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

by Pam Howes

  Bella felt her cheeks warming. ‘Mam, don’t be so daft. But I’m really going to enjoy these. What a treat. I’ll share them with you all at the weekend, seeing as it’s Easter.’

  ‘We’ll look forward to that, queen,’ Dad said, giving her a hug.

  Bella opened her birthday cards and stood them on the mantelpiece. Fran’s just said, ‘From Fran.’ It was better than nothing, she supposed. She peeped at Bobby’s written message again, ‘To Bella. With love from your friend Bobby.’ A little thrill went through her.

  ‘What’s up?’ Mary asked as she heard Harry swearing. Their daughters were all in bed and he was sitting in his favourite chair by the dying embers of the fire with his feet up while she made them some cocoa in the kitchen. She popped her head around the doorway. He was waving his evening Echo in the air and pointing at the headline. ‘What is it?’

  ‘That bastard Hitler,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘He’s only gone and violated the Munich Agreement.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ Mary asked, coming into the room. Harry looked worried and a little shiver of fear ran down her spine.

  ‘Well he wants European domination and he’s evil enough to try and get it. You know that ours, Italy, and France’s prime ministers, along with Hitler, signed that agreement last September. Neville Chamberlain went over to Munich for the signing.’

  Mary nodded. ‘I remember. He gave a speech afterwards that went on and on.’

  ‘He did,’ Harry agreed. ‘But he knows what he’s talking about. Anyway, that agreement averted the outbreak of war. Now Hitler is doing his utmost to take over Czechoslovakia to create a greater Germany. Czechoslovakia now wants France and Britain to come to their aid, but Chamberlain’s said no. Unfortunately Hitler is now in the throes of making sure the country ceases to exist.’

  Mary chewed her lip anxiously. ‘Surely he can’t do that, can he?’

  ‘He already has done, love. He’s ruthless. This isn’t looking good, chuck, not good at all.’ He sighed. ‘Mind you, I think we’ve all known it’s been coming for some time. If you remember, last year in August Chamberlain ordered the Air Raid Precaution wardens to requisition cellars and basements for air raid shelters. Don’t you remember when that ARP fellow knocked to ask if we had one? We’re lucky ours is dry enough to use, but for anyone without one there’s those Anderson shelters that were being given out and many people have got them already in place in their gardens and backyards.’

  Mary nodded and pursed her lips. ‘Let’s not get carried away just yet. It might all blow over.’

  Harry shook his head as she went back into the kitchen.

  5

  Friday, 1 September 1939

  Bella, Fran and Edie got off the tram outside Bryant & May’s, glad to get away from the doom and gloom and uncertainty about Europe that all the passengers were talking about. It was all anyone talked about these days. Although not a lot had happened yet in Liverpool, it was the threat that worried people.

  Since starting work in March, and meeting a young match worker who she was now doing a bit of courting with, Fran had apologised to Bella for being ‘a right cow over Bobby’, as she put it, and the pair were now pals again, although Bella still felt a bit hurt by Fran’s earlier jealous behaviour. After all, there was nothing going on romantically between her and Bobby; they were just good friends who sang in the choir and now went to the Abbey picture house occasionally.

  He was busy doing extra school stuff and exams ready for joining the air force and she was busy with her job; neither had much spare time for anything else. She linked arms with Edie, glad that today was Friday and also payday. Tomorrow afternoon, the threesome planned to go into the city centre to see what bargains the stalls in Paddy’s Market had to offer.

  They walked up the wide tree-lined path towards the factory. Bella thought how smart it looked in the morning sunlight. On the roof, the huge cylindrical water tower with its pointed top dominated the two-storey building, just above the Bryant & May sign. Between the white concrete columns, decorated with Lancashire roses, the front was filled with glass that glinted in the light.

  She enjoyed working here, in spite of the long hours and it not being quite the job she would have liked. Counting matches and packing them into small boxes was so boring, but the rest of the staff were nice to get along with and had made the new girls welcome. Being on their feet all day took some getting used to after sitting down in school, and blisters on toes and heels were common occurrences.

  But after listening to the horrendous tales of bygone days from workers whose match-worker relatives had suffered from a condition called phossy jaw, where the bones of the jaw had literally rotted away, causing severe disfigurement – or death in many cases – there was a lot to be thankful for now the manufacturing process had been changed and white phosphorous was no longer used in the production of matches.

  Later that morning, as the packing department took a tea break, one of the foremen from the manufacturing department dashed into the canteen, a grim look on his face. He climbed up on a chair, clapped his hands for their attention and called for quiet. ‘We’ve got the wireless on upstairs,’ he began. ‘There’s just been a news bulletin from London. Hitler and his Nazi cronies have invaded Poland.’

  There was silence for a few seconds and then everyone started talking at once. People wanted more details.

  ‘And how does that affect Britain?’ a bald man sitting at the next table to Bella and her friends asked.

  ‘I think we’ll have to wait for further announcements before we all start panicking,’ the foreman replied. ‘But at the moment it’s not looking good and we need to be prepared.’

  Bella took a deep breath. ‘I heard my dad telling Mam that if Hitler tried to take over anywhere other than Czechoslovakia there’d definitely be another war.’ She shuddered. ‘I have to admit it, I’m scared.’

  ‘Me too,’ Edie said and Fran nodded her head in agreement, her green eyes wide in her pale face.

  Back in the packing department the mood among the workers varied.

  ‘We can’t let that bleedin’ dictator have all his own way,’ one man said. ‘We need to show him who’s boss.’

  ‘Who’s we, Arnie?’ another man said. ‘I don’t wanna be fighting no bloody war; I had enough of that a few years back. Me leg’s never been right since. I’m far too old for all that malarkey now.’

  ‘Aye, you and me both,’ another man spoke up. ‘But then, I don’t want my lad to get dragged into it either. He’s getting married next month. He won’t want that.’

  By the end of the shift Bella had heard enough. She couldn’t wait to get home, where her dad would surely reassure her that it would all be sorted soon enough and there would be no need for another war. Her mam only spoke occasionally of what had gone on during the First World War, but every now and then she’d stare into space as though remembering things she’d seen and heard. She had been eleven and her dad thirteen when that war broke out. They’d both lost older brothers in combat. Uncles Bella had never met, but they were still remembered. It was all very worrying and she didn’t know what to think.

  On the wireless that night the prime minister had announced that he would be making a statement on Sunday. Everyone dashed home from the Sunday morning church services. Bella had sung briefly with Bobby, who said he’d see her on Tuesday at choir, all being well.

  The family gathered in the sitting room with the wireless turned up full blast; Mam, Molly and Bella sitting at the table clutching mugs of hot tea, while Dad sat near the wireless in his armchair, Betty on his knee, fiddling with the dial on the Bakelite set to get the best reception he could manage. At eleven fifteen, Mr Chamberlain began his announcement:

  I am speaking to you from the cabinet room at Ten Downing Street. This morning the British ambassador in Berlin handed the German government a final note stating that unless we heard from them by eleven o’clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland
, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany.

  Mam let out a strangled sob and dropped her mug, tea running all over the tablecloth. Bella jumped up and brought a dishcloth through from the kitchen. She mopped up the mess. The prime minister was now talking about various tradesmen who would not be expected to join the troops to fight this war and she heard transport workers mentioned, which meant her dad was safe here for the time being. Mr Chamberlain was also saying that they would need to listen out for instructions over the next few days about what to do and how to help themselves. All they could do was hope and pray that it would soon be over and they could all get back to normal.

  It was a subdued threesome that jumped off the tram on Monday morning and headed into Bryant & May’s. The journey from home had been fairly quiet as people talked behind their hands in whispers about the fate of Poland. Bloody Hitler is a monster, Bella thought, there was no denying it, but surely he’d stop soon.

  Mam had spent last night making a list of things to take down the cellar to make it comfortable, just in case, she’d said, so God knows what she was expecting to happen. Dad had added that everyone would need a safe place to shelter in the event of an air raid. Bella hated the cellar; it was full of spiders and mouse droppings and smelled of damp. It was hardly ever used apart from storing coal and her dad’s toolbox. The thoughts of having to live down there instead of in the house filled her with dread.

  The wireless crackled in the background. Bella caught the mention of Poland as the frequency whistled in and out. Two men with posh accents droned on in conversation as the packers counted the matches and placed them into the small boxes lined up on the workbenches. It seemed everyone was on tenterhooks, anxiously waiting for the next announcement of doom and gloom. They needed something to cheer them all up. Maybe some music. ‘Shall we sing?’ Bella whispered to Edie.

  ‘Sing? Why?’

  ‘Oh, you know, just to make things feel a bit happier. We all used to join in when a song came on the wireless before all this war stuff began.’

  ‘Okay, why not.’ Edie smiled. ‘You start and we’ll join in.’

  Bella cleared her throat and began to sing ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band’, singing Bing Crosby’s part, and Edie and Fran harmonised Connee Boswell’s bit .The workers smiled as the girls wiggled their hips and one of the men pretended he was blowing a trumpet. By the time the song ended all the factory floor workers had joined in, including the usually serious-faced foreman. He clapped, as did everyone else, and the girls took a bow.

  ‘Well done, gels. That cheered them all up a bit,’ the foreman said. ‘You three are dead good. Like them Andrews Sisters. You can give ’em another when you come back from your break.’

  ‘So what else can we sing?’ Fran asked. ‘Needs to be something a bit jolly that they can join in with. I really enjoyed doing that you know. It was a good idea of yours, Bella.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Bella wrapped her hands around her mug of tea. Fran seemed to be softening towards her but there was still a bit of an oddness about her whenever Edie mentioned Bobby and the singing classes, a subject that Bella tried to steer clear of in Fran’s presence. It was only on the odd occasion that Edie had asked if she was out at singing practice tonight on their way home from work, but lately she seemed to have realised it was a subject best not spoken about unless she and Bella were alone.

  ‘“Whistle While you Work” is jolly,’ Bella said, ‘and the men can whistle along for us, and maybe “Apple Blossom Time”, we’ll see how it goes and how much time we’ve got.’

  The afternoon drifted by. Bella had the workers singing along after the ten-minute break at three thirty, and by the time the hooters sounded at six they were all far more cheerful than they’d been earlier in the day.

  6

  October 1939

  By the last week of October things had started to change and the threat of war began to feel a reality to the residents of Liverpool. Rootes factory in Speke, not far from the matchworks, had begun production on Halifax Bombers and shells, in a newly formed munitions department.

  Dad had come home and told them that his best mate was leaving his job as a conductor on the trams and going to work at the Royal Ordnance Factory over in Kirkby. It was a case of all hands on deck to manufacture as many bombs, fighter planes and other ammunition as the country could manage. Each city with a port was rumoured to be under threat and Liverpool was a big port with docks and frequent ships carrying and delivering goods and passengers on a daily basis.

  Bella arrived home from work on the Friday night to find her mam in tears, sitting at the table with a letter clutched in her hand. ‘Mam, what’s happened?’ She sat down opposite and stared as her mam wiped her eyes on a hanky she pulled from up the sleeve of her sweater.

  She handed the letter to Bella, who read through it and looked up. ‘Evacuation? What, you might have to let the kids go to strangers?’

  Mam nodded. ‘I’ve got to register them as soon as possible in readiness for that programme they mention in the letter.’

  ‘Where are they now?’ Bella looked around the empty room. Apart from their school coats over the arm of the sofa there was no sign of her sisters.

  ‘Molly is at her friend’s house until we have tea and the little one is asleep on the bed upstairs. She’s not well. The teacher said she’d been complaining of a sore throat and was a bit warm to the touch. There’s a lot of scarlet fever going round, we’ve a few in at the hospital at the moment in isolation. I hope she’s not coming down with that.’

  ‘Oh Mam, I’m sure it’s just a cold starting,’ Bella said, trying to reassure her.

  ‘But it’s not like her to fall asleep before she’s eaten. As if I haven’t got enough to worry about right now. Our Molly will go mad if I have to send her away, and Betty, well, I don’t think she’d settle anywhere. You know what she’s like; she’s not the same as others her age. Me and your dad, well, we’ve always been a bit worried about her.’

  ‘I know, Mam.’ Bella reached out for her hand across the table. ‘It might not happen though. They may just be doing this as a safety measure, like, you know, just in case.’

  Mam shook her head. ‘I doubt it. They are putting everything in place. Air raid shelters and gas masks are next and we’ve been told to get a special tape so we can protect our windows. There’s a diagram of how to do it that you get at the shop where you buy the tape from.’ She sighed. ‘Oh and there’s talk of blackouts coming soon as well. You have to make sure there’s no light showing from your doors and windows at night so the Germans can’t see there are houses and other buildings below when they are flying over.’

  Bella swallowed the lump in her throat. Life was changing rapidly, far too quickly for her liking. It was a frightening thought that Germans would be flying over their city looking for places to drop bombs. She’d seen the reports and news at the Abbey picture house, of what had gone on in Poland, terrified people being rounded up like sheep by the German army and herded along the streets to be kept as prisoners or even shot. It didn’t bear thinking about.

  ‘Anyway,’ Mam continued. ‘This weekend I want you to help me get the cellar ready for us sleeping down there. I’ve got a few things and your dad will give it a clean-out, get rid of the mice and spiders and give the walls a coat of paint to freshen them up a bit. Then we’ll make it as cosy as we can. We’ll get another paraffin stove to take the chill off. I’m afraid we are all going to have to make the best of things for a while, chuck.’

  Bella tried hard not to let her horror show as Mam got to her feet. Every family in the country was probably making the same sort of plans as her mam right now, so they weren’t alone, but it was a daunting feeling. Hitler’s bombs or spiders; the thought of both put the fear of God in her, equally.

  ‘Have you got a cellar?’ she asked Bobby as they walked to the church hall on Tuesday night for
the singing lesson. She told him what her family had been doing all weekend in their preparations for the possibility of air raids.

  He nodded. ‘There’s about four under the house. But only one that we could use as the others are full of stuff that’s stored down there. My parents have been making arrangements to have it fitted out so that we can sleep there if needs be. But my mother wants us to go and stay in the country with some family friends.’

  ‘And will you go?’ Bella hoped he wouldn’t. At least with Bobby around she still had someone to go to the choir practice and the pictures with. Edie wasn’t coming out much lately other than going to work as her mam was struggling with Granddad Potts, and Fran was seeing as much of her boyfriend Frankie as she could because he’d told her that if they needed more soldiers to fight off the Germans he’d be joining the army. He was a good bit older than Fran was, nearly eighteen, so would be able to sign up as soon as he’d made his decision.

  ‘Not sure. I’d rather stay in the city. I’ve thought about joining the air force, as you know. Father wants me to wait until I’m eighteen but with this war hanging over us, I might be able to join earlier – or there’s the army, I suppose.’

  Fran stopped walking and stared at him. ‘What, you’d go away and fight? Like maybe to France?’

  He shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea. I’d have to wait and see where they’d send me. Mother would have a fit if they sent me abroad, but if the country needs us to do that, then, well, it’s what I’d have to do.’

  ‘Oh God, this is horrible.’ Bella burst into tears. ‘My sisters may have to go away, evacuated, they call it. Mam got a letter today. We all have to be prepared to sleep in the cellar and now you’re talking about going away to fight. Dad said Chamberlain was backing down on things as well and we need a better man than him in charge. Why do we have to be dragged into this mess? I thought it would all get sorted out without this happening.’