This was one of the highlights of the Ragley calendar and there was a queue outside on the pavement when they arrived. Elsie Crapper was on the door collecting the shiny sixpences and the threepenny bits, while Florence had arrived with Freddie in Mrs Merryweather’s car.

Doris Clutterbuck was on her usual form and there was a cheer when she made her first dramatic entrance. However, the greatest accolade of the evening undoubtedly went to Nora Pratt.

‘This is your opportunity,’ said Doris. ‘Grasp it with both hands and meet your destiny.’ Doris always got a little carried away when she was dressed up like a dog’s dinner.

So it was on that cold December night the slim, petite Nora stood on stage in her frilly dress and the treasured Alpine corset. Although it was a little loose on the teenage shop assistant, the strategic addition of baling twine had tightened up the garment and added greatly to Nora’s otherwise modest ensemble. She took a deep breath and began to sing the Judy Garland classic from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

‘Somewhere over the Wainbow,’ sang Nora in a sweet voice. Doris, at the side of the stage, sighed. Not quite what I was hoping for, but perhaps the audience won’t notice, she thought.

There were a few titters from the footballers in the back row, pint pots in hand, but the rest of the villagers thought Nora had done a good job doubling up as the Fairy’s assistant plus the demanding role of the cheerful Buttons. So when she sang, ‘And the dweams that you da’e to dweam weally do come twue,’ you could have heard a pin drop and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Here was one of their own trying her best, and as one they rose from their seats and applauded.

At the end Doris received a large bouquet and then, as the lights came on, the audience drifted out to their New Year festivities. Following a conversation with Tom, Lily approached Florence. ‘Mother, Tom has asked me to join him for a New Year drink in The Royal Oak and then he’s offered to drive me home.’

‘And what did you tell him?’ Florence answered sharply.

‘That I would discuss it with you. I told him we usually put Freddie to bed and see in the New Year together over a glass of sherry.’

Florence stared at her daughter and felt the pain of a mother. ‘To be honest, I’m rather tired, so you go if you wish. I’ll see to Freddie.’

‘Are you sure?’

Florence gave Lily a hug and held her hands. She spoke quietly. ‘You have a fine mind, Lily, rather like your father … but you also have a warm heart. So do take care how you use it.’

‘What exactly are you saying, Mother?’

‘Merely that I don’t want to see you hurt.’