Tales from the Finchbottom Vale – (20) Jubilee Girl

 

Sharpington-by-Sea had been home to Simon Clarke for his whole life and was a place that held very special memories for him and he never envisaged living anywhere else.

The coastal town is a traditional seaside resort complete with a Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, The Palladium ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park.

Which was the first purpose built amusement park to open in Britain, which had an assortment of rides, like the Rotor and the Wild Mouse, The Cyclone and the Morehouse Galloper, all very tame compared to a 21st century roller coasters but still fun.

He was a regular visitor to the attractions while he was growing up but there were attractions and there were attractions.

 

Simon Clarke fell in love with Bronwyn Topping the very first time he saw her, although he didnt know that was her name at the time.

However irespective of that fact when he saw her in the playground on that September morning at the begining of his fourth year it really was love at first sight.

She was a year seven at his School in Sharpington, the very inappropriately named Jubilee Accademy.

It was inapropriate because there was no celebration for Simon and he didnt have an accademic bone in his body.

 

He was a year ten but he was bowled over by the skinny little brunette first year who stood out from the crowd.

But it wasnt just in his eyes for she literaly stood out from the crowd because where all her fellow year sevens were wearing white knee socks with their uniform Bronwyn Topping was wearing black ones on her skinny legs.

He spent most of that first morning before the first bell within a few yards of her, completely mesmerised by her.

It may have been the bright September sun shining on her fine brown hair, her cute dimple cheeked smile or just her delicious giggle, but whatever it was he was hooked.

He knew as he was admiring her that it was a very special moment.

He remebered his grandfather saying to him that people of his generation would always remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news that John F Kennedy was dead and for Simon that first glimpse of Bronwyn was a moment that would live with him forever and he was right.

 

However, although Simon was instantlly taken with her, indeed he was completely smitten, he didnt speak to her for two years, she was only eleven afterall and he was fourteen.

It was a first for him he hadnt really noticed girls until then but when he saw her his radar lit up.

 

After the bell for the start of term and he made his way to form and reaquainted himself with his class mates.

Later he found out that Rhiannon Topping, was the mystery girls sister.

Although he would never have guessed that they were sisters by looking at them they were so completely different.

 

Four two years Simon Clarke continued to admire Bronwyn Topping from afar while attending form and a great many classes with her sister and the great benefit of being close to Rhiannon was that he got to overhear snippets of her conversations which gave him glimpses of her family life and he sometimes got to hear a little about Bron, what she was doing, who she was seeing, what music she liked, what films she went to see.

Which was good even though the only things he got to hear about her were all after the event.

 

Over the two years between that life altering first look at her in the sunny playground on the opening day of school he may not have spoken to Bronwyn but he did see a lot of her though, around school primarily though not exclusively.

He would often see her in Sharpington, on the Victorian Pier, playing crazy golf, walking along the promenade, at the mall, on the beach, in the amusement arcades or the Sharpington Fun Park.

Sometimes he saw her in the cinema queue or at the Lido but where ever he saw her she would always smile but only because she knew he was a friend of her sister.

But in all that time he never had the courage to speak to her so he would just smile back.

Sometimes Bronwyn would be with girlfriends and sometimes with a boy and sometimes Simon was with mates and other times he’d be with a girl.

Simon was a good looking lad so he had his fair share of girlfriends but invariably they would have had to ask him out.

None of them were serious, it was just a question of trying someone on for size to see if they fitted, and some of them were a very good fit but his problem was that how ever good the fit was, they never quite measured up against the girl of his dreams, Bronwyn.

But the older he got the braver he got and Simon eventually worked up the courage to speak to her and they went on to speak a lot once the ice had been broken.

He was firm friends with her sister Rhiannon, but he didn’t know at the time if she knew he carried a torch for Bronwyn.

 

He saw less of her after he left Jubilee Academy when he was sixteen, he didn’t want to stay in full time education.

Going to college was never on his agenda he wasn’t going to learn anything he hadn’t learned already. 

He left school on a Friday in May and started work on the following Monday at his Uncle Sebastian’s small holding at Dulcets farm situated between Mornington and Purplemere.

It wasn’t the best paid job in the world but he enjoyed it, his elder brother Scott had worked there for the two years after he left school so getting to work wasn’t a problem.

The only downside was not seeing Bronwyn every day at school.

 

One day Simon Clarke was fishing up at Jubilee Park on the shady spot by the point on the south side of the Lake.

It was during the school summer holidays, though he had left Jubilee Academy 3 years earlier he just happened to have a day off on that day.

He worked at Dulcets Farm on the Purplemere Road and they had been stock checking all the previous weekend so he had a couple of days off in lieu.

As it was a nice day so he decided to go fishing up at the Jubilee Park boating lake.

It was a well-stocked little lake and you could still fish it even though some tree hugging idiot had decided to introduce Australian Black Swans to the lake and they didn’t mix with the fishermen so they tried to ban fishing but in the end they relocated the swans after one of them attacked a toddler.

Jubilee Park was one of his favourite places in the whole world and he had been going there for years.

Apart from the fishing, there was the boating lake, and a miniature railway, picnic areas and acres of grass and it was the place he felt most at peace and where he was often lost in dreams.

He had loved it at Jubilee Park for as long as he could remember and the Lake was particularly special because it was where his dad taught him how to fish.

 

On that warm sunny August day by Jubilee Lake he was sat on his folding stool on the little peninsula fishing beneath the shade of his favourite old oak tree.

He had just cast out and was enjoying the gentle breeze off the water when a soft voice said

“Hello”

He didn't need to turn around to know who that sweet voice belonged to, it was one he knew so well but he turned around anyway.

“Hi” he responded

As he looked around he saw Bronwyn standing with the sun at her back.

He took it on faith that it was her because with the breeze stirring the strands of her brunette hair and the golden sun behind it she appeared to have a fiery halo that left her face in shadow.

But her silhouetted shape beneath her summer dress left him in no doubt.

“I thought it was you” she said “no work today?”

“No” he replied “Day off”

The sun was temporarily obscured by a cloud and he could see her lovely face for the first time.

She had filled out a bit since he first saw the scrawny little girl with the skinny legs and black socks that he fell in love with six years earlier.

“Have you caught anything?” she asked as she sat down on the bank next to him.

“Not yet” he admitted

“So what brings you here?” he asked

“I’ve been shopping in The Mall with Katie Young” she replied “and I’m on my way home”

“The lake is a bit out of your way isn’t it?” he asked already knowing the answer

“Yes” Bron admitted gazing out over the lake “but I love it here”

“Me too” he concurred wistfully

It seemed fitting to him that he should be seated at the place that was most special to him with the girl who was most special to him.

 

Simon and Bronwyn sat on the peninsular in silence for a few minutes just enjoying the scene until they were brought back to the moment by a loud splash as one of the rowers on the Lake who had lost an oar, went in after it, the resulting wave headed rapidly to the site of his float so he started reeling it in.

“Have you been fishing long?” she asked
“What today? Or in general?” he responded and she laughed

“Both then” she said and laughed again

“Well today, about 2 hours before you found me” he told her “and generally since I was seven when my Dad first took me with him”

“Do you still go with him” she asked

“Oh yes” he replied “What about you?”

“Me? I’ve never fished” she replied

“Would you like to have a go?” he asked

“Yes please” she answered enthusiastically

“Ok then” he said just as the float approached the bank.

He quickly discarded what was left of the bait and opened his bait box.

“I can’t put the wriggly thing on” she said horrified

“It’s ok I’ll put the bait on” he replied and smiled at her and he baited the hook and then stood up.

“Ok we need to stand up to do the next bit” he said and Bronwyn got quickly to her feet and dusted herself off.

 

He showed her the basic principle of casting and then he stood behind her as she held the rod in her right hand.

God she smelt good, her hair, her skin, her clothes.

“Concentrate” he said to himself as he breathed in her perfume.

He put his hand on hers and indicated the best place to hold the grip.

“Now pull some spare line out with your other hand” he said and as she followed his instruction he took his right hand off hers,

“Right you’re on your own” he said and rested his hands on her waist.

Swiveling at the waist Bronwyn swung the rod to the right and then snapped it forward and the float sailed through the air and plopped a respectable distance from the bank. 

It was a good job Simon was holding her waist otherwise her momentum may have had her following the float into the water, well that was his excuse anyway.

“I did it” she squealed
“Great cast Bron” he said “Right now comes the patient bit, you sit down and watch”

And he indicated the empty stool.
“No, I’ll be fine on the ground” she said

“Nonsense anglers privilege” he insisted
“Well thank you” she said perching on the stool and then in a whisper she asked “What’s an angler?”
“It’s another term for a fisherman” he confided

Then Simon sat on the floor and got a nice look at her legs which were no longer skinny twigs.

“Why is the floaty thing bobbing up and down?” she asked concentrating intently on the task while he was concentrating intently on her legs.

“That means you have a bite” he replied

“What do I do?” she yelled excitedly

“Strike” he said

“What’s that?”

“Jerk the rod up sharply and then reel in the line”

Simon stood up as she reeled in frantically and looked down at her and she was the picture of concentration with her tongue poking out the corner of her mouth.

She noticed he was watching her and withdrew her tongue and smiled at him and then returned her full attention to her task and poked her tongue out again.

 

Bronwyn Topping was the picture of concentration as she reeled in her line as the float was getting close to the bank and in its wake there was definitely a fish

“Should I stand up?” she asked
“If you want to” he replied and she stood up and reeled furiously for the last few feet.
“Now lift the rod up slowly” he instructed and as she lifted the rod up vertically the fish left the water and swung towards her, he reached out and grabbed the line and wriggling on the hook was a little Roach.

“And there’s your fish” he said and she beamed broadly

“No I can’t touch it” she squealed as he offered the fish to her

“What kind of angler are you?” he asked “you can’t put the wriggly thing on the hook and you won’t touch the fish”
“I'm a girlie angler obviously” she said and giggled and he carefully unhooked the fish

“What are you going to do with it?” she asked frowning

“Let it go” he said and put it back in the water and it swam away.

She beamed him a happy smile and squeezed his arm.

 

Simon didn’t know how long Bronwyn and he sat on the lakeside but they were doing more talking and laughing than they were fishing.

Bronwyn looked at her watch and suddenly leapt up.

“I have to go” she said

“If you give me a few minutes I’ll walk with you” he suggested 

“Great” Bronwyn said

He quickly packed away and put his tackle bag over his shoulder and with his rod bag in his hand they set off around the lake and down the hill towards the promenade.

Simon couldn’t remember a time he had enjoyed a fishing trip so much, it had been a great day off and he enjoyed the walk down from Jubilee Park more than he had ever done before.

He didn’t want the day to end but he knew as they reached the bottom of Park Road that time was running out because when they reached the prom they would have to go their separate ways because she would go right and he would go left.

So he knew he had two hundred yards or so to summon up the courage to ask her out.

They stepped onto the zebra crossing and his mind went blank, he couldn’t think how to ask her.

She chatted to him all the way across and when they reached the other side of the road he still couldn’t think what to say.

They stood on the pavement and were about to part.

“I really enjoyed the fishing” she said

 “Me too” Simon said with his stomach in knots.

It was no good he was just going to have to blurt it out and hope for the best.

“Do you want to go to the pictures on Saturday” she asked “The latest Hobbit is on at the Tivoli”

“I’d love to” he said immediately relieved.

“Great” she said “I’ll meet you at the pier at 7 o’clock”

He felt ten feet tall as he walked the last few hundred yards to where he lived.

How typical that finally almost six years since he first saw and fell in love with Bronwyn Topping he had a date with her and he hadnt even asked her out.

But however it came about it was the begining of the love of a lifetime.

On the day Bronwyn caught her first fish and Simon caught his first love.