Doreen rolled her eyes. ‘Typical. I suppose the Anchor isn’t good enough for her?’

Rosie didn’t look at all put out. ‘I think she wanted a quiet evening. This place gets quite rowdy on a Friday night now we’ve got a new piano.’

Doreen set off again, pointing out the new school that was almost finished in the footprint of the old one which she and her sisters had attended, and then the shops that had been there for as long as she could remember. She waved to Fred the Fish and Alf the butcher and hurried on across the main road leading up from the seafront and into the twitten behind Beach View.

‘What’s this place?’ asked Evelyn, her nose wrinkling as she turned to look at the bomb site and then regarded Beach View’s vegetable plot, the outside lav and the chicken coop.

Doreen realised her daughter had become accustomed to the manicured playing fields and formal grounds of the boarding school, and used to living in part of a gracious old manor house, so wasn’t really surprised by her shock at seeing poor old battered Beach View.

‘This is the house I was born in.’ Doreen opened the gate and pushed the pram onto the path. ‘And it’s where we’ll be staying with my sister Peggy, so I don’t want you turning up your nose like that, young lady. It’s rude and hurtful.’

Evelyn had the grace to look ashamed and ducked her chin as Doreen opened the back door and called out to Peggy.

Peggy had been restless with anticipation as the time had ticked away, but at the sound of her sister’s voice, she leapt to her feet and ran down the cellar steps to greet her.

Doreen was looking stunning with a bright blue hat on her wavy brown hair, a matching jacket and a sprigged cotton dress. She threw her arms about her.

‘It’s so lovely to see you again,’ she said breathlessly after they’d hugged and kissed. Turning to the girls, her eyes widened as she took in their neat plaits and pretty appearance and the coltish limbs of Evelyn who was looking more like her mother than ever. ‘My goodness, haven’t you both grown? The last time I saw you, you were tiny tots.’

Evelyn and Joyce withstood Peggy’s effusive greeting with awkward grace.

‘And this must be Archie,’ sighed Peggy, drinking in the sight of the smiling, chubby little boy. She quickly unstrapped him and took him in her arms. ‘Oh, my, he’s quite a weight, isn’t he?’ she giggled as Daisy came out to see what all the noise was about.

‘This is Daisy,’ Peggy said proudly. ‘Daisy, these are your cousins, Evelyn and Joyce, and they’ll be staying with us for a while.’

As the girls eyed each other warily, Peggy turned to Doreen. ‘I do hope you’ll be staying for more than just the weekend,’ she murmured. ‘It’ll be so lovely to have you home again. I’ve missed you and we have so much to catch up on.’