This book is a work of fiction based on facts and inspired by genuine stories, like those of Dorothy (Dolly) O’Beirne and Norman Brewer. Dolly grew up on Lilac Road. When she left Bassett Green School, she went into domestic service, but the work didn’t suit her and she soon found a job at Lowman’s Bakery delivering bread door to door. For three years, she worked on the bread van my grandfather, Tom Haley, drove around Eastleigh, Hamble, and the surrounding area. One day, they were driving past the airfield on Satchel Lane when a lone German plane flew over and strafed them. My grandfather pushed her from the van and shielded her with his body until the danger had passed. The row of bullet holes in the van told Dolly that ‘Old Tom Haley’ had saved her life, but they carried on with their round as if nothing had happened.
Norman Brewer, Dolly’s sixteen-year-old sweetheart, also worked on the bread vans, and as a messenger boy during the air raids. In April 1941, he and his fifteen-year-old friend, Brian Vaughan, rescued a mother and child from a bombed house in Priory Road, St Denys and earned commendations for their bravery. In 1944, Norman was called up. Seven months later, on 5 October, he died at Arnhem. Dolly later married George O’Beirne, and during the 1960s and 70s, she was a Labour councillor. She never forgot Norman, or the day Tom Haley saved her life.
My grandfather didn’t tell a soul about saving Dolly’s life, but one evening in the late 1970s, my mother read Dolly’s account of the event in the Southern Daily Echo. Then, in the mid-1990s, The Echo published another article about the incident. Thinking Dolly might be interested, I wrote to the editor explaining that my grandfather was Old Tom Haley. I hoped he would pass this on to Dolly. When I had no reply, I supposed no one but me was bothered about what became of him. In 2016, I saw a post by Dolly’s daughter Janette O’Beirne on the Southampton Heritage Facebook Page, and a few weeks later, I took her and her sister Kathleen to visit my grandfather’s grave.
Janette told me ‘She was full of stories and she told her children, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren the story of Old Tom Haley saving her life. She remembered every detail, from how he shielded her without a thought for himself, down to all the orders in the bread basket and the line of bullet holes in the bread van. Afterwards, they completed the bread round as if nothing had happened. Mum said all the customers complained because their bread delivery was late, but he never said a word. My nan told her off as well for coming home late and I don’t think she told her until years later.’
Janette also told me Norman Brewer’s story. These stories inspired this tale, although I have changed the names and some of the details. Brian Vaughan, the other messenger boy involved in the rescue, was a bricklayer’s labourer, who lived opposite Norman on Adelaide Road. Reggie Hampton and Stevie Babcock are figments of my imagination. Looting did go on during the blitz, the black market thrived, and robberies did happen during the blackout, but the story of Cal Watson’s counterfeit ration books, looting messengers, the snatched bag, and the death on the level crossing are fictional.
The character of Mad Molly was inspired by a story I discovered in the Hansard archives of 3 April 1941. Miss Mary Tukwas arrested for flashing her torch at the sky during an air raid. She violently resisted arrest, assaulted a policeman, and shouted abuse of England. Conservative MP Edmund Ashworth Radford asked the Home Secretary to consider deporting her to Ireland, ‘From whence she had come under a different name,’ as she had deliberately signalled to German airmen raiding Southampton. Labour Home Secretary Herbert Morrison responded that he had no powers to do this, and Mary was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment. What later became of her remains a mystery.
Alfie Doyle is also a fictional character, inspired by the many accounts I read about wartime deserters and men being mistakenly shot for failing to stop at checkpoints. I found the details of the rescue on Priory Road amongst the Civil Defence Gallantry Awards on Ancestry.com, along with details of other rescues and incidents in Southampton that have helped add authenticity to this book.
Local history groups provided information on the ambulance station in Mount Pleasant School and the fifty-seven raids on Southampton throughout 1940 and 1941. Many personal accounts I discovered in Becky Brown’s Blitz Spirit, and on the BBC’s World War Two People’s War pages helped me envision these difficult times. Every air raid described in the story is based on a real event, thanks to the detailed reports I found on Sotonopedia, the Supermariners, and Southampton Stories websites and many first-hand accounts from local history groups, including Southampton Heritage Photos, Southampton Memories: People and Places, and Bevois Mount History. I gleaned details of the blackout from the Historic Southampton website. In particular, the photographs of bomb damage on the Bevois Mount History, Supermariners, and Southampton Stories websites, and local Facebook groups helped me envision what the town was like back then.
My grandfather and his brother Harry inspired the characters of Tom and Harry Brodrick, and my maternal relatives inspired Denis, Percy, Laura, and the extended Barfoot family. The other characters are all fictional. Bert Porter and Frank Scorey appeared in my Between the Wars Saga, Clara and her family began their story in A Dish Best Served Cold, Joe Wilson and Wally Coles were first mentioned in Plagued, and Sid Cahill was first mentioned in Luck of the Draw.
This book exists thanks to encouragement from wonderful readers who took the time to contact me or leave reviews of my first series of novels, the Between The Wars Saga. You will never understand how much your kind words mean. Thanks, too, to Aleks Kruz and Hayley Yates of Hangar47, who provided the technical know-how. Last but definitely not least, I have to thank my long-suffering husband, Dave Keates, for his patience in listening to the story, believing in me, and giving his feedback.
This tale is a tribute to all those who lived through the dark days of the Southampton Blitz, and the bravery of those who patrolled the streets, saved lives, and rescued those trapped in bombed buildings. They prove that hard times create strong men and women, and we owe them all a debt of gratitude.
Copyright © 2024 Marie Keates
All rights reserved ISBN-13 : 979-8339855552