Blackpool Belle

The gentle waves rolled up against the sand as the seagulls paddled and pecked where the two overlapped. The rare summer rays seemed to bounce off the Tower in the distance as day-trippers and holidaymakers alike ambled along the seafront. The sound of children playing could be heard in the distance, along with the jingle of the donkeys’ bells as they trotted back and forth. Ivy smiled and licked her lips. She could almost taste the smell of fish and chips wafting across the pier.

She reflected on how she had had counted the days until she could escape the daily grind of endless shifts at Talbot Mill. Shillings, saved from her pay packet after she had paid board and lodgings to her mam, had been ferreted away, except for the odd pair of nylons or material for her Aunty Lil to run up a selection of frocks for the holiday. Saturdays were the highlight, with dancing at the Tudor and along with Mavis and Doreen, she was determined to make it to the Tower Ballroom for at least one turn round the floor.

‘If you crane your neck, you can see the sea!’ giggled Doreen as soon as they crammed into the boarding house bedroom.

Hardly the most salubrious of seaside accommodations, it was their home for the next seven blissful days.

‘You feeling any better Mavis?’

The journey by Leyland Royal Tiger bus had done little to help her recover from her hangover. But Ivy had other suspicions as to the cause of Mavis’ pallor and quiet demeanour. She had been very cagey when she had enquired if she was still seeing Ted that well known lothario of the dance floor. ‘Come on, it’s time to explore.’

They hung the last of their holiday wardrobe and then the girls were off to check out the talent.

They had hardly got to the door when they heard a commotion. ‘Well, what have we got here?’ Ivy came eye to eye with Eddie, who had more than a passing resemblance to her idol, Cliff Richard.

‘So, are you going to introduce me to your friends?’

Before long, the girls were doing the twist in the street. Ivy found herself being given a piggyback by the handsome Eddie, much to the annoyance of other holidaymakers, who were trying to get by and were not impressed by the sounds coming from the transistor radio, perched precariously on the wall. Only her slacks protected her modesty as Eddie raced up and down the street.

“Ivy came eye to eye with Eddie, who had more than a passing resemblance to her idol, Cliff Richard.”

Soon, the girls found themselves being whipped off to Tomlinson’s café. The bright red Formica tables were soon littered with glass cups and saucers brimming with frothy coffee.

As the days went on, Ivy and Eddie seemed to hang back from the group, much to the annoyance of Mavis, who delighted in flirting and drawing attention to herself at every opportunity. Ivy learnt that Eddie lived just a few streets away from her Aunty Lil back in Chorley and was a drinking pal of her cousin Jack, so she felt that she was in good company. They spent their days sunbathing on the crowded beach and wondered how so many men managed to keep cool in their Sunday suits as they slept in hired wooden deckchairs. Jugs of tea were the order of the day. Ivy turned heads in her bright red fitted costume with flattering skirt.

‘You should enter one of those beauty competitions,’ laughed Eddie but Ivy just blushed and turned away.

‘Eyes down, look in. Number Ten Mr Wilson’s den.’

The gang were tempted into one of the arcades for several games of bingo. Eddie’s winnings helped to pay for a very romantic ride in a horse drawn landeau as they took in the unlit illuminations before Ivy persuaded him to dance the night away in the Tower ballroom.

‘I’ve got two left feet,’ he protested as she taught him the jive.

But not everyone was happy for Ivy and her holiday romance.

‘You want to watch that, Eddie. He’s not all he’s cracked up to be,’ sneered Mavis as Ivy carefully backcombed her hair and set it solid with lacquer so that the sea breeze would need to be a hurricane to shift it.

As she left The Seaview, Ivy’s heart almost stopped as she saw Mavis and Eddie standing close.

‘Come on Ivy, time to go.’

Before her eyes, those bygone days of summer 1965 faded and she was brought back to the present and thoughts of her expanding family of grandchildren and great grandchildren.

‘Oh, Eddie, whatever would I have done without you all these years?’

Eddie smiled to himself and thought of how lucky he had been that day to meet the love of his life. They had hardly spent a day apart in almost 60 years. Nothing, not even Mavis, could come between him and his dancing queen.

NorthernLife June/July/Aug 24