and Buy stall. Nelly Piggott's seed cakes accounted for half that.'
'I can't understand this revival of popularity for seed cake ,' mused Winnie. 'Frankly, I find it abhorrent.'
'All my old dears love it,' Jane told her. 'Takes them back to their childhood.' She turned again to her accounts, brow furrowed. 'So this can be added to the raffle money. That brought in five pounds and four pence, though how we managed to get four pence when the tickets were ten pence each, I can't imagine.'
'Poor sight,' said Winnie kindly. 'Mistaking a two-pence piece for a ten-pence one.'
'I thought it was uncommonly generous of the Lovelocks to give that rather nice cushion as a prize. I mean, it's usually impossible to get them to part with anything.'
'They probably disliked it,' replied Winnie. 'As a matter of fact, I gave it to them last Christmas.'
'Oh dear,' cried Jane, 'I hope you don't mind?'
'Not in the least. I'm all in favour of recycling. Actually, the tray I put in was one they had given me years ago, so I suppose we are quits.'
The two ladies put the proceeds into a cash box ready for the bank, and Jane helped Winnie into her coat.
Winnie suddenly gave a little cry, rocked unsteadily, then sat down on the chair she had just vacated. Her face was white, her eyes screwed up in pain.
Jane, who had been a nurse, loosened the fastening of the coat she had just put on, and took hold of Winnie's hand.
'I'll ring the doctor,' she said.
'No,' gasped Winnie. 'Don't bother him now. In any case, he's probably on his rounds.'
'What is it? Has this happened before?'
'Too often for my liking,' confessed Winnie. 'That's the second time within twelve hours.'
'You simply must see John Lovell,' urged Jane.
'I shall go this evening,' Winnie promised her. 'I've been putting it off for weeks. They say that doctors' relations are always the most procrastinating, but I really will go tonight.'
'I hope it isn't anything you've eaten here,' said Jane, much perturbed.
'I assure you it wasn't seed cake,' replied Winnie. 'And now I'm quite all right again, and will go home.'
But Jane insisted on taking her the short distance to her gate, before returning, very worried, to her warden's duties.
Later that day Winnie submitted to John Lovell's probings and pressings and innumerable questions.
'I'm going to send you on to Dickie's,' he told her, naming St Richard's, the large county hospital. 'You'll need X-rays and some pretty painless tests, and then you'll probably be forwarded quite quickly to the consultant, Carter. I know him well.'
'Is he good?' asked Winnie nervously.
'Good? Of course, he's good,' responded John Lovell. 'He's a St Thomas's man!'
As John Lovell was himself a St Thomas's man, Winnie said no more.
'It sounds like the gall bladder,' said the doctor. 'Much easier to cope with these days. Very often no surgery is needed at all. I'll give you a prescription, and just cut out fat in your diet. I'll see that you get looked at quite quickly.'
'And you think I may not need surgery? I must admit that I have a horror of the knife.'
'Now don't worry. The chances are that if there are any stones there they can be dispersed, and if it comes to surgery Philip Paterson is the real expert at Dickie's, and he's a St Thomas's man, too. You'll be in safe hands.'
'Well,' said Jenny when Winnie returned, 'what did Dr Lovell say?'
Winnie told her.
'Are there any other doctors at Dickie's? I mean, who haven't trained at St Thomas's?'
'Not worth mentioning, according to John Lovell,' Winnie said.
Now that term was well on the way, Alan Lester set about looking for more details about the opening of Thrush Green school in 1892.
Unlike his neighbour, Harold Shoosmith, he did not have to search through contemporary local newspapers for his researches. Three stout log books, with mottled leather-edged covers, were carefully stored in the bottom drawer of his school desk, and in the oldest of these Alan found all that he needed.
The
'I can't understand this revival of popularity for seed cake ,' mused Winnie. 'Frankly, I find it abhorrent.'
'All my old dears love it,' Jane told her. 'Takes them back to their childhood.' She turned again to her accounts, brow furrowed. 'So this can be added to the raffle money. That brought in five pounds and four pence, though how we managed to get four pence when the tickets were ten pence each, I can't imagine.'
'Poor sight,' said Winnie kindly. 'Mistaking a two-pence piece for a ten-pence one.'
'I thought it was uncommonly generous of the Lovelocks to give that rather nice cushion as a prize. I mean, it's usually impossible to get them to part with anything.'
'They probably disliked it,' replied Winnie. 'As a matter of fact, I gave it to them last Christmas.'
'Oh dear,' cried Jane, 'I hope you don't mind?'
'Not in the least. I'm all in favour of recycling. Actually, the tray I put in was one they had given me years ago, so I suppose we are quits.'
The two ladies put the proceeds into a cash box ready for the bank, and Jane helped Winnie into her coat.
Winnie suddenly gave a little cry, rocked unsteadily, then sat down on the chair she had just vacated. Her face was white, her eyes screwed up in pain.
Jane, who had been a nurse, loosened the fastening of the coat she had just put on, and took hold of Winnie's hand.
'I'll ring the doctor,' she said.
'No,' gasped Winnie. 'Don't bother him now. In any case, he's probably on his rounds.'
'What is it? Has this happened before?'
'Too often for my liking,' confessed Winnie. 'That's the second time within twelve hours.'
'You simply must see John Lovell,' urged Jane.
'I shall go this evening,' Winnie promised her. 'I've been putting it off for weeks. They say that doctors' relations are always the most procrastinating, but I really will go tonight.'
'I hope it isn't anything you've eaten here,' said Jane, much perturbed.
'I assure you it wasn't seed cake,' replied Winnie. 'And now I'm quite all right again, and will go home.'
But Jane insisted on taking her the short distance to her gate, before returning, very worried, to her warden's duties.
Later that day Winnie submitted to John Lovell's probings and pressings and innumerable questions.
'I'm going to send you on to Dickie's,' he told her, naming St Richard's, the large county hospital. 'You'll need X-rays and some pretty painless tests, and then you'll probably be forwarded quite quickly to the consultant, Carter. I know him well.'
'Is he good?' asked Winnie nervously.
'Good? Of course, he's good,' responded John Lovell. 'He's a St Thomas's man!'
As John Lovell was himself a St Thomas's man, Winnie said no more.
'It sounds like the gall bladder,' said the doctor. 'Much easier to cope with these days. Very often no surgery is needed at all. I'll give you a prescription, and just cut out fat in your diet. I'll see that you get looked at quite quickly.'
'And you think I may not need surgery? I must admit that I have a horror of the knife.'
'Now don't worry. The chances are that if there are any stones there they can be dispersed, and if it comes to surgery Philip Paterson is the real expert at Dickie's, and he's a St Thomas's man, too. You'll be in safe hands.'
'Well,' said Jenny when Winnie returned, 'what did Dr Lovell say?'
Winnie told her.
'Are there any other doctors at Dickie's? I mean, who haven't trained at St Thomas's?'
'Not worth mentioning, according to John Lovell,' Winnie said.
Now that term was well on the way, Alan Lester set about looking for more details about the opening of Thrush Green school in 1892.
Unlike his neighbour, Harold Shoosmith, he did not have to search through contemporary local newspapers for his researches. Three stout log books, with mottled leather-edged covers, were carefully stored in the bottom drawer of his school desk, and in the oldest of these Alan found all that he needed.
The
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