Free Remember Me by Margaret Thornton

says about it… Oh, they’re off to Blackpool soon – the concert party, I mean – for Easter week, two weeks in fact. She’ll enjoy that; our Maddy’s never been to Blackpool.’
    ‘Have you, William?’
    ‘Yes, Clara and I went for a few days once. I didn’t reckon much to it, to be honest. It’s big and brash, not at all refined. Not a patch on Scarborough.’
    Faith laughed. ‘You couldn’t be a little bit prejudiced, could you, William?’
    ‘Aye, maybe I am, a little bit,’ he smiled. ‘And I suppose I have to admit that Scarborough’s got its more seamy side an’ all. I daresay folks that live in Lancashire think there’s no place like Blackpool, just as we Yorkshire folk think there’s no place like Scarborough.’
    ‘Blackpool?’ said Isaac, becoming aware of the conversation. ‘Aye, I remember going there as a lad, only once, mind. One o’ t’few times I managed to escape from me father’s tyranny.’ He chuckled. William had heard, many times, how hisgrandfather had ruled the young Isaac with a rod of iron. ‘We had a jolly good time there. By heck! You should see all t’rows and rows of boarding houses. And the length o’ t’promenade; seven miles of golden sand, that’s what they boast. Aye, Blackpool’s a grand place. But I know what you mean, lad. There’s no place like home, is there?’
    ‘Very true,’ replied William. ‘We’re very fortunate to live in such a lovely place with such clean air. In Leeds, now, where our Maddy’s just been, you sometimes can’t see the sun for the clouds of smoke and grime. And it’s the same in Bradford and Halifax an’ all them mill towns. Aye, I reckon we’re very lucky… Here you are, Faith, love.’ He handed her Maddy’s letter. ‘Have a read of that and then we’d best get moving.’
    ‘And here’s Samuel’s letter,’ said Faith, ‘if you’d like to see it.’
    William had already risen from the table. He shoved the letter in his waistcoat pocket. ‘I’ll read it later; see what he has to say about this expedition.’
    ‘Not a lot yet,’ said Faith. ‘I don’t suppose he knows very much himself at the moment… I’ll be with you in a few minutes, dear. Are you going to call a cab, or are you cycling to work?’
    ‘No, not this morning,’ replied William. ‘We’ll all travel in together. How about you, Father? Are you ready to be off?’
    ‘Aye, I’ll just pay a visit to the you-know-what, then I’ll be with yer.’
    William went outside and hailed a hansom cab for the three of them. It was a good half hour’s walk from their home on Victoria Avenue in the South Bay area of the town, across to their place of work on North Marine Road in the North Bay. He walked there occasionally, but more often he rode there on his bicycle, a modern safety bicycle with Dunlop pneumatic tyres. Maddy and Jessie owned bicycles too, but more for means of recreation, and because it had become a popular pastime for both young men and young ladies, in fact for all ages and classes of society. The girls’ cycles were not in use at the moment, tucked away in the garden shed; but come the early summer Jessie would be out and about with the cycling club she belonged to; and when Maddy came home for the summer season the two of them would enjoy exploring the countryside around Scarborough.
    Motor cars were beginning to appear on the streets of the town, Fiats and Fords and Renaults, and, very occasionally, a Daimler. A Daimler motor had been made at the beginning of the century for Bertie, the Prince of Wales, who was now King Edward the Seventh. He had become a great patron of the motor car, and the fact that he used one had made a major impression on the public and was acting as a big boost for the industry, which was still in its infancy.
    William had not been tempted to buy one as yet, although he knew the time would come when itwould be deemed necessary for him, as a prosperous man of business, to own a motor car; just as he knew