‘Once he sees the Rolls he won’t mind what you do for the rest of the day.’ Harry was laughing as he pulled away, heading back to the garage.

It was bedlam as Matt walked into the old community hall. One man was ripping out old cupboards that reached from floor to ceiling. Another was swinging a sledgehammer at a fireplace that had been bricked up. There were others elsewhere making a heck of a racket. The air was full of dust, and it was settling in a thick carpet everywhere. He went into what was eventually going to be the kitchen and found his mother and two members of her committee poring over some drawings, obviously done by the tall man who was explaining something to them.

His mother smiled when she saw him. ‘Hello, Matt. What are you doing here at this time of day?’

‘I’ve been out with Harry buying a car.’ He wasn’t going into details now; he would wait until they were all together this evening before he said anything. ‘I thought I’d see how you’re getting on.’

‘As you can see’ – his mother brushed brick dust from her jacket – ‘we’re in a mess, but we will open next week.’ She turned to the man beside her. ‘Ron, this is my son, Matt.’

After shaking hands, Matt said, ‘Do you think my mother’s being too optimistic about getting all this work done in such a short time?’

‘We’ll make it, even if we have to work all night.’ Ron sounded very positive.

A young boy came by, staggering under the weight of a large piece of concrete.

‘My goodness, Jimmy,’ Mrs Stannard exclaimed. ‘Where did you find that?’

‘It was at the back of the fireplace, ma’am.’ He puffed with the effort of holding the heavy weight. ‘Just going to dump it out the back.’ He tottered off.

Diving for the door, Matt held it open and Jimmy weaved his way into the yard, jumping back quickly as he let go of the block of concrete, letting it crash to the ground. He turned and grinned at Matt. ‘Wouldn’t have been able to light a fire with that wedged in the grate.’

Going back to his mother, Matt said, ‘If you need more help, Luke and I could do some work in the evenings.’

‘No, my dear.’ His mother lowered her voice. ‘These men need the jobs. They’re so grateful to have something useful to do instead of standing in the dole queues every day.’

‘How long can you keep them?’

‘We’ve told them about two weeks, but I’ll see what I can do about Ron and Jimmy after that. They’re friends of Jenny.’

Just then a burst of girlish laughter came from a room at the end of the corridor.

‘That’s Jenny and her friend Ivy,’ his mother said. ‘They’re scrubbing out the toilets.’