Dad and I owned a little Morris 8 between us and every Sunday morning I used to pick Eveline up and we would go into the country, park the car and go for a walk or read, chat about the future or whatever, until one day when she asked if she could learn to drive.

L plates and driving tests had only been lawful during the past year or so, so I thought (to myself) if I tackle the request in the proper way, I was courting disaster, because both Fathers would scream objections, and to be frank, I was not at all keen on any aspect, neither expense, trouble, parental objection, possible accident and damage to our only means of being together. You see, neither of our homes had a second room and our chances of having one single evening together, alone, in either house was as remote as our chances of owning a Rolls Royce!

So be it, love being what it is, I threw caution to the wind and proceeded with lesson No 1.

We were parked in a lane, no more than a farm track with grass growing down the centre and not used by the general public as a rule. This lane was a nice steady downhill with 2 or 3 slight bends to break the monotony, in all I would say it was ½ mile long. At the bottom it opened out on to the two farm entrances, one on either side about 10 metres apart, while ahead was the true country lane running at right angles to form a T junction. On the far side of it a wooden fence of the 5 barred gate type which overlooked the main 4 track express lines to and from London-Glasgow.

I decided to let Eveline roll down the lane with no engine running to give her some idea of steering and braking. This she did without a hitch. Now at the end of the run I got out of the passengers seat, pushed her over, got in the car, started the engine, reversed, drove up the lane and positioned it for the second attempt. But this time, it was to be driven, I thought, in second gear all the way. Behold, it was beyond all expectations, we were soon preparing for the third and more ambitious attempt, using the gears.

When we arrived at the bottom of the lane for the third time we saw a policeman and a police sergeant leaning on the fence with their backs to us. They were watching one of those long steam expresses with endless Pullman coaches travelling to London. Their bikes were propped up by the fence.

I had to think quick now, so I told Eveline to press the starter button but leave the ignition switched off. After several attempts I got out of the car, lifted up the bonnet, tried to appear as though I was fixing something, then got in the seat after Eveline had moved over to the passengers seat, switches on, started up, got out closed the bonnet, returned and prepared to move off.

Not so easy. The policeman and sergeant walked up to us, one either side, “Can I see your driving license miss? Your insurance miss? Your L plates?” Then they turned on me for a repetition of the aforesaid charges, plus aiding and abetting. I bet their thoughts were of promotion, higher pay, next size helmet, and they had the nerve to say that if we had gone around the corner out of sight, we could have swapped seats and none would have been the wiser, which was the very thing I was determined to avoid in case we encountered a vehicle.

We left the scene to go to Eve’s mothers for lunch. On the way, we planned not to tell either parents for fear. I don’t know what of, after all we were grown up, I was 22 and Eve 19, but in those days police and law were to be very strictly reckoned with.

Lunch was demolished and I said to Eve, let’s go for a run to Matlock. We arrived, parked the car and saw a sign to the Cumberland Caverns, so off we went up a very steep hill and reaching the entrance we were told to wait for a party of a dozen or so to form. Then we were each given a candle and marched off into Mother Earth, down narrow passages, into caverns, water dripping, under huge rock formations only resting on inches (surely there must come a day when they get tired of staying up there). And so, after maybe 15 mins, we arrived at a small pool of crystal water and gathered around. We were each given a glass tumbler with a suggestion that if we filled our glass with this water, drank it and wished at the same time, our wish would come true.

Was this the opportunity Heaven sent? Right out of the blue at the exact moment, a chance to put things right?

We were advised not to disclose our wishes until the next day, which we agreed on, then when we did tell each other I said “I had wished we could win some money!” and Eve had wished we could have our forthcoming fines overlooked by some chance, either the policeman lose his charge book or something.

Our day ended very pleasantly and the morning adventure was diminishing in its seriousness.

The immediate future was the question of the annual holiday. Only 1 week per year in those days and no question of holiday pay and if one didn’t save a little each week it was a nightmare, a week off from work and not a penny to spend, not even on bare necessities, rent and food etcetera.

Once again the brain simply had to find a way out, what with me only working 3 days a week owing to shortage of orders at the factory, nothing saved and the impending court case and subsequent fines which I visualized would be around £20 or £30, or the equivalent to 10 of my weeks wages while I was on short time.

I decided to ask my mother for a loan. She let me have £10 without hesitation, one of the fruits of being honest and always paying in my entire wage packet and accepting what she gave me as pocket money, an arrangement which endured until the week before I married.

The following week I made plans for a weeks holiday in Wales, another tricky business, because we had to have separate rooms. There was no luck up to the time of departure, so we decided to take a chance and hope to get fixed up somewhere, somehow.

We made for Holyhead, had lunch, then somewhere between Holyhead and Rhyl we hoped to find accommodation. The day wore on, 7pm, 8, 9 10, 11, and Llandudno left behind. We were hungry, so we darted in a milk bar just before midnight, came out and still no sign of “Digs”. Worse still, not enough petrol to get us home and no all-night garages.

We went into the country, found a quiet spot and fell asleep in the car. Dawn came and found us bedraggled, cloths creased, unwashed and bleary eyed. After waiting a few hours for the local seaside to come to life, we ventured into the village for a wash, brush-up and breakfast. Can you imagine what I felt like when I asked the waitress if there was any accommodation which would suit us and she said “yes” within a stones throw of where we spent the night!

The holiday came to an end and we travelled back home on Sunday. On arrival at Eve’s home, her Dad pushed a blue Police notice under our noses, demanding an explanation. Now the heat was on and I knew there would be one at our house, so I just had to admit to all what had happened. After all, we had only a few hours to wait, the court appearance in the morning was at 10am.

Monday arrived at last and I don’t know what prompted me, but I went to get a paper, I remember it, The Chronicle. On page 3 were the results of a weekly competition run by Tit-Bits, and “PRESTO”, I saw my name, the winner of £50! A fortune in those days!

I flew out, jumped in the car and drove the 3 miles to Eve’s house. I ran up their path and Eve thought I had gone mad because we were due in court in 90mins. I kept saying “Happy are they who have enough money to pay their fines”. We didn’t care if the magistrate fined us £49.99, but we were going to keep our secret until after the court case.

We stood in front of the magistrate who lectured us, called us young fools, a case of love is blind etc and “Music in my ears” – Case dismissed and payment of costs 5/- Do we believe in Fairies?

That £50 really made us, planned our marriage, £10 deposit on a brand new house, £10 deposit on a house full of new furniture, £10 for a great reception party at the best hotel in town and £10 for the cake, the photographer, bouquets and taxis etc.

Too bad I had to leave it all behind after a few short months and join the Army for almost 6 years.

Written by A. E. Shore (1916-1989)

Submitted by: Eveline Shore
Story location: Stoke-on-Trent