The day looked set to be bright and clear when Amber left early the next morning, although there was still a distinct chill in the air. Tugging her shawl tightly about her shoulders and clutching her small bundle of belongings, she set off for Whitby.

Greenacres, the Greenwoods’ home where Amber worked, was about two miles out of town, perched high on the headland with a view of the sea to one side and the beautiful rolling Yorkshire moors on the other. Amber had loved working there, but now she wondered if she would ever return. In the distance she could see the ruins of Whitby Abbey overlooking the town, and her footsteps slowed as she began to tremble with fear. Hopefully her father would be out at sea fishing when she reached her home so she would be able to have a private talk with her mother. But that would only delay the inevitable. Her father would have to be told eventually and she quaked as she wondered how he would react.

She moved on and soon she could see the fishing trawlers bobbing in the harbour, which as usual was crawling with fishermen who looked like little ants from this distance as they scurried about either preparing to set sail or unloading the fish they had caught into the warehouse lining the quay. Many of the townswomen would be there, ready to start gutting the fish and packing them into salted barrels for transporting, but Amber knew her mother wouldn’t be amongst them. For the last few years she had suffered from ill health, which had restricted what she could do, so now when she wasn’t cleaning the little house they all lived in, or cooking, she spent her time repairing fishing nets or knitting the thick woollen ganseys her brothers and father wore when they were at sea. Any spare ones were sold and the little money this brought in made Alice Ainsley feel that she was still contributing to the family’s income. However, Amber and her family were better off than most of the folk there abouts. Unlike some, they had never known what it was to be hungry even if at times their diet had consisted mainly of fish, and now that Amber and her brothers were working there was really no need for their mother to, although they all understood her need to feel useful.