Always in my Heart (Beach View Boarding House 5)

by Ellie Dean

  ‘Would he?’ Jane’s eyes sparkled. ‘That would be fun. When can I see him to do the tests?’

  ‘Anthony is a busy man, but he’s coming to pick Suzy up tonight, so we’ll ask him then. I’m sure he won’t mind taking half an hour out of his evening – they’re only going for a drink.’

  Sarah saw the excitement in her sister’s face and silently blessed Peggy for her kindness. There was little doubt that Jane would shine in the tests, and with a good reference, she would find it much easier to get the sort of work she’d feel comfortable with.

  Peggy was unaware of the goodwill radiating from both girls as she swiftly put a clean nappy on Daisy and then dumped her in Jane’s lap. ‘Finish drying her off and then get her dressed for me, while I clean up this mess and have a cup of tea. Her fresh clothes are on the sideboard.’

  Sarah watched in trepidation as Jane cuddled the baby and carefully dried all the little creases around her arms and legs, talking all the while and smiling down at her as she slowly pulled on the tiny cotton vest and grappled with the knitted leggings and cardigan. Jane was proving to be quite expert at handling babies, and Sarah breathed a sigh of relief.

  ‘You seem to know what you’re doing,’ said Cordelia with a smile of approval.

  ‘I had lots of dolls to play with,’ said Jane, ‘and I’ve always loved babies.’ Her bright smile faded. ‘I was so looking forward to Mummy’s baby, but I suppose it could be a long, long time before I get to see it now.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Cordelia, her little face clouded with concern. ‘I didn’t realise your mother was expecting. How very worrying for you all.’

  ‘Well, you can look after Daisy for me until we can find you something more interesting to do,’ said Peggy firmly. At Jane’s wide-eyed pleasure, she grinned. ‘She’s not always that easy to deal with,’ she warned. ‘She has a bit of a wilful way about her, and can cry loud enough to drown out the air-raid sirens when she’s unhappy about things.’

  Jane cuddled Daisy and kissed the dark curls. ‘I’m sure she’s absolutely perfect all the time,’ she murmured.

  ‘Shows how much you know about babies,’ said Peggy and laughed. ‘Come on, we have a lot to do today and time is wasting.’ She finished clearing the table and put everything on the draining board. ‘We’ll do that when we get back.’

  ‘Ron and I will do it,’ said Cordelia. ‘You see to my girls – that’s the important thing.’

  Sarah gathered their coats, handbags and gas-mask boxes together while Jane carefully tucked Daisy into the pram. Once everyone was ready and they’d kissed Cordelia goodbye, she helped Jane get the pram down the front steps.

  ‘Can I push the pram?’ asked Jane.

  ‘Be my guest,’ said Peggy as she pulled on her gloves.

  Sarah walked beside Peggy as Jane proudly pushed the pram along the pavement, and when she caught the older woman’s eye, she smiled her silent gratitude. Jane was feeling useful – probably for the first time in her young life – and the happiness that brought was worth a fortune.

  They were introduced to Fred the Fishmonger and Alf the butcher, and then to Ray the ironmonger, whose shop was a treasure trove of all sorts of weird and wonderful things they would have loved to rifle through and explore. But they weren’t allowed to linger, for Peggy had warned that the Labour Exchange and Billeting Office got very busy early on, and if they didn’t want to spend most of the day sitting about, they needed to get there as it opened.

  Sarah was amazed by the length of the queue already waiting outside the Labour Exchange, and it was at least an hour before it was their turn to be seen and Peggy could register them for their ration books and clothing coupons. There were lots of forms to fill in, and this took another half an hour.

  The Billeting Office was even worse, and they spent two hours sitting about waiting until they had more forms to fill in. Finally Peggy was given the official document so she could claim her allowance from the Government, and they left the musty-smelling office with a sigh of relief, and headed further down the High Street to the bank.

  Sarah explained to the woman behind the counter why she was there, and within minutes the manager, Mr Duffy, came out to greet them. Peggy stayed with the pram while they went into his office and sat down in leather chairs.

  Mr Duffy was a rather pompous, portly man of late middle-age who peered at them through such thick-lensed spectacles that his pale blue eyes were magnified to an almost alarming degree. ‘I did receive your father’s telegram, and the notification from his bank in Singapore,’ he said as he steepled his fingers beneath his double chin. ‘Unfortunately no funds were able to be transferred before the fall of Singapore, and until the situation has been resolved with the Japanese, there can be no further transactions.’

  ‘So there’s no money,’ said Jane flatly.

  ‘I didn’t say that,’ he replied. He pulled a folder towards him and opened it. ‘Your grandfather opened this account many years ago for your father, and there are some funds in the account, which have gathered interest over the years. But it is hardly a fortune.’

  ‘How much is there?’ asked Sarah.

  ‘A little over five hundred pounds,’ he replied, pushing the statement towards them.

  ‘But that’s a lot of money,’ breathed Jane.

  ‘Not if we’re stuck here for several years,’ replied Sarah, trying hard to swallow her disappointment. She pushed the statement back across the desk and opened her handbag to fish out the precious envelope her father had given her the night before they’d left Singapore. ‘I have over five thousand Malay dollars here,’ she said. ‘Is it possible to exchange them for English pounds?’

  ‘I’m afraid not,’ he replied, his expression rather mournful. ‘You see, the Japanese have brought in a new currency, and the Malay dollar is no longer viable.’

  ‘But apart from two five pound notes, it’s all the money we have,’ gasped Sarah. ‘Father gave it to me only two months ago. Surely you could exchange it for sterling after all the years our family has had an account with you?’

  His expression was implacable. ‘I’m very sorry, Miss Fuller, but I am not authorised to deal in untradeable currency.’

  Sarah battled to keep the tears from falling as she shoved the envelope of useless money back into her handbag and closed it with a snap. He didn’t look a bit sorry, and she was damned if she was going to let him see how upset she was.

  ‘I could arrange for you to have a small loan,’ he said. ‘The bank is always willing to lend to our loyal customers, and the interest rate is quite good at the moment.’

  ‘I don’t think that would be a sensible idea at all,’ she muttered as she got to her feet. ‘Good morning, Mr Duffy,’ she said stiffly as she was forced to shake the rather unpleasantly damp, limp hand.

  Without waiting to see if Jane was following, she wiped her hand down her coat and marched out of the horrible little man’s office, straight past a startled Peggy and out onto the pavement. She was so angry and upset that she lit up a cigarette and puffed furiously on it, not caring that her mother would have been appalled at her doing such a thing in the street.

  ‘Jane told me what happened,’ said Peggy as she came to console her. ‘Never mind, you’ll have enough to keep you going until you can get a job.’

  ‘But it’s so unfair, Peggy. Pops worked hard for that money, and now it’s worthless.’ She could feel the tears pricking again and angrily blinked them away. ‘Duffy was a pompous ass, and I had to get out of there before I was very rude to him,’ she added, crushing the half-smoked cigarette under her shoe. ‘He even had the gall to offer me a loan when he knew I’d have a struggle to pay it back,’ she muttered crossly.

  ‘We should close the account and find another bank,’ said Jane. ‘That would teach him.’

  Sarah’s fit of pique dissolved swiftly and she hugged her sister. ‘Maybe it would, but I really can’t be bothered to fill in any more forms today.’

  Peggy pulled on her
gloves. ‘I propose we go and have a cup of coffee – my treat – at the Lilac tea rooms. That will cheer us all up and then we can see about finding you both a decent job.’

  ‘But I thought Anthony was going to test me for a job,’ said Jane as she wheeled the pram into Camden Road.

  ‘No, Jane,’ said Sarah patiently, ‘he’s going to test how good you are at mathematics, and maybe give you a reference. He can’t give you a job as well.’

  Peggy led the way into the tea rooms and they sat at the window table so they could keep an eye on Daisy. The warm, friendly atmosphere and the smell of proper coffee and baking cheered them all up, and once they’d eaten their scones and drunk all the coffee, they were back out into the spring sunshine again, feeling restored.

  ‘Thanks for that little treat, Peggy,’ murmured Sarah as she tucked her hand into the crook of her arm. ‘I don’t usually behave like a spoilt brat, but it was all such a shock to discover that everything we’d been counting on proved to be worthless.’

  ‘You’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll adapt,’ said Peggy with a smile. ‘My life has been one long adventure of feast and famine, but Jim and I got through all right.’ She became businesslike. ‘There are several recruiting places, but I think the best one is in the Town Hall. They have no allegiance to any of the services, and there’s a far wider choice.’

  ‘Well, I won’t be trying for a job there,’ said Jane as they passed the bank. ‘And if all bank managers are like that, I’ll find something else to do.’

  ‘That’s good fighting talk, Jane,’ said Peggy. ‘Come on, let’s see what’s on offer in the way of jobs, and then we’ll read all the bumph they’re bound to give us, and discuss all the options.’

  The recruiting office was very busy, so they helped themselves to the endless number of pamphlets and slips of paper, and then sat in the WVS canteen and trawled through them.

  There was every job imaginable on offer, for it seemed there was an urgent need for women to play their part in the war effort now that so many of the men had been called up – from factory production lines to boiler-making, welding, painting, engineering, fire-fighting, plumbing, secretarial, hospital assistants, milk delivery, and on to farm work, forestry and animal husbandry.

  ‘I like the look of that,’ said Jane, pointing to the leaflet about the Women’s Land Army. ‘I saw a poster in London, and there were girls out with those big horses in some of the fields we passed in the train.’

  ‘It’s a tough job,’ warned Peggy, ‘and you’d have to start very early and work until it gets dark again. I think it might be better if you went for something a little less labour-intensive to begin with, and if you really do have a skill at mathematics, then it would be a shame to waste it.’

  ‘But I don’t want to work in an office, or learn to be a plumber. I want to be out in the open with trees and fields, and horses.’ She turned to Sarah. ‘What about you?’ she asked. ‘Have you decided what you want to do yet?’

  Sarah really wasn’t at all sure about anything, but knew they both had to do something, and if Jane was determined to work on the land, then it would be better if she went along with her – although she didn’t fancy the sound of it one bit.

  ‘I think we should go and ask about the sort of things we’d be expected to do,’ she said quietly. ‘Then we can have a clearer idea of whether we’re suited to it or not. But Peggy’s right, Jane, we’d both be wasting our skills if we ended up digging potatoes all day.’

  ‘Why don’t you go and talk to Vera Watkins?’ said Peggy as she stubbed out her cigarette and got to her feet. ‘I’ve known her since we were at school together, and now her children are off her hands and her husband is away in the Navy, she’s doing sterling work for the recruitment people. She’s very nice, and might be able to point you in the direction of something where your skills could be put to their best advantage.’ She shoved her gloves in her pocket and picked up her handbag and gas-mask box. ‘While you do that, I’ll fill in the time by helping out with the comfort boxes. I’ll be in the big hall when you’ve finished.’

  Sarah stubbed out her own cigarette as Peggy bustled off. ‘Let’s see what Vera has to say and then we’ll have a clearer idea of what being in the Land Army entails.’ She stilled Jane as she hurried to gather up all the leaflets. ‘It sounds a tough sort of life, and it won’t all be riding horses and drifting about stables, you know.’

  ‘I realise that,’ Jane said flatly. ‘But anything’s got to be better than waiting about until the Government calls us up and we’re made to work in some horrid factory. Besides, we’re only asking today, and if Anthony gives me a reference, then I can look at other options.’

  Jane was being quite mature about things, so Sarah said no more and headed back to the office to see Peggy’s friend Vera. There were more long forms to fill in while they waited their turn, but it helped to pass the time until Vera was free to see them.

  ‘We’d like to know more about working for the Women’s Land Army,’ said Jane as they sat in front of the cluttered desk.

  Vera smiled at her enthusiasm and took their forms. ‘Let me have a quick look through these first, then I’ll have more idea of who you are and what you can do,’ she said.

  She read each form carefully and then placed them neatly on the blotter in front of her. ‘I see you’ve just arrived from Malaya, and that you lived on a rubber plantation there,’ she said, looking eagerly at Sarah. ‘You worked in the plantation office?’ At Sarah’s nod, she hurried on. ‘Do you have any experience of assessing the amount of timber in a tree, of measuring the amount of timber felled, or surveying new woodlands and identifying trees for felling?’

  Sarah frowned, for this didn’t sound like farming at all, more like forestry. ‘Our father was a plantation manager, and over the years he taught me how to measure and survey, as well as how to tap for rubber and plan new plantings. I worked in his office after I left school, and prepared lading dockets, shipment schedules and the transport and customs documents. I have shorthand and typing qualifications, and a basic knowledge of book-keeping.’

  Vera smiled. ‘I can see you’re a bit confused,’ she said, ‘but you see there are different parts of the Women’s Land Army that you could join.’ She leaned back in her chair. ‘There’s a great need for women to work on farms and see to it that our crop yields continue to meet the heavy demand now the convoys are finding it so hard to get through. But there’s also a huge demand for timber, and the country needs women to take over the sawmills and work as foresters – which is why a new Women’s Timber Corps is starting up. With your background and skill, you’d be a perfect candidate.’

  Sarah felt uneasy beneath her enthusiastic gaze, for she’d never done any of the labouring on the plantation, and didn’t have a clue about running a sawmill. ‘I don’t really think either of us are cut out to chop down trees,’ she said. ‘What would this work entail, exactly?’

  ‘Goodness me,’ said Vera, ‘I wasn’t suggesting you should work as lumberjills; you’re both far too small and slender.’ She smiled brightly at Sarah. ‘With your qualifications, you’d be in the administration office most of the time, dealing with the wages, preparing dockets and organising transport of the timber, and of course filling in the documentation for the Ministry of Supply. You would be expected to measure and grade the timber, and from time to time, you might be asked to help fire the brushwood and prepare for replanting. You might even have to do a bit of heavy lifting on the odd occasion – but all in all, you would be in an administrative position and not expected to do manual labour.’

  Sarah was warming to the idea. ‘It certainly sounds interesting, and I feel quite confident that I could do it, but this is all a bit sudden and I need time to think about it.’

  ‘Of course, dear, I quite understand you don’t want to be steamrollered into something so soon after arriving here.’ She turned her bright blue gaze on Jane. ‘And what about you, dear?’

  ‘I haven�
�t worked at anything yet,’ said Jane with innocent honesty, ‘but I’d love to be with those lovely big horses out in the forest, and if Sarah and I can work in the same place, it would be even better.’

  Vera glanced appraisingly at Jane’s slight figure and soft, elegant hands. ‘As I said before, I don’t think the Timber Corps would suit you, dear. The work is very hard, and you would need to be quite robustly built to be sawing down trees, and lifting heavy telegraph posts and loading them onto trucks.’

  ‘I know I’m short and thin, but I’m stronger than I look,’ said Jane firmly. ‘Do they have horses in the Timber Corps too?’

  Vera clasped her hands on the desk. ‘Yes, they do, but because they take so much heavy handling, they are always looked after by an experienced male forestry manager or the foreman.’ She must have noted Jane’s disappointment, for she hurried on, ‘Let me tell you what is involved in the WTC, and then you’ll have a clearer picture of how unsuitable I think you would find it.’

  Jane glared at her and folded her arms, determined not to be put off by anything.

  ‘The WTC includes all the jobs involved in forestry, like felling, stripping bark, loading, crosscutting, driving tractors and trucks and running the sawmills as well as working with the men who are either too young or too old to be called up. There would be an initial training course of four to six weeks for the unskilled, after which you would be posted to your work area.’

  ‘You mean I would have to leave Cliffehaven? Would Sarah come with me?’

  ‘The training camp in this south-eastern sector is in the Weald, about forty miles away. Sarah would stay here and begin work on the Cliffe estate almost immediately if she got the job, and there is no guarantee that you would be posted back to Cliffehaven. The WTC have nine geographical areas, and you could be sent to Scotland, the Midlands, the West Country or Wales. You would have no say in where you were to be posted, I’m afraid.’