Snippets of Downshire Life – Holy Week – Maundy Thursday

The Finchbottom Vale nestles comfortably between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest to the south and the rolling Pepperstock Hills in the north, and to the east 15 miles inland from Sharpington-By-Sea, equidistant between the seaside resort and Pepperstock Green was the rambling village of Brookley and at its heart was St Mildred’s Church.

The villager’s spiritual needs were met by its vicar Rev Cecil Payne who lived at the adjacent vicarage with his wife Lily and their six unmarried daughters, Chrissie, Daniela, Hazel, Heather, Katie and Elise.

Cecil and Lily loved their children very much but as they reached the time in their lives when they were nearing their sixties and they had expectations for their daughters.

For Lily her hopes involved the grandchildren that were not forthcoming whereas Cecil just wanted them to spread their wings, but as Easter loomed, there was no sign of either of them getting their wish, but the power of prayer was a wonderful thing and both parents prayed for their daughters. 

The sweetest of whom was 20-year-old Heather and the reason she was unattached was that she wasn’t sure that there was anyone worthy enough for her give up her good works for.

She was a shining girl, intelligent but not academically so, but she was inclined towards an unquenchable sense of public duty.

Not that she didn’t occasionally take time out to look for “the one” but she failed to locate him on the occasions when she did.

She was arguably the prettiest of the Payne girls, in fact Heather was very attractive but not showily so, very feminine, brunette and petite, and everyone who knew her was surprised that she had never had a steady boyfriend and since the time in year ten at school when she bloomed she had run the gauntlet of well-meaning friends, throwing what they considered to be suitable candidates in her path, but she side stepped them all.

There was something special in her nature, a simple goodness, she believed in goodness and not surprisingly, everlasting life and of course good and evil.

 

The problem with finding “the one” was that she was too fussy, apart from him needing to be tall and dark, “the one” needed to meet her usual criteria, handsome, kind, loving and be true of heart.

But in addition, she was searching for someone with a moral compass, a practicing Christian naturally, a church goer at least occasionally, though not someone permanently on their knees, a devout man but not a pious one.

She wanted a man who was worldly but not tainted, attractive but not vain, masculine but possessed of modesty.

A man with good dress sense, free of tattoos and body piercings, well mannered, and gentlemanly, definitely not someone who drank from a bottle.

However, with every passing week Heather had become convinced she was looking for someone who didn’t really exist.

 

At the beginning of Lent a new Choirmaster, Robert Perry, arrived at St Mildred’s from nearby Sharpington after their existing music director had a heart attack, and over the following weeks she realised that he met most, if not all, of her criteria, plus he was blessed with great kindness, a quality in her opinion unfailingly, underappreciated in the modern world, which was a quality that she had not bargained for.

But she soon dismissed him as a prospect and cleared him off her radar, firstly because he was seven years older than her, although that in itself was not a deal breaker, but he also spent a lot of time away from the village and was quite secretive about where he went.

 

Robert too was searching, he was searching for a woman who shared his faith and who put others before themselves, a good woman and he had sought her all of his life and he had met several possible contenders over the years, not unsurprisingly given the fact that he was a significant member of the church and well respected among the ecclesiastical music field, but the ones who caught his eye always fell short of his ideals, so he ended up

walking the righteous path alone.

He found several members of the choir met his criteria

and none more so than Heather but that did not influence his decision to give her the solo at the Easter service.

From the moment he arrived at St Mildred’s it was obvious she was the go to girl when it was time for a soloist he could rely on, and her work ethic was exceptional, and he pushed her to her limits which each additional performance.

 

But as Easter approached they had to intensify the rehearsals, as at the beginning of Holy week, her sister Hazel, who was also the church organist, tripped down the church steps and broke her arm.

Hazel was a very accomplished musician, and it took a couple of days phoning around the county to find someone of a decent enough standard to fill her shoes.

But even though they found someone relatively quickly and of a suitable standard they still lost two days rehearsal which was time that had to be made up.

Everyone involved gave total commitment and worked diligently to make up for lost time and when it got the evening of Maundy Thursday there was only Heather’s Good Friday solo that they had to polish, neither her or Robert were in the best of moods as neither of them had intended to still be practicing that late into Holy week and they both had somewhere else they needed to be, and they didn’t want to be late.

Robert made them even later when he insisted on her doing it one more time, and he did that because he became mesmerised by her angelic voice and was struck for the first time by the fact that not only did she sound like an angel, but she looked like one as well.

However, stand in Organist Harry Paul called a halt to proceedings when Robert asked to go again.

“I don’t think that’s necessary, it’s getting late and you can’t improve on perfection”

“No, you’re quite right” he agreed with his eyes still fixed on Heather

“Oh no” she said looking at her watch “Look at the time”

“Somewhere to be?” Robert asked

“Yes” she replied and put her coat on but didn’t elaborate.

He supposed she must have a date or something equally frivolous, and then he looked at his own watch.

“Oh, dear it is rather late” he said, “Do you have somewhere to be as well?” she asked as he put his own coat on

“Yes, I do” he replied, “and I particularly wanted to be there on time”

“Oh yes? What is it a new restaurant?” she asked

“Of a sort” he replied

“What about you?” Robert asked as they left the church “Do you have a date?”

“Certainly not” she said with afront “I have more important things to do with my time”

“Well I’ll see you tomorrow at the service” he said as he was digesting her answer

“Quite so” she agreed “I hope you make it on time”

“You too” he replied and walked to his car as she headed in the opposite direction to the Vicarage.

As she lived so close she was fed, showered, changed and on her way out the door before Robert had even reached his front door in Sharpington.  

When he did, he closed the door behind him and went straight to the kitchen and made himself a sandwich.

He ate it far too quickly to be good for him, in fact he was still chewing as he stepped into the shower and as he did so he knew he would have heartburn for the rest of the night.

He dried himself and dressed in warm clothes and was then on his way.

He drove into town and parked on the promenade and checked his watch as he hurriedly walked toward his destination, as he was twenty minutes late.  

He looked through the window and saw it was quite busy and a queue had formed so he walked around to the side door and walked in and undid his coat as he did he said

“I’m terribly sorry I’m so late I was unavoidably detained”

“Well they all say that” Heather said as she turned around and Robert smiled when he saw that it was his angel.

And at that moment they both realised that their mutual searches for “the one” had come to an end and it happened at the Sharpington soup kitchen.

The Girl in the Easter Dress

(Part One)

It was fast approaching Easter, another significant event in the calendar that held no fond memories for him.
Steve Berry had grown up with a dislike for all family orientated occasion, New Years, Easter, Halloween, Guy Fawkes Night and especially Christmas with all its nauseating jollity and faux fun.
Unlike most of the people he knew he had no happy memories to anesthetise him against those occasions.
His parents were alcoholics and from a very early age he had learned to fend for himself and most of his childhood memories of the big holidays he would rather have forgotten.
That was until Holly Davis opened his eyes to new possibilities and he realised that Christmas could also magnify joy and that life was full of wonderful possibilities.
And as they lay in each other’s arms in the early hours of New Year’s Day, having just made love for the first time, Holly proposed that they run the Pig and Whistle together.
Despite his first doubtful thoughts, when he thought it may just have been post coital exuberance on her part, Steve agreed based on the way the two of them had worked together through the Christmas period.

When he returned to his day job on January 5th his first action was to hand in his notice, much to the annoyance of his employers and the consternation of his co-workers.
His second action was to put his flat on the market.
Some of his friends suggested that he was burning his bridges whereas Steve believed he was merely following his heart.
Holly was buying the pub from her Uncle Phil, who sadly would not be around much longer.
But even allowing for the discounted price he was asking, she could only just afford it with the sale of her house and virtually all of her savings, which didn’t allow her any extra for the improvements she wanted to make.
She could of course take out a mortgage for what she needed but she didn’t really want to begin with a debt.
She had no idea Steve had put his flat up for sale, in fact Holly didn’t even know if he owned his own flat.
It wasn’t until the beginning of February when he said
“I have officially burned my bridges”
“What do you mean Hon?” She said
“I am now unemployed and homeless”
He said and handed her the written offer on his flat
“What are you saying?” Holly asked
“Our nest Egg” he said
“Are you sure?”
“All or nothing” he said
So Steve and Holly became partners in the Pig and Whistle and they sealed the deal in what had become the customary manner.

The Pig and Whistle had once been the Railway Hotel, up until the second world war when the Station was bombed out of existence.
In the post war years when the new station was built, it was inexplicably sited a mile away from its Hotel.
The Hotel was then sold off after nationalization and renamed.
It was ideally situated close enough to town to benefit from foot traffic but far enough away from the hot spots to avoid the weekend binge drinkers.
There was another hidden benefit of their location which would not be discovered until much later.
There were significant improvements made to the exterior of the building by Phil’s predecessor, upvc soffits, guttering and double glazing were installed as well as a number of others in fact it was improved to such an extent that they ran out of money, which was how Phil got it so cheap.
He and his wife Pat had big plans for the place but when she died suddenly the light went from his world as did his purpose for existing and he rather lost interested in the pub.
“So where do we start?” Holly said
“The roof” he replied
There was some remedial work required to the chimneys and some slates had been displaced in the winter storms.
“We can claim for the storm damage on Phil’s insurance and while they are up there they can do the chimneys” he said
“Excellent” she said “That will save us a bit”
“And then we should complete the kitchen extension and the Conservatory” Steve said
Phil and Pat had applied for planning permission before she died but it ran out in April so the clock was running in that regard but Abbeyvale conservatory’s were keen to finish the job they had started more than a year earlier.
In fact they were so keen Steve was able to negotiate a reduction on the installation cost.
So that was all set in motion and then they turned their attention to the interior.

Holly had worked in hospitality since she was at college and of all the things she had learned the one that stood out for her was not to put all your eggs in one basket.
You had to diversify but equally don’t try to be all things to all men.
It was an old pub with a big open bar, Holly wanted to reinstate the old layout and return it to three separate bars.
The lounge bar for the conversational drinkers, a TV bar for the sports fans and a games room for darts, pool etc. and the conservatory would be for the diners.
“I bow to your superior knowledge of hospitality Hol” he said “I’m just a bean counter, and as such I can say that it would be a relatively small outlay to replace the internal walls and it will be less expensive in the long run to heat three small spaces than one large”
“So is that a yes then?” Holly teased

It was essential they started getting customers through the door so they couldn’t afford to have the pub closed for any length of time.
A pub the size of the Pig and Whistle would haemorrhage money at an alarming rate with the doors closed.
They wouldn’t be able to pay the staff and so they would have to find other work and then you’ve lost your experienced workforce.
Holly decided they wouldn’t close for any longer than was necessary for the refurbishment.
So they closed for two days for the builders to put in the stud walls between the bars and closed the lounge bar for one week to decorate.
Then a week later they closed the TV bar for a week and repeated the process for the games room.
So by the middle of March all three bars had been decorated and re-carpeted plus the Conservatory was complete and ready for use.

(Part Two)

The repairs and renovations plus some new fixtures and fittings cost them just under half of their nest egg which they were exceedingly pleased with.
But they knew that if they didn’t get a steady trade through the door the remainder would be eaten up just in running costs.
They could put on novelty nights like Pub quizzes, or a clairvoyant doing reading, open mic comedy nights, poetry slams and the like but they planned to steer clear of live music or DJ’s, Holly thought they were more trouble than they were worth.
Also they had to make the most of the annual special occasions, all those occasions that Steve had a phobia about in fact, but they had just missed out on St Patrick’s Day.
But gimmicks only got you so far, the bread and butter patrons needed a reason to come back for the rest of the time.
The food would certainly help with that especially with the conservatory.
It was midway through March when Holly and Steve sat down to catch their collective breaths one evening on the patio in the pub garden.
“You know what’s next?” Holly said
“Another drink” Steve said hopefully
“The Garden” she said bleakly
It would have been more appropriately called the jungle.
It had been largely neglected not only by Phil but by his predecessors as well because the extent of the growth had occurred over more than a generation.
As luck would have it there were three regulars who drank at the pub, the Beaumont brothers, who were proper old country boys and the jungle was right up their street.

When they approached the Beaumont’s, they gladly picked up the gauntlet and they and various other members of the family pitched up the next day and got straight down to it.
By the end of the second day they had made great progress and as they sat down to an end of day pint Steve asked
“How’s it going?”
He hadn’t anticipated it would take that long with such a large crew and his bean counters brain was doing cartwheels
“Another days clearing” Kenny Beaumont said “But you can at least get down to the River now”
“River?” he said “What river?”
“The Trott” Old George replied
Just at that moment Holly stepped out from the Conservatory
“Did you know the garden backed onto a River?” Steve asked
“No” she replied with surprise
“Well it’s there Missy” Old George said and chuckled
“Well we’d better go and have a look then” She said to Steve and took his hand, pulling him to his feet.
It was a much longer walk than they anticipated, the pub garden which they thought was huge to begin with was almost three times bigger than it appeared to be before the Beaumont’s got to work.
In fact it was bigger than either of them had anticipated and the great bonus was that the garden led down to a section of the river Trott, only accessible from the pub garden.
Holly and Steve didn’t even realise they were that close to the river
“Wow” Holly said as they stood on the bank
“Ka-ching” Steve responded
“Spoken like a true bean counter” Holly said and laughed

It was Easter Sunday and the first major occasion since the refurb was completed.
When the Beaumont’s had finished clearing the pub garden there were quite a few large areas of bare earth which needed to be turfed in order for them to make the best use of the garden and the new found view of the river.
And a month later it had taken sufficiently to take a light cut and the overall effect wasn’t bad at all, viewed from the patio.
The improvements to the beer garden would bring great rewards with summer just around the corner.

It wasn’t quite an uninterrupted view of the river, as they thought it expedient to have a small wicket fence put up to separate the garden from the running water and thus prevent small children venturing to close and being washed away.
Holly had arranged an Easter Egg hunt straight after church, they had invited the children from the local area via Sunday Schools, cubs, brownies and primary schools, the idea being the children would come along for the egg hunt and their parents would spend over the bar and buy from the BBQ.
Holly and the other girls had been out that morning and hidden the cream eggs and every child who took part would get a ticket for the Easter Egg raffle.
It was an excellent turn out in the April sunshine and there were so many children they had to go out in groups, the youngest went first.
“Ok Children, only six eggs each” Holly said dressed in a pink puffy dress and a flowered Easter bonnet. “One…Two…Three…Go”
And off they went in all directions like marbles in a game.
Steve was down by the fence making sure none of them reached the water’s edge and he watched the beautiful girl in the Easter dress amidst the mayhem laughing as the children raced around her.
And he knew at that moment without any shadow of doubt that he was in love with her.

When all the children had their eggs everyone repaired inside for the big draw, this was tactically delayed to allow the adult’s time to recharge their glasses.
And it was in the bar after the last prize was won and presented that Steve stepped forward and called.
“Could I just have your attention for a moment?”
The assembled crowd hushed and turned their gaze on him and he continued
“I would just like to take this opportunity to thank our lovely hostess Holly for putting on such a fun activity today”
A round of applause rippled around in response.
“And I would like to present her with this special gift”
And Steve handed her with great aplomb, a handmade Easter egg which she quickly unwrapped
“It’s lovely” she said “Thank you” and then she kissed him.
“Read the instructions” he instructed
On the egg was a hand written card which read
“Must be opened upon receipt”
So Holly placed the egg on the table and obediently untied the ribbon holding the two halves of the egg together.
And as they separated it revealed inside, where the handmade chocolates should have been, a small square box.
She handed the egg to Steve and opened the box to reveal that it contained a small Ceylon sapphire ring he had bought in a local antique shop.
“Does this mean what I think it means?” she asked quietly
“I don’t know, do you think it means I want to marry you?” Steve said
“Yes” she said
“Good because that’s exactly what it means” he replied
“Will you marry me?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” she screamed
And the whole place was in uproar.