~ Chapter Fourteen ~
“Plimsolls in the Summer”
After his discharge from the Army, Steve came back to live in the Margate area. By 1921, he was to be found only a short distance away in the neighbouring seaside resort of Westgate-on-Sea. It was to there that Charlie had travelled on business on that fateful morning in 1906 when Amy lost her life.
In October 1921, not long after his twenty-seventh birthday, Steve married a thirty-one year-old Westgate lass called Elizabeth Bean, one of eight children, who was always known as Lil. Steve was staying at a terraced house in Westbury Road at the time, while Lil lived just round the corner in Chester Road. The marriage took place in the nearby St James’ Parish Church. Probably because of the continuing rift between Steve and his father, Charlie was not present as a witness. The marriage was witnessed instead on Steve’s behalf by an Army pal of his, Frederick Thomas Walk. These two photographs, showing Steve with Lil and Frederick, are thought to have been taken on the wedding day.
In October 1921, not long after his twenty-seventh birthday, Steve married a thirty-one year-old Westgate lass called Elizabeth Bean, one of eight children, who was always known as Lil. Steve was staying at a terraced house in Westbury Road at the time, while Lil lived just round the corner in Chester Road. The marriage took place in the nearby St James’ Parish Church. Probably because of the continuing rift between Steve and his father, Charlie was not present as a witness. The marriage was witnessed instead on Steve’s behalf by an Army pal of his, Frederick Thomas Walk. These two photographs, showing Steve with Lil and Frederick, are thought to have been taken on the wedding day.
On the marriage certificate, Steve recorded his occupation as that of a pastry cook. The likelihood is that after his discharge he returned to the establishment he worked in as a bread baker before the War. Then, when it became clear that his brother was forging a new life for himself in Oldham, he may well have taken up George’s former position at the establishment.
Whether or not that was the case, we know that Steve continued to live in Westgate-on-Sea after the marriage, setting up home with Lil in a house in Essex Road, where they would have been able to hear the bells of both St James’ and Westgate’s other Parish Church, St Saviour’s. The bells of that latter church were the inspiration behind Westgate-on-Sea, the famous poem written by Sir John Betjeman a few years later, in which he sought to evoke the orderly, genteel holiday resort. The poem begins:
Whether or not that was the case, we know that Steve continued to live in Westgate-on-Sea after the marriage, setting up home with Lil in a house in Essex Road, where they would have been able to hear the bells of both St James’ and Westgate’s other Parish Church, St Saviour’s. The bells of that latter church were the inspiration behind Westgate-on-Sea, the famous poem written by Sir John Betjeman a few years later, in which he sought to evoke the orderly, genteel holiday resort. The poem begins:
Hark, I hear the bells of Westgate,
I will tell you what they sigh, Where those minarets and steeples Prick the open Thanet sky. |
And it ends:
For me in my timber arbour
You have one more message yet, “Plimsolls, plimsolls in the summer, Oh galoshes in the wet!” |