The feeling Spencer had each time he looked at his wife and child was so powerful it threatened to crush him. He was as proud as a peacock and revelled in the chorus of applause back at the factory as he walked to his office.
The foreman followed him in and Spencer said, ‘Jack, I need you to watch over the works for a couple of days.’ Seeing the man’s nod, he continued, ‘I wish to spend some time with my wife and son.’
‘Yessir gaffer!’ Jack Hesp doffed his cap. ‘And congratulations to you and the missis.’
Thanking him, Spencer made his way out of the factory. As he rode home he thought about a gift for Violet for giving him such a beautiful child. He decided to call in on Martha; she would be the best person to ask about the ideal gift.
‘Hello lad,’ said Martha as Spencer knocked the door and entered her kitchen, ‘have a seat, tea’s fresh made.’
Over tea and cake he said, ‘Martha, I want to give Violet a gift as a thank you for giving me such a beautiful son, and I thought you might help me out with ideas.’
‘Our Violet wouldn’t want a gift as such, lad…’ Seeing his puzzled expression, she laughed, saying, ‘The only thing I can think of that Violet really wants is to find somewhere for my Nancy and a few of her friends to set up looking after the little ones so their mothers can try to find work.’
‘Oh, her latest venture.’ Spencer smirked.
‘Ar lad, and the only place she’d found was the old epidemic hospital.’ Spencer watched the shiver take Martha as she thought of it. ‘Bloody awful place that is an’ all. There’s no way that place could be used.’ Martha looked at him out of the corner of her eye, a grin slowly creeping across her face. ‘Mary was right when she said it should have been fetched down years ago.’
‘Martha Slater, you are a wily woman!’ Spencer said as his grin joined hers.
‘Well lad, you asked – I told. But it would take a lot of work and money…to pull it down and rebuild I mean…’ Martha allowed the sentence to hang in the air.
‘I would imagine so. Looks like I need to meet with the accountant…again!’
Giving her a hug, Spencer set off to see the accountant to check on the state of his finances. He was told, providing he was careful, it would be possible. Spencer worried about the amount of money he had spent recently trying to help the folk of the town. However, he set out for the Town Hall to make a bid for the derelict building with the powers that be. The old building had stood empty for some considerable time; no one had ever shown an interest in buying it, so in a matter of hours the deeds were in his hand, the council only too glad to be rid of it!
Riding to the ‘bread line’ down by the marketplace, Spencer had decided to get the work underway immediately he meant it to be a surprise for Violet.
The queue of men standing at the edge of the market seemed to grow longer every day and his heart swelled to think he might be able to help them. Sitting squarely on his saddle, Spencer shouted across to the men, ‘I need workers!’
The scramble almost took him from his horse as shouts came back, ‘Me gaffer,’ ‘I’m a hard worker.’
Holding up his hands, the men calmed before he spoke again. ‘Anyone know the old epidemic hospital?’
Nods and mutters of ‘Ar, we know it’ sounded and Spencer saw heads lower in dreaded anticipation of working there… but work was work.
‘I need workers to tear it down!’ Spencer yelled.
Cheers sounded before one man shouted, ‘About bloody time it was done away with, good on you gaffer!’
Spencer told the whole line of workers, about fifty men in all, to bring whatever tools they had and meet him at the hospital building.
An hour later every man was there with handcarts and tools. Spencer shouted over their heads, ‘I want the building pulled down and the bricks to be reused if possible. The land is to be cleared ready to put up a new building. I will pay each of you a weekly wage until the building is completed. Any man found shirking his duties will find himself back on the “bread line”. Is that understood?’
Nods and shouts of ‘Yes’ filled the air.
‘Now,’ he went on, ‘this work will take some time to complete, and if I’m satisfied with it, I may be able to find more work for you at the end of the project.’ Cheers went up. ‘Who was it shouted to me earlier?’
A man stepped forward, doffing his cap, ‘Me gaffer, Fred Pincher is my name.’
‘Right Fred, you’ll be my foreman, it’s up to you to set these men to work, and each Friday morning you come to me at Gittins Nails to fetch the wages.’
‘Yessir gaffer!’ A murmur of approval ran around the men on hearing the mention of money.
‘I will also want you to report on the progress of the work, Fred; I want it completed as soon as possible.’
‘Be our pleasure, Mr Gittins sir,’ he said as he turned to face the other men. ‘All right, you heard the gaffer!’
As one, the men turned to face the old building and charged as if going into battle.
*
Dr Shaw had called and recommended at least ten days’ bed rest after which Violet could get up for gentle exercise.
‘While you’re here, doctor, I wondered if I could ask a favour,’ Violet said.
‘You can ask,’ Dr Shaw grinned.
‘Well, I’m sure you know the women who act as midwives for their neighbours when they can’t afford to come and see you…’ The doctor nodded. ‘There must be a way the women can encourage others to not have so many children. They struggle to feed the ones they have.’
‘And you want me to speak with them about contraception so they can pass it along’
‘Yes. Now I’ve experienced childbirth for myself, I don’t understand how women would choose to have as many as they do! It’s far too painful if you ask me.’ Violet gave a nervous smile.
‘Obviously I don’t know what it’s like, but I see the pain and, the deaths.’ Dr Shaw shook his head sadly. ‘I can’t promise it will make any difference, but I will certainly give it a go.’
‘Thank you doctor, we will wait and see.’
*
Spencer’s son seemed to grow quickly as the winter finally came to an end. Work on the old hospital building was progressing quickly. The building itself had been taken down and the men were busy clearing the land. Spencer had visited Mr Morgan, the architect in Pinfold Street, who had drawn up plans for the new building which promised to be exactly as he envisioned it. Another visit to the ‘bread line’ had provided him with woodworkers given over to making toys for the youngsters to enjoy once the building was up and running.
Regular visits to Martha and her daughter Nancy allowed him to inform them of the work being done. Spencer had requested Violet not be told of his venture, he wanted it to be a surprise, but knowing the grapevine in Wednesbury as he did, he suspected news would leak out eventually. Martha had said Violet was far too busy with Harry to worry about that.
Spencer was on his way to Martha’s once more and found her in the kitchen, hands flat on the table, staring into space.
‘Martha?’ he called quietly, afraid she was feeling ill. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Hey up lad,’ she said. ‘Ar, I’m fine.’
Taking the tea offered, he asked, ‘What’s going on, Martha?’
‘Oh lad,’ she began, ‘I want Geordie to get out of the pit. I worry for his health in all that coal dust, but it’s the only work he knows and he wouldn’t give it up without something else to go to. Besides he won’t listen to me.’
‘What about if I asked him to leave the pit?’ Spencer enquired.
‘Surely lad, but what would we do without money coming in? We’d have to leave the house an’ all. No, it ain’t possible, but I thank you kindly for offering.’
Leaving it at that Spencer determined that he would think on it a while and discuss it with his wife. He wanted to find work for Geordie, but he wanted to be sure he could make the offer before mentioning it to Martha. He also thought that, with Martha confiding in him so readily, he really had been accepted as one of the ‘Wives’.