Wailing sirens and strictly enforced blackouts became the norm and so intense were the bombing raids that there were spells of a fortnight or more before Madge finally got a night in her own bed instead of the Anderson air-raid shelter at the bottom of Auntie Bea’s garden. It wasn’t very comfortable but Madge soon found herself accepting it as part and parcel of everyday life. It almost became an adventure after a while!
During the day she was so busy with work and helping Auntie Bea around the house that she barely had time to miss her family. But after so many months apart, every time she thought of Mum, Doris and Doreen there was a tug at her heart strings. Auntie Bea was an expert at sensing even the slightest of emotional changes and over dinner on one of the few nights they weren’t in the air-raid shelter she very gently and diplomatically mentioned that she had been thinking of Lily and the girls and wondered how they had settled in.
‘I bet your mum is missing you,’ she said. ‘Do you think it might be time for a little visit to High Wycombe?’
‘Oh yes,’ said Madge, the thought bringing a big smile to her face. ‘I’d love to see them all again and have a bit of fun with my sisters.’ She sighed and the smile faded. ‘But getting there will be the problem. You never really know when the trains are going to be running these days.’
As luck would have it, a neighbour, John Husk, son of John Husk Senior, heard that Madge was planning a visit and kindly offered to give her a lift up to Buckinghamshire where his wife and children were also sheltering from the bombs of Dover. Madge was given time off from Wiggins Teape and after just a few days’ anxious wait, she set off with Mr Husk in his car.
‘It’s really good of you to give me a lift,’ said Madge. ‘Your father did me a favour over the job at Wiggins Teape and now you’re being so kind as well. I’m incredibly grateful.’
‘Well, we were all very fond of your dad,’ said John, as he looked at his watch and apologised for the length of time the journey was taking. ‘I had no idea it would be this slow.’
Road closures, checkpoints and air-raid warnings meant he had been driving for more than six hours.
‘I wonder when they will put the road signs back up,’ said Madge as they came to a T-junction with no signs showing.
It was almost seven hours by the time she was dropped off in High Wycombe.
‘You’re here!’ Doris and Doreen yelled in delight as Madge walked through the door, and they ran to hug her.
‘Hey, my turn!’ Mum laughed as she stepped up to embrace her daughter in a tight hug. ‘It’s so wonderful to see you, love. It feels like forever since we were last all together. And John,’ she said, ‘you must stay for a quick cuppa as a thanks for being so kind.’
The few days back as a family passed all too quickly and Doris and Doreen quizzed Madge relentlessly about the German bombers, and anything else they could think of.
‘Have you got a boyfriend?’ asked Doris, who was told by a laughing Madge that it was none of her business.
She played endless games of Snap with the girls and they even got Mum to have a go with a skipping rope in the back garden. It was almost like those happy days when Dad was still alive. Almost, but not quite.
Once the girls had gone to bed on Madge’s last night with the family, Mum grilled her on just how bad the damage was in Dover.
‘Come on, love, tell me truthfully. I’ve heard some terrible things are going on down there. And it nearly broke my heart hearing about all those hundreds of kiddies being evacuated to Wales and taken away from their parents. Auntie Bea said that the mothers were weeping even more than the kids. I’m so glad I brought Doris and Doreen up here when I did,’ she added.
‘Oh, it’s really not that terrible,’ Madge said, trying to stay as cheerful as possible before changing the subject, not wishing to worry Lily. ‘I’ve had such a lovely time seeing you all but I suppose I’d better pack for the journey back tomorrow.’
‘I don’t think so, Madge,’ Mum replied, fixing her gaze on Madge’s shocked face. ‘Everyone down the greengrocer’s was just saying that the Germans are going to land up on the south coast and there’s no way in hell you’ll be there on your own when the Nazis arrive.’
‘Mum, come on, they’re just rumours, and in any case, I’ve got Uncle Mark and Auntie Bea!’
But Lily had put her foot down and no amount of pleading from her eldest daughter would change her mind. There was simply no way that Madge was going to be allowed to return to Dover and that was that!
Because the port of Dover had been designated as a ‘Restricted Zone’ it was many weeks before Madge was granted official permission to make the journey back to pick up her clothes. By the time she eventually got there, the population of the town had halved as worries over a German invasion increased, causing people to pack onto trains carrying more than 800 people at a time away from the coast.
