Meet the Future Outlaws.

Let me introduce you to Heathers family, I had already met her younger sister Shona whose full name is Shona Doris, her second name is for her Nan but she hates it with a vengeance. Her next sister is Janice she is three years younger and has always been able to stick up for herself, next is her only brother Kenneth Ian who as boy was a little pain in the arse. He has mellowed to be a real friend over the years.  The baby of the family is Morag Louise, Mogs to everyone who knows her. Dad was Ken, a total autocrat, he had to have control of everything, he was never wrong and god help anyone who said he was wrong. Mum was Louise or Lou as she was known, she was from Scotland and spoke with a soft east coast accent, She was tall and slim but looked old before her time, she had suffered with TB while Heather was younger. Ken had been in the army, the Queens own Highlanders and was so proud of the Scottish way of life even though he was a scouser brought up in Everton as a boy. The family had travelled around the world while Ken was on active duty. They had even been out to Singapore for a short time, they had lived in Changi barracks which were featured in the Virgin Soldiers. Heather still would like to go back now and see how it has changed. They had a house the same as ours in Stanley court but it was more crowded for the four girls in one room. Young Ken had his own room as he was the only boy. Ken decided one day he liked the idea of wood panelling in the living room so he went out and got the timber to do it. It took him a full week working days while he was on nights. He worked as a security guard a Jacobs Biscuit factory in Aintree, we never went without chocolate Club or Domino biscuits. All four walls were panelled in ply board, stained dark oak, then varnished, beading was put on to frame each panel and the joints, it looked like something out of a stately home. He even built a bar at one end of the living room with a beer pump on it too. He had proper optics on the wall behind, these got lots of use because lots of their friends from the football club would come back after the club closed each Saturday night if Ken was not working. The ice bucket for the bar was a replica of a drum with the badges of Kens old regiment on it. He was always very generous when he had a few drinks but he had a fowl temper, that would cause splits in the family later but that’s another story. Shona was mad on the Bay City Rollers and had poster of them on the wall in her room, David Cassidy was another of the girls idols. Heather liked Gilbert O’Sullivan and I took her out one night to see him in concert at the Southport Theatre. He wore short trousers and a big flat cap but his songs and voice were very good. She had every one of his LP’s. Mogs being the youngest was still into toys. Paddington Bear was one of her favourites, she had one about two feet tall with a real duffle coat and wellington boots.

On a Sunday Heather went through to Ormskirk to have dinner at her Nan and Pop’s and it was not long before I was invited to go as well. I was shocked to find out they lived not far from my Grandad Cheetham and his second wife Alice. In fact they lived just across the road and had known each other for years. My mum had known Heathers dad before he had gone off the join the army and his sister Alwyn and younger brother Ray. It was such a small world, I was made really welcome to the house on Holborn Hill. It was decorated in 1950’s style with a front room and back living room. We were allowed in the front room where the suite was hardly ever used, there was a glass display cabinet with nick nacks and china on display. On the side board in the living room was a photo of a little boy sat on a dining chair, it was originally black and white but had been coloured by someone. I found out many years later this was Harold, a child of Nan and Pops who had died at an early age. Under the front bay window was a big radiogram where Ray, Heathers uncle, played his records. He was in his late thirties, divorced and living back at home, he worked away on road construction most of the time but always had a room at Nan’s. We got on really well Ray and I. Sunday dinner at Nan’s was available for anyone who turned up and it was a house full at all times. If the joint was not big enough to go round Nan would go into her store cupboard and open a tin of Plumrose ham to stretch it out. If it was a hot day the red salmon would come out with salad, there were lots of tinned fruit and evaporated milk for sweet which was served with bread and butter. I thought it was strange to have this mixture but it really was nice. After all what is bread and butter pudding but the same baked.

Doris was known as Nan to everyone, she was a small woman with a giant heart, she had been brought up on in Everton and always remembered her roots. She told stories of her childhood and the things they did and the things that went on. Bill her husband was known as Pop, he was a wonderful quiet man he had worked all his life and now walked with a stoop. Nan’s cupboards were never empty, whenever something was on offer she would stock up the store. She could rustle a meal from nowhere in minutes. Heather must have inherited this gene from her Nan because our kitchen cupboards are like this now.

Heathers cousin Adrienne would turn up sometimes with her boy friend Shaddy, rhymes with daddy, his real name was Frank but no-one, not even his parents, called him that. He was a photographer for the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo, he helped me a lot with my hobby of photography.

Christmas and New Year every one ended up at Nan and Pops where the parties would gone on long into the night. One year Ray and I got very drunk on Pernod and blackcurrant washed down with cans of McEwans export ale. I made a complete fool of myself and shamed Heather. I think she has forgiven me by now.