at Bella. Within seconds the office door flew open and Miss Scarlett, the head’s young secretary, appeared.

  ‘Follow me.’ She beckoned to the pair and they followed her into the confines of Mr Sykes’s office. His desk was beneath a long window at the top end of the room and Miss Scarlett pointed to two wooden chairs that had been positioned in front of it. ‘Take a seat.’ She went back to her desk as Mr Sykes leaned forwards, his elbows on the desk and his fingers placed in a steeple in front of him.

  ‘Now there’s no need to look so worried,’ he said, his blue eyes twinkling. ‘It’s all good news, well we at the school think so anyway.’

  Bobby raised an eyebrow in Bella’s direction and then turned his attention back to the headmaster.

  ‘I’m sure you are aware that the scheme known as the Maia Choir performs in various halls, institutes, theatres and churches up and down the country as well as doing the occasional live wireless broadcast,’ Mr Sykes began. ‘During the recent Christmas period one of their representatives attended a service in our own St Mary’s Church and was most impressed with the school choir, particularly the pair of you. Afterwards he attended a meeting of the powers that be and would like to award you both with a scholarship to join the local branch of the Maia Choir.’

  Bobby and Bella exchanged surprised grins.

  Mr Sykes continued. ‘There are two evening classes a week while you train, and eventually you will be placed with a full-time choir and accompanying orchestra to perform all over the country. This opportunity doesn’t come around very often and could eventually lead to a really good career for the pair of you.’ He sat back, a benevolent smile lighting up his pleasant face.

  Bella stared at him, her mouth dropping open. ‘Well, I never expected that,’ she gasped. ‘Oh, I would love to be taught to sing properly. But I’ll be starting work next month and I don’t know what my mam will say.’

  ‘And I’m supposed to be staying in education to do my school certificates so I can join the air force like my father did, when I’m old enough,’ Bobby said. ‘But for the time being I’d love to sing more often than I get the chance to. I’ll talk to my parents later and see what they think.’

  My Sykes smiled and got to his feet. ‘I’m sure you’ll both do well, but we’ll have to see what transpires. Now off you go to class and if your parents need to discuss anything with me they can call the school. Oh, and by the way, keep this to yourselves until we know that you are going to accept the offer. Then we’ll announce the news in assembly at the end of the week.’

  On the way to their classroom Bella sighed and shook her head. ‘Can’t see my mam agreeing to this somehow, but I’ll ask. Bet yours says it’s all right though.’

  ‘We’ll see. Be really nice though, Bella. The training place will be somewhere local and I can walk you there and make sure you get home safely. Or my dad will drive us. Be lovely to spend a bit of time together doing something we both enjoy, don’t you agree?’

  Bella nodded, feeling her cheeks going hot. It definitely would, but what would Fran say when the news came out?

  3

  ‘And what will it all cost?’ Mary asked, draining potatoes over the sink and banging the pan down on the wooden draining board.

  Bella frowned and shook her head. ‘I don’t think it costs anything. Mr Sykes didn’t say it did. It’s a scholarship, like. They teach us to sing and in time we go out to places with an orchestra and earn a living, I suppose.’

  Mary sighed and dropped a lump of margarine in the pan along with a dash of milk. ‘Turn them sausages for me,’ she said, pointing to the grill pan. ‘And you say it’s only you and Bobby Harrison that’s been asked to do this singing?’

  ‘Yes, Mam. It’s a lovely thing to happen and you know how much I like to sing.’

  Mary looked at her eldest’s face. It was alight with joy and her eyes were shining. But that might have more to do with Bobby than the singing, she thought, and then cursed herself for thinking so cynically. She half-smiled and started to mash th
e potatoes with the end of her wooden rolling pin. She should feel proud that her girl, and that bloody Elsie Carter’s son, would be taking singing lessons together. ‘Hmm, well we’ll have to see what your dad says when he gets home. You’ll be looking for a job in a few weeks and you might have to do shifts and not be available at night.’

  Bella nodded. ‘I know that. But I could do it until then and see how it goes. If I get a job where I just work in the day I can still have the singing lessons.’

  ‘Set the table and we’ll talk about it when we’ve had our tea,’ Mary said, dismissing the subject. She shook her head as Bella left the kitchen. If only the family didn’t need an extra wage coming in it would be fine and a great opportunity for her daughter, who was always such a good help to her. But times were hard and every penny counted. Not many kids from the back streets of Wavertree got the opportunity to do anything as nice as that. She and Harry would have to put their heads together later and have a good think about it.

  After tea Bella sat on the big double bed and got Betty ready for bed. She’d brought a bowl of warm water and some soap and a flannel up with her and had given her little sister a strip wash, brushed her hair and re-plaited it. Betty was almost asleep as Bella slipped her winceyette nightdress over her head and tucked her under the blankets.

  Molly was next door at her friends’ for half an hour and Bella could hear the soft murmur of voices downstairs as her mam and dad sat talking in front of the fire after their meal. She wondered if they’d come to a decision about the singing lessons yet. On the walk home from school she’d been dying to say something to Fran and Edie, but had kept quiet as per Mr Sykes’s instructions.