When Livvy got home from work that evening she flung herself into a chair and pouted. ‘Three young men from our office alone went and joined up in their dinner hour today,’ she told her mother. ‘Three of them just from one business, so how many more must be going? There would have been four, but Jeremy Garner got turned down for medical reasons. He has a heart murmur apparently and bad eyesight too. At this rate there’ll be no men left here!’

Sunday and Kathy glanced at each other and shook their heads. It was all so worrying for everyone.

Kathy had just got the children up from a nap and she stood in the doorway with one on each hip. Her main concern was for her children, but she hoped they would be safe as they lived in a village on the outskirts of the town. She settled the twins on the floor with a pile of wooden bricks then set about getting their tea. They were having boiled eggs and bread-and-butter soldiers this evening followed by jelly and cream – one of their favourites. They both had healthy appetites although Daisy was still the greediest, and they would eat most of what she put in front of them, which she was grateful for.

‘Do you think there’s any chance this Hitler chap might turn back and everything will fizzle out?’ she asked hopefully, and Sunday snorted.

‘Huh! This Hitler is some sort of power maniac. I think there’s about as much chance of that happening as a snowflake in hell would have!’

Kathy bit her lip as she buttered the bread. It seemed they were just going to have get on with it as best they could.

Over the next couple of weeks training camps sprang up all across the country and the stations and trains were packed as the new recruits flocked to them, waved off by teary-eyed sweethearts and parents, who remembered the last war all too well. There were no celebrations to see them on their way this time, just the loved ones left behind on the deserted platforms, their faces etched with dread.

David called round one evening, as he often did, in time to help Kathy get the twins ready for bed. Normally he was laughing and playing with them but this evening, as they sat and watched them splashing in the bath, he seemed unnaturally quiet and thoughtful.

‘Is everything all right?’ Kathy asked eventually as she lifted Daisy first from the water and swaddled her in a big, warm towel. It wasn’t like him to be so quiet.

‘Yes … Well, it all depends what you mean by all right.’ He stared at her solemnly. ‘The thing is, I’ve been talking to Matron. You may be aware that the British Expeditionary Force has already crossed to France and taken up their position alongside the French army.’