A police inspector came up to speak to the old people and tried to persuade them to end their protest. He said they were causing a public nuisance, that he’d have to take action if they didn’t move. “What are you going to do?” Miss Carter asked him. “Are you going to arrest us? Are you going to arrest Paddywack too?” And when they started up their singing again, he had to retreat. It was a song they all knew, an old favourite.

Miss Carter had suggested they should sing it, because of Paddywack of course, but also because everyone at Fairlawns knew it had been Marion’s favourite song:

This old man, he played one,

He played knick knack on my drum,

With a knick knack paddywack,

Give a dog a bone,

This old man came rolling home!

They sang it and they sang it, over and over. And then the whole crowd was joining in, belting it out up and down the road.

Soon dozens of relatives had turned up, to support the protest. A few of them did try to persuade the old people to go back indoors, but none of them would. They stayed right where they were, and many of their relatives and friends were so inspired that they stayed on with them, in solidarity. As the streetlights came on and the evening darkened, everyone began to feel the first nip of frost in the air. Mrs Bellamy made a statement to all the gathered reporters. “We’re all going inside now,” she said, “because it’s getting too cold. But we’ll be out again in the morning, you can be sure of that.” And as they left, the crowd clapped and cheered them all the way up the drive.

In the warmth of the house, those that could stay awake watched themselves on the television news that evening, and that’s when they discovered just what an impact their protest had had, and also what was still going on under the glare of the floodlights right outside their front door. The world’s press was there now, and hundreds of local people were still gathered on the grass verge. It was Lynn, the paramedic from the hospital, that they happened to be interviewing.

“What you maybe don’t know,” she was saying, “is that Joe Mahoney’s wife, Marion, was looked after in Fairlawns for nearly five years, until she died a couple of months ago. He knows better than anyone how good this place is, and what a crime it would be to close it down. So do I, so does everyone here. And don’t think he’ll give up, because he won’t, nor will any of them.” She was looking straight into the camera. “And if you’re watching up there in Fairlawns, good on you! Good on you, Joe! Good on you, Paddywack! We’re all with you, the whole town.” And another great cheer went up. And then they weren’t cheering any more, they were singing. It was Knick Knack Paddywack, and they were singing it out so loud that the reporter had to shout to make himself heard.