'When first I went to a Yorkshire Mill

It gave me such a thrill...

I knocked upon the door,

Boss sez "have you worked in a mill before?"

Well I shook my head said "No sir,"

But he sez "Well I think you'll do dear,

Come in t' mornin' at seven

An' you'll think you're in heaven

When you work in a Yorkshire Mill..............'

'Little Emma' Jarvis

(Dad's Friend!)

Bob and Annie were now firmly established at the chapel in Bradford. Bob could never do any heavy work. He had stomach ulcers and had to keep to a strict diet. He had been a soldier out in India and was still prone to attacks of malaria. I remember my mum was invited to come to Bradford for a few weeks holiday. She had a nice time, and our Florrie and May took her to town and bought her a new hat and shoes. She looked a real toff when she came home to Featherstone. She liked Bradford from then on. She arranged for me to go and stay with our Annie and to go to work in the mills.

Meanwhile my friend Margy had left school. She should have stayed on until she was sixteen, but she had been very ill and had been in Pontefract Infirmary for about six weeks with fluid on her lungs. When she recovered she went to work at the Town Tailors in Castleford. (Betty carried on at school I believe.)

I was now to start a new chapter in my life. As soon as I was fourteen our May and Flo came over to take me to Bradford. I went on the Sunday and started work on the Monday, at Illingworth's Mill. They got me a job in the spinning department. They both worked in the Drawing at that time. We were up at six thirty am and our Annie made up some sandwiches. At Featherstone we had called it 'snap' but in Bradford it was 'jock'. I had a little tin ... in one side was tea, and in the other, sugar. It was called a 'mashin'' tin. I also carried a little bottle of milk. We always had a good breakfast before setting off to the mill. Our Annie always said that you shouldn't go out of the house without food inside you! She looked after us very well.

I was fitted up with two new italian cloth pinnies. It was very strange going through the 'penny 'ole' at the mill. If you were late at all you were 'docked' one penny. I worked on the top floor in the cap spinning. I was wrapping ends in on the bobbins and I was also the overlookers 'general dogsbody!' He had me running all over the mill on errands. I would see our Florrie and May quite often, and I always had my dinner with them down one of the spinning gates. At one end of the room there was a boiler where we could mash our tea. Washing facilities though, were pretty grim. We had to have buckets of hot water brought up by the jobber lad. Every two weeks we had to 'mop out'. Mopping was hard for me, because I wasn't very big or strong in those days.

After a while I became a doffer and ligger, then I learned to spin. I didn't stay very long at Illingworth's, but I learned a lot about mill work. I was happy with our Annie and all of them, but I was becoming increasingly homesick for mum and dad, and our Edie and Bill. Back in Featherstone dad and our Bill were still out of work, so I made up my mind to look for a little house and to try to get us all together in Bradford.

Our May took me all round Bradford searching for a house. Then we heard of one from one of the girls at work. The house was on Rosse Street, Girlington, and we went to see the owner about it the same day. The landlord was a Mr. Blackburn and he owned quite a lot of houses in Girlington. They were all rented out. He wanted two references, and had to see dad and mum. Dad came over to see him and brought the references, along with rent books from previous houses we had lived in. Dad was very peeved, for you would have thought we were criminals judging by the things Mr. Blackburn asked him about! Mum said he was a nosey old devil and she told him so! I don't know why, but he always seemed to get on well with her!

So it was that we were installed at number 36 Rosse Street, and mum was happier than she had been for a long time. I can see her now in her new green coat and velvet beret, when she first came to Bradford. She loved Bradford because for the first time in years she actually had some money of her own and could buy clothes for herself. When I worked at Illingworth's I got two shillings bonus every Tuesday, and mum would give me a shilling back to go to the pictures. Picture houses were abundant in Bradford in those days. Mum and dad loved to go, it was an excellent night out for all the family .... we would get fish and chips on the way home. I got our Bill a job in the mill with me and dad got a job in the combing on the other side of the road from our mill. It was a warm job, washing and carding the wool, but he stuck it.

The house at Rosse Street was only a 'back-to-back' house ... two bedrooms and a cellar head kitchen ... but mum loved it. The rent was about ten shillings a week. We had gas, and put pennies in the meter. At that time we had plenty of work to do when we came home. I had to donkeystone the doorsteps and windowsills. (The 'Donkey' stone was the same as he 'yellow' stone we had back in Featherstone.) I also had to blacklead the fireplace and 'Brasso' he fender. Yes, we had plenty of housework, but we did manage to get to the pictures once or twice a week. We could walk into the centre of Bradford from our house in half an hour. We would go every Saturday.

Mum loved the open market in Bradford. We would wait till fairly late, when the meat was being auctioned off and we would get lamb, sausage and liver for about half a crown. Then we would go for pie and peas at 'Pie Tom's', or sometimes we would have ham teacakes in the covered (Kirkgate) market. Kirkgate Market was filled with lots of little cafes. Why they pulled it down I will never know! The atmosphere has all gone now we have a new market. Things aren't the same anymore.

One Saturday afternoon we went to the market as usual. We always went in at the end where there were dogs, rabbits and cats for sale. they were all exhibited in wire cages. Dad said we could get a puppy. We picked the smallest little puppy from a litter ... it was brown and tan, with a little bit of black on it. She was to be 'Our Peggy'. We had her for fifteen years, and we loved her very much. We would take her down the woods and on the fields. When she was tired we carried her, and sometimes me and our Edie took her on the 'rec.' We would be talking away and we would look down to find no dog! She would go home on her own and mum would play pop with us!

I was now back home with the family, and during our first year in Bradford our Edie started school, but I wasn't too happy at work. The wage was very poor. I felt I could earn more elsewhere. So I got a job at Smith's at Allerton with a girl that I went mates with. When I left Illingworth's our Bill left too. He went to work at Lister's and he stayed there until he went into the army during the war. He liked Lister's a lot, and he went back there after the war.

I liked working at Smith's very much. It wasn't long before I was head doffer there, and getting more money. It was a different kind of spinning to that which I had learned at Illingworth's. This was fly spinning (the other type was cap spinning). I got some very sore knuckles learning it! We had an overlooker called Enos Clark. He was a very small man with a very big voice! He would shout 'doff' and you would hear him at the other end of the room! We would always sit on a long wooden form .. the 'doffer's form'. There were about five of us. We all had a 'share' to doff off and woe betide you if you broke a lot of 'ends' down! The spinners would call you every name under the sun!

One particular lad called Norman was an expert at knocking ends down. Me being head doffer I had a share on both sides to doff and had to put the lifters up. I always had to help poor Norman though, because he was always in bother and in tears many a time! The spinners made his life miserable and played all sorts of tricks on him! They put him in a 'skep' and fastened it up one dinner time. The overlooker was searching all over for him! Eventually he heard some muffled cries for help and found poor Norman! On one occasion they painted his white shoes with lipstick! He never did get it off! One good thing about Norman was his singing and his yodelling. He was a lovely singer. He would have done well today in a 'country and western' band!

We had an improver in that room He worked under the overlooker, and he made our lives a misery! He shouted and bawled all day long, and he made us rub rollers and card rollers, it was a job I hated ... my arms used to ache something shocking! He would just let us sit down on the form after we'd got all our frames doffed off, then he would shout.... ! 'Rollers!', 'rubbed rovings to pile!' (which wasn't our job!).

We had one girl working with us called Lisabeth. She was really 'loppy' and she would scratch and scratch all day long! To make matters worse she also suffered from B.O.! No-one would sit next to her if they could help it! One day the overlooker told her that if she didn't get cleaned up he would scrub her in the fire bucket! She improved a bit after that!

You wouldn't believe the things that went on in that mill. It was a lesson in life! On one occasion I recall, a stillborn baby was found in the toilet water box. They never found out whose it was. We couldn't eat meals in the mill, although we could go into the mill afterwards. We had to go to a rather grotty canteen up the yard. We had to climb up some steep, wooden stairs over the combing. All you could get at the canteen was pots of tea! The smell from the adjacent combing was awful, and I was sick most dinnertimes in summer. I would go and take my lunch in nearby Ladyhill Park .. it was a whole lot pleasanter!

One lad who worked in 'No. 4' was called Jack. He was the jobber lad. His job was 'oiling round'. You would just get the frames nice and clean and he would appear with his blasted oil can! I used to play pop with him, and the language he used was very colourful! His dad, it seemed, was a butcher, and Jack picked up his language from him! I used to be disgusted with him, especially with me going to chapel! I was to learn an awful lot about life working in the mills I can tell you!

Jack had a brother .. a winding overlooker called Ralph. He was the spitting image of Clark Gable, the film star! All the girls used to go mad on him! He was destined to go into the airforce. One lad, Ronnie, who worked with me (whom I liked very much) went into the navy, and last, but by no means least, there was Lily...... Lily was my best friend in the mill. She was much older than me, in her 'thirties in fact, but she taught me all there was to know about mill work. She was the best spinner I have ever come across during all my years in the mill. I was put onto sides next to her and she helped me all the time. On my birthday, and at Xmas time, she always bought me a present.

Christmas in the mill was great! We would trim up all the spinning gates with chains and bells a few days before, and we would also decorate all the window ledges. But it was the alley down the middle of the room that was the best ... We would twine paper garlands around the iron pillars. Each room would try to 'best' its neighbour! A few weeks before Christmas we would put sixpence or a shilling away. One of the older women would look after it all. At Xmas we would break into the 'kitty' and have a real 'do'! We would put skeps together and make a big table. then we would put on table cloths and Xmas crackers. We had wine, beer, pork pies, cakes and sandwiches. The overlooker always let us 'knock off' early. He didn't have much choice really, for by the latter end of the day everyone would be 'merry' and in no condition to watch machinery! I might add that the overlookers got their share and didn't have to pay for any of it.

I must mention the mill dam at Smith's. We would, during our breaks, sit on the fire escape overlooking the dam. It was stocked with lovely goldfish! I used to love watching them on a sunny day as they darted about in the water. There were some real 'whoppers' in that dam. I wonder if the dam is still there? The mill closed down some time ago, but I'm sure there are many people in Allerton who will remember those goldfish! I liked life in the mills but I used to look out of the windows and long to walk in the fields and the fresh air. But of course it was a case of 'work else no money to live on' in those days. Now they are all at home bored stiff and getting paid for it! I can honestly say that I have NEVER been bored ... I could always turn to a good book. I have travelled all over the world in books, and since television has come on the scene It has been marvellous to actually see all the places I have read about!

The manager at Smith's was a real tartar! His name escapes me at the moment, but I remember that he caught one girl knitting and he stood over her till she pulled it all back! We had runs on at that time that doffed twice a day. It was a lovely botany wool and we had plenty of time to spare in between. Also the rovings only came out about twice a week. I used to read in the 'belt hole' where I had my own buffet to sit on. I got shouted at many times for reading; it didn't stop me though! Washing was a carry-on in the mill in those days. We would rub our hands with mill oil and then wash them in a fire bucket filled with hot water, using combing soap!

I had a very happy four years at Smiths. I would never have left there, but one day the overlooker got us all together and informed us that we were to move from that room. It was a 'sample room' we worked in, you see, and things were slack. I got moved down below, into the self doffing fly spinning. I didn't like it, or the overlooker. Strange as it may seem, I worked with his sister and we were good friends, but I never liked him. He was over us all the day long ... we never had a minute! Maybe we had been spoiled up in Number 4 Room! Anyway, the upshot was that I handed in my notice and left. Mum wasn't pleased that I had left my job, but I wasn't worried; jobs were pretty easy to get then in Bradford. You could leave one mill and get a job at another mill the same day. The overlookers could set you on. You simply had to show them what you could do and you were in! As it was, I started work at Wood's in Allerton, two days after leaving Smith's. The work was much the same as at Smith's - fly spinning - but hard work wasn't in it! It was awful! We were running strong hair and it was filthy stuff! We never stopped piecing ends up all day long! The floor was inches deep with the stuff. It got in your hair, eyes and everywhere else!

I had two friends working with me at Wood's. They were two sisters, Kathleen and Ella. They came from Fairweather Green where they lived on a housing estate. They were as different as chalk and cheese! Kathleen was small and fair. Ella was tall and dark. Ella was a very attractive girl. I went to their house on one or two occasions. They were a nice family and their mum always made me right welcome. We always went in Ladyhill park at dinnertimes ... winter or summer! I remember that on one winter's day the paddling pool was iced over and we went sliding on it! One girl called Doris went through the ice, and had to borrow a lad's bike to go home and get changed!

On the subject of bikes, now that I was getting a fair wage I nattered mum to let me have a bike. Our Bill had a Wigfall's Royal .. a new one. Mum said that I could get a second hand one, so off I went to bike shop near home. (The same shhop is still in business - 1987 - forty five years on!) I got a new Hudson. It was considered a good bike in those days. I was fated to fall off the darned thing many times! I had already learned to ride though by this time ... my cousin Rose at York had obligingly let me learn on hers when we had been over there on holidays. Thus equipped, our Bill and I decided to go to Featherstone one weekend. It was the first time I had ever ridden a bike any great distance. When we got to Wakefield I was just pooped out, but I stuck it. Being with Bill I would never have heard the last of it if I'd packed it in! When we got to Featherstone we went to see all our old friends .. Margy especially. We finally got back home about eight pm after a lot of puffing and panting on my part. Our Bill would say "don't worry! You'll get your second wind!" But I never did do, and I never have to this day! I think it was all an old wive's tale, this 'second wind' lark! After that we pedalled off to York to see Uncle Nathan and Aunt Rose. Uncle Nathan was dad's elder brother. He was a farmers' man at Long Marston. We had four cousins there, Rose, Given, Reg and our Ruth. We sometimes stayed the weekend with them. They all had bikes and would often come back as far as Tadcaster with us, and then go back home.

Anyway, I must get back to my tale! I do keep wandering off don't I?

I stayed at Wood's for about two years. I never had a job where I had to work so hard! They had a weaving shed there also, at Wood's. I would go down there sometimes to get sweets and chocolate from a lady who worked in the weaving. She minded two looms. What a racket! I couldn't hear a word she said! She mainly lip read. I could never have stuck that din! The shuttles used to fly off, and sometimes they went through the windows! Once I got a real crack on my elbow from a picking stick. It was my own fault though, because she had warned me about it.

At that time all the drive belts were overhead and now and again they would snap. If you had the misfortune to be underneath ... well it was your lookout!! I sustained many a crack on the head with mill belts flying off! One case we heard of, at Priestman's Mill, involved a girl who was sweeping up in the 'belt hole'. The belt caught her brush, and she didn't let go, as a result of which she lost her arm! Machines weren't guarded like they are today. I have lost many a mill cloth round the cogwheels on the frame ends. Everything at Wood's was antique ... old machines and bobbins. I got countless bumps and endless splinters in my hands when I worked there!

While I was at Wood's I became very sick and poorly, so mum sent me to the doctors. He, in turn, sent me for some X rays at Bradford Royal Infirmary. At that time the 'Royal' was at the top of Westgate. It was a very old place. I was told that I would have to go in for surgery, for appendicitis, and I would have to wait until I was sent for!

I waited for about three months! Eventually I was admitted to hospital, and was in for about ten days while I had the operation. Then I was sent to Rawdon Convalescent Home for a further ten days. I was in a pretty run down state, I recall. It was nice at Rawdon. The bluebells were out in the surrounding woods. When mum and dad came to take me home they couldn't afford a taxi, so we had to walk down to Apperley Bridge to catch the 'bus! I had to go straight to bed when we got home ... I was so tired.

As a result of all this, mum wouldn't let me go back to Wood's to work. At this time our May and Florrie were working at Hey's Mill (they had left Illingworth's some time before). Our Flo was in the drawing and our May was the First Aid Lady. They had joined he St. John's Ambulance Brigade and had passed out as Officers, fully trained in first aid and home nursing. I had been offered the same chance, they had asked me to go with them, and I did at first, but I didn't carry it on. I see now after so many years how foolish I was! No matter! Fate decress otherwise!

When I was fully recovered I joined my cousins at Hey's ... in the drawing. It was quite near home, but I was never happy there. I wanted to go back to Allerton. In the end I did go back to Allerton. I got a job at Bailey's Mill and went into the fly spinning. It was a 'home from home' type of a mill, the first day I started I liked it there ... everyone was so friendly. I went doffing to start with at Bailey's, but it wasn't long before I was back on spinning. We had a good overlooker there called Sydney. He never 'carried on' at us! The work varied ... sometimes good, and sometimes bad. The lady next to me showed me the ropes in no time. She was called Clara and she became a good friend to me. Beside Clara there was Alice and Elsie, two sisters who also became my good friends. Alice was on the 'self doffers'. She was very short and very fat. THe frames were pretty high, I recall, and when the rovings came out poor Alice could barely reach them! She was often in tears and we would all go down to help her get them in. When I was on doffing, I also had to doff the 'self doffers'. It was a matter of turning the wheels and levers at the end of the frame. Not being used to it, I often finished up with the bobbins on the floor ... and what a performance that was! I had to get under the frame to pick them up. I got cursed a few times before I became a 'nap hand' at it!

I used to sit with Alice and Elsie for my dinner. I recall that for a time it was my job to fetch the dinners in. I would go round every day for the dinner orders ... warm cornish pasty or fish and chips! I did well going to the fish shop and always got my fish and chips 'buckshee' for bringing the order! I also got a penny off each 'customer', which wasn't bad in those days. I usually had about nine or ten dinners to order. I loved going out ... it was a break for me. Sometimes I got the job of going to the tinners up Allerton for the overlooker. Sometimes I would have to wait ages, so I would sit on the counter and have a natter.

I used to call for Alice at half past six in the morning to go to work. She lived in the next street, in a front house. She was married, but had no family. Her husband seemed to be much older than her. They used to go to the 'Brownroyd' pub a lot. They both liked a drink. Alice had a lovely voice and always sang 'Just Plain Folk' at every available opportunity. When I hear that song I always think of her.

One morning I went round and what a shock I got! Alice's husband had gassed himself downstairs while Alice was upstairs in bed! It's a wonder she wasn't gassed herself ... the smell was all over the house! She got over it though, and eventually came back to work. (Life does have to go on.) She was alone for some time, but eventually she remarried again. I think she was a bit happier the second time around.

In those days, Bailey's was a very old mill. They still had gas lighting and overhead belts. As I have said, the belts were apt to break frequently. (On one occasion I got slashed across the back of the neck with one.) We had a lad there called Harry, who could put tapes and belts on in 'quick sticks'! He would climb up on the frames like a monkey! I went to the pictures once or twice with him, but I wasn't too keen on him!

I used to come in early on some winter mornings to light up the gas mantles. We had a long, metal rod to reach up with. I wasn't very tall, and I couldn't reach properly. I used to break numerous mantles as a result. I was always getting told off about it! Sydney said he would dock my wage! (But he was only kidding me!)

The manager at Bailey's was called Pickles. He had a son working there, with the rather unlikely name of Herman. He was a nice enough lad, but a bit 'slack set up'! He was an excellent worker ... when left alone! I hate to see people taking the mickey out of people not so fortunate as themselves, and poor Herman was always the subject of abuse. Herman was as strong as an ox! He could pull a skep full of bobbins to the outside crane with no effort at all! His dad was strict, but fair. I remember one day he came in,and, I must admit, the room was an absolute mess! I was spinning at the time. I saw him writing in chalk on the floor and I wondered what on earth he was up to! When he had gone I went over to have a look. Written in large letters were the words.....

PIG HOLE !

When Sydney saw it, he wouldn't belive that Pickles had written it! He blamed me and Elsie for it, (until late afternoon, that is, when Pickles came round for the day.) When he came in he rounded on Sydney ... " Did tha see what I wrote on yon floor?" He said. "See that it's swept up next time!"

Poor Sydney was always in the wars with Pickles. One one occasion I recall, he was pulling a skep up the alley one minute, and the next minute he had vanished! He had backed up and fallen out of the crane door! He fell down two storeys. It's a miracle he wasn't killed! Luckily he only broke his collar bone. He lay there about ten minutes before we found him.

There was a small room in between our room and the twisting, where we mashed our tea. It was very dark in there. Mr. Pickles would always come with his big teapot to 'mash up'. On this particular day I was running through into the twisting and I bumped straight into Mr. Pickles! The teapot and the tea went flying, and I was sore for some time with the scalding tea! Old Pickles wasn't too pleased either! He told me that if he caught me running again I would be for it! (On the whole, though, he was a nice old chap).

Once a day Mr. Dan Bailey would come round to inspect the place. He and his brother George owned the mill. We called him 'Big George'. They were both tall men. George always managed to catch me ravelling bits of wool off. He used to say - "Annie, do you know how much yon wool costs a pound??" I would say "no Mr. George." Then I would be subjected to a long lecture on the costs of wool! Dan's daughter Edna worked in the office. She was a lovely girl, not a bit 'stuck up'. She was always helpful if your wages were wrong. She never married. I think she had had a tragic love affair at some time. (As far as I could tell, it was her fiancee who died.) I liked Bailey's because we were left to do the job in hand, and get on with it in peace. There was no shouting and threatening, and I was very happy there.

There was plenty 'going off' though! One day, one of the women took it into her head that we should all have our ears pierced, so she came the next day with a darning needle and a cork! She did three of the girls, and then suddenly it was my turn. I said that no way was she doing mine! As a result I was jeered at and called a spoilsport, but I had the last laugh two days later, when they all had to go to the doctor's with infected ears! I never did get my ears pierced!

When they were not piercing ears, the girls at Bailey's were always running 'perm clubs', which was very good. We would pay a shilling a week for a number of weeks, and if you drew an early number, then so much the better! I used to get my hair permed often. The girls also ran stocking clubs and a holiday club for the annual one week's holiday. We didn't go away for the full holiday period like today, rather, we would go for 'day's out' on the train. We would go to Blackpool on one day and to Bridlington on another. We hardly ever bought meals on these trips. We would take lots of sandwiches and cakes and purchase a big jug of tea on the sands. We would play cricket for hours on end on the beach, and I would take our Edie into the sea. She turned out to be a good swimmer, far better than I ever was! Happy days they were!

Our Edie got very spoiled, her being the 'baby' of the family. I was ten years older than her. I took her all over with me. We would go to the pictures two and three nights a week. There were three picture houses quite near to us .. the 'Little Vic', the 'Coliseum' and the 'Elite'. Dad and mum loved the pictures, and we would all go together.

Mum really settled in Bradford, and for the first time in years she had a bit of money. She had a little cleaning job of her own and wages from dad, Bill and myself. She went to clean for an old lady in the next street. Her husband had a little shop up Thornton Road, where he worked as a cobbler. In those days he did a roaring trade! Such was their success that his son also opened up a shop on Duckworth Lane, and their daughter was a manageress at Redman's in Bradford. Mrs Miller was crippled with arthritis and she could barely walk at all. She was therefore very grateful for mum's help with the cleaning. Hilda (the daughter) was very good. She gave mum and I lots of clothes. Mum looked after Mrs Miller for about two years up to her death.

It was about this time that mum decided that she would like to move into a 'back' house and have a garden for 'hanging out' in. The house in the back behind us came empty, so mum went after it. We gave Dr. Blackburn a week's notice, and he was most upset. He begged mum to stay, but she said no. He knew he had a good 'payer' with her. We also looked after the property. He got a right lot in after we had left ... they wouldn't pay the rent at all! Dad said it served old Blackburn right! He had never cared much for him since that initial interview when we had first arrived from Featherstone.

So it was then, that we moved into the house at the back. We had no expense of moving, we simply carried the furniture round! Mum was happy with her bit of garden. Dad dug it over and put some flowers in for her. This new house had gas lighting, and mum paid to have electric put in. The only snag with our new home was the mineral water works next door. They still had draught horses at that time, and they would bang their hooves up against the wall at night! (In time though, we got used to it.) We also saw one or two rats in the garden. I used to go to the toilet at night with a lamp ... just in case!

At this time our Bill was working at Lister's Mill. He seemed to have settled down there. I still went to Kensington Hall with our Flo and May and I now took our Edie with us. We went to the sewing class there and I learned to do embroidery. Our Florrie and May were now well established in the St. John's Ambulance Brigade. Florrie left the mill and went to work at Field's Printers, where she was to work for many years. Our May went to teach four and five year olds at a nursery school. It's funny, they never had any children of their own! Perhaps it was the demands put on them by the St. John's Ambulance and the Chapel.

In Bradford we had found employment, a better standard of living and a whole new way of life. For the first time in many years, we had come, once more, to know prosperity. But there were changes in the air, and as we grew gradually aware of the ominous events that were taking place in the greater world, that only existed for us at the cinema, or on the radio, we gradually realised that soon we might all be going our own separate ways; for suddenly it was 1939.....

' Into the railway station

Crept a little boy one night,

The last train it was leaving,

The bustle was at it's height.

The station master he looked down

With warm and wondering eyes

Upon a little child so fair

So frail in form and size.

"What do you want my little one?"

The station master cried,

The little boy looked up at him

And to him thus replied......

"GIVE ME A TICKET TO HEAVEN PLEASE,

THAT'S WHERE DAD'S GONE THEY SAY,

HE'LL BE SO LONELY WITHOUT ME

TRAVELLING ALONE ALL THAT WAY.

MOTHER DIED WHEN I WAS BORN SIR,

SHE LEFT DAD AND ME ALL ALONE.

SO GIVE ME A TICKET TO HEAVEN PLEASE,

BEFORE THE LAST TRAIN HAS GONE...................

copyright © Annie.E.Jarratt 2002