Home | I Only Came For The Music
Betty McKay tells of a moving Christmastide encounter.
Sadly this is the concluding chapter of Betty's life story. If you missed any of the earlier chapters you can find them by clicking on I Only Came For The Music.
If you type Betty's name in the search box on this page you can read some of her splendid stories - and fortunately for Open Writing readers there are more of those still to be published.
....Baltimore is a city well endowed with great restaurants, many of them serving ethnic food. I looked in vain for the Homesick Restaurant but one day there will be one, because I know Anne Tyler is here to stay, just like Dickens and Jane Austen. In a hundred years people will still be reading her novels as classics....
Betty McKay visits the home city of one of her favourite authors, Anne Tyler.
To read earlier chapters of Betty's engrossing life story please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
...I adored Singapore from the minute we touched down and realised immediately that I belonged there...
Betty McKay tells of life in an exotic city.
Betty McKay and her husband Hugh move to live in a Leicestershire village where she gets a job working a a pub kitchen.
...We were a polyglot crew - Dario, the Italian chef, Peter and Antonia his two assistants, and three very short-tempered Spanish waiters whose names I never learned to pronounce properly. For some reason, which I never really understood, the Latin inhabitants of the kitchen always appeared to me to be on the verge of open warfare, with Peter and myself on the sidelines wondering all the time how and when hostilities would break out...
To read earlier episodes of Betty's life story please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
...On Wednesdays, sports afternoon at the War Office, Hugh would call for me at one o’clock and off we would go exploring London. I loved our Wednesday afternoon jaunts. We would have a quick snack and then take the tube into the city. Sometimes we’d go to Harrods to see how many well-known personalities we could spot. It was surprising the number of famous people who went there on a Wednesday afternoon....
Betty McKay and her husband move to London and enjoy the thrill of exploring the city.
Betty McKay continues the story which she began last week in Open Writing concerning an embarrassing incident in Kuala Lumpur.
...New sounds assailed me - the Muzzien calling the faithful to prayers, the Cicada's bell-like buzzing. The ceaseless drumming of rain when the monsoon came. In the house the soft chick-chack of the house lizards and rhythmic tock-tock of the ceiling fans didn't encroach. They were all part of the way we lived then...
Betty McKay describes her life years ago in Kuala Lumpur.
...A large, white sulphur-crested cockatoo flew into the flat and perched on the back of the settee and looked around, very self-possessed and sure of itself. Then, having made up its mind, it flew over to where Hugh was sitting and took possession of his big toe...
Betty McKay tells of the day a bird with attitude flew into her life when she and her husband Hugh were living in Singapore.
...When I was a child I didn't like beaches, associating them with gritty sandwiches and general discomfort. I vividly recall at the age of three being kicked by a donkey on Southport beach...
Betty McKay tells of beaches, and love.
For earlier chapters of Betty's autobiography please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
...At the speed of light Captain Evans reappeared determined to save me from a fate worse than death. "McKay, I think you'd better leave!"
McKay, was that his name? I didn't want to be saved. He didn't know it yet but McKay was the man I was going to marry. I walked outside with him.
He took my hand and we ran laughing into the future, and within my head a thousand angel voices soared into the Hallelujah chorus....
Betty McKay meets the man who is still at her side more than 50-years on.
Betty McKay loses someone who was very important in her life.
To read earlier chapters of Betty's frank and entertaining life story please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
...When it came to drill, because I was tall I was inevitably cast as 'right-marker'.
It wasn't as easy as it looked. At first I managed to get everything wrong, 'camel walked', tripped up and was asked sarcastically if I were in possession of two left feet. By this time I hopefully believed I was, then these feet would walk right out of this nut house and go marching back home...
Betty McKay joins the WRAC.
To read earlier chapters of Betty's engaging life story please visit I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
Betty McKay tells of a curious musical evening - and a meeting with one of the Twentieth Century's greatest men, Winston Churchill.
To read earlier chapters of Betty's wonderfully entertaining autobiography please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on his page.
When Betty McKay was 18 she went canvassing for the Conservatives in Wigan - and ended up chatting to a Communist candidate.
To read earlier chapters of Betty's engaging life story please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
Betty McKay finds herself involved in an unfortunate misapprehnsion when she has her portrait painted.
To read earlier chapters of Betty's totally absorbing autobiographyplease click on I Only Came For The Muic in the menu on this page.
...I found being a semi-adult (no such thing as a teenager in those days) and working in an adult work-place stimulating. People were so pleasant and forthcoming. Unlike my family, these people really liked and warmed towards me. I discovered grown-ups were interesting and entertaining and enjoyed my company....
Betty McKay meets new people and makes new friends, finding that she is liked and valued.
To read earlier chapters of Betty's engrossing autobiography please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
To read earlier chapters of Betty's engrossing autobiography please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
...On her this powerful combination attracted every man she came into contact with. Our office could hardly be called busy but the week after Margery's arrival, every male on the staff of the Battersby Lane plant managed to find some excuse, however feeble, to visit the manager's office to catch a fleeting glimpse of this entrancing vision. It was exciting and amusing to be a mere acolyte observing from the fringe Margery's formidable powers of attraction for the male of the species...
Betty McKay continues her vividly-recounted life story. To read earlier chapters please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
Betty McKay tells of fear - and a timely escape.
...One morning Tid and I walked into town to the library. On the way we passed Mrs. Lewis and I remarked on how fat she was becoming. Tid looked at me, laughed and said: "Well yes, she would be. That's because she's going to have a baby."
I further compounded my ignorance by asking how she knew. During that trip to the library, Tid took my sexual education in hand. Of course, straight off I said I didn't believe a word of it and came out with the stock saying: "My mum and dad wouldn't do anything awful like that."...
Betty McKay tells of the day she left the world of childhood.
...Their first house was in Longford Street, where they stayed for a few years. Joan was borm in that house in 1920. She told me that my parents were so smart and well dressed at that time, or it could have been because they had ideas above their station, that when they went out walking, the neighbours christened them Lord and Lady Longford...
Betty McKay writes with searing honesty about her father who served in the Coldstream Guards.
...My father was christened William Charles but was always known as Bill. The other family members are totally unknown to me. I know there was a distant cousin, who had been put into Colney Hatch, a famous, no sorry, infamous lunatic asylum, suffering from delirium tremens. I know that because Joan, wanting to upset dad, mentioned it at the table one Sunday lunchtime. Father was so incensed he dropped the gravy boat onto the floor and broke it, all very exciting and great entertainment...
Betty McKay, with warmth and frankness, writes about her father's family,
To read earlier chapters of Betty's engaging life story please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
Betty McKay tells of the day when her grandmother saw the White Lady.
To read more of Betty's richly-recounted life story please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
...It was part of Mary-Ellen's duties to wait on the rest of the servants at table, and this proved to be an excellent initiation into life below stairs. She enjoyed listening to the gossip about what went on above stairs amongst the gentry, the Masterson family who owned Harton Hall. Because she was small, four feet ten in height, and by far the youngest member of the household, everyone made a fuss of her...
Betty Mckay tells of her grandmother's early life.
Continue reading "18 - The Best Things In Life In Little Parcels" »
...Grandfather had a high pile of pillows in bed at night. When he couldn't sleep because of his asthma he made models of ships; exact and beautiful models of the old sailing ships and tea clippers with each and every tiny detail correct and in proportion.
Grandmother's name was Mary-Ellen. I saw her only once. That was when I was three years old. She was eighty-four and it must have been shortly before her death. I remember my mother lifting me up and saying, "Kiss your grandmother." I leaned forward and did so.
It was a very small face for an adult. Mary-Ellen must have been a tiny lady, because my mother said she remembered Uncle Charlie picking her up and sitting her on the Welsh Dresser, saying as he did so: "Ma, if I'd realised how little you were, I'd never have let you wallop me when I was a youngster and had been naughty!''...
Betty McKay remembers her grandparents and other members of her family.
To read earlier chapters of Betty's vivid life story please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
...When I was small my mother told me the strange, sad story of George and Elizabeth. Elizabeth who was three, died in her sleep on the Sunday morning. In the afternoon five-year-old George suddenly clutched his mother's hand. Then, smiling he pointed toward the open bedroom door. He said that Elizabeth was standing in the doorway, and a man with a kind and beautiful face was holding her by the hand. Later this must have surely been a source of wonder and comfort to his mother, for George died that evening...
Betty McKay tells of her mother's East End background. To read more of Betty's entertaining life story please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
...It was at this time that I discovered a set of books belonging to Eve. She was the only one in our house who didn't rely totally on libraries. She actually bought books, which at that time was unusual for working class people. These particular books were well-stacked bumper volumes, containing enormous collections of varied categories of literature. The Great Books of Humour, Romance, Ghost Stories, Thrillers and Horror. I devoured their contents like a locust feeding on corn.
It was when I tackled the Great Book of True Murder Mysteries that nemesis set in for me...
Betty McKay tells of Saturday night frights.
To read earlier chapters of Betty's engaging life story please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
...Hearing the air-raid siren soon became a regular experience. My mother used to call it 'Wailing Winnie'. Fear disappeared after the first few air raids.
Unlike most of our neighbours, we didn't have an air-raid shelter of our own. If I was at home when Winnie wailed, then I went down underneath the table in the living room....
Betty McKay recalls a night when German bombs fell on her home town.
...I adored the crowded atmosphere of the fairground, it was irresistible. I thought the unusual combination of smells - diesel, candy floss, toffee apples, crushed grass and people - that went to make up the fascinating aroma of the fair was incredibly exciting. The noisy clamour of the many attractions - swing-boats, dodge-em's and the different carousels with their accompanying jingle-jangle of hurdy-gurdy organ music - held a unique fascination...
Betty McKay recalls a visit to a fair when she was told in earthy language to go away.
For earlier chapters of Betty's engrossing story please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
...Every day the pair of us would say, "Where shall we go?" We knew it would be the cemetery. Warrington cemetery was enormous. There were, we knew, at least two famous people buried there, George Formby's father, a music hall comedian, and Steve Donaghue, a champion jockey. Both had imposing gravestones. Inside the cemetery the wide paths meandered for miles. It was quiet and deserted. We would run wildly with the pram while Duggy shrieked with excitement...
The exuberant Betty McKay tells of sin in the cemetery - and the day she forgot baby Duggy.
Continuing her engaging life story, Betty McKay tells of a childish game which seemed to result in dire consequeces for a boy called Georgie who suffered from epilepsy - or did it?
...I had to agree. Georgie never did any harm, he was quiet, and never fought like the other boys, never bullied smaller children, or teased the girls. He didn't live in our street. He preferred our street to his own though, because there were so many children around. I suppose in his own way he was happy, tagging along with our rag-tag-and-bobtail crowd...
The latest episode of Betty McKay's wonderfully engaging autobiography confirms that children are capable of great levels of compassion and understanding.
...Mum always said that curiosity would be the death of me. I've never been able to resist a mystery, and I'm very glad I solved the riddle of the dressing gown lying on the bush...
Betty McKay tells how she became involved in the outcome of wartime "goings on''.
For earlier chapters in Betty's engaging life story please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
Betty McKay and her friends were excited when soldiers returned home, having been ecacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk. "We schoolgirls took our autograph books along to get the soldiers' signatures, just as if they were famous film stars. They were very brown and healthy looking and were happy to be back. When I showed my dad the book, I said they looked as if they'd come back from their holidays.''
Dad looked angry and said, "Some holiday, poor sods. It was a bloody defeat and no picnic. Those boys have been through hell."
Mum said, "Bill for heaven's sake watch your language."
For earlier chapters of Betty's autobiography please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
...At eleven o'clock our family was gathered in the living room. Joan, as usual, had to be different. She was perched on the edge of the dining table swinging her legs and ignoring Mum's remark 'For heavens sake Joan, get off the table and stop making the place look untidy.' I don't remember very much about Chamberlain's speech, other than he told us that a country called Poland had been occupied in August, which we knew already. He announced that Britain and France were now at war with Germany. I remember thinking what a very old, tired voice he had...
Betty McKay recalls the day war was declared. To read earlier chapters of Betty's engaging autobiography please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
...On the Saturday afternoon Dad went to the library and Mum and I went shopping. We returned to an empty house. On the living room table lay a letter addressed to my parents. As my Mother read it, her usually pallid face became quite pink, and she said in a funny voice: "Go up to your room Betty."
I took a book and sat on the stairs reading, until I heard Dad open the back door. Mum said: "She's gone! I hope you're satisfied." Then she started to cry.
I heard Dad say: "I'm sorry Nell."...
Continuing her vivid life story Betty McKay tells of amily friction. To read earlier chapters of her autobiography please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
...When Eve and Joan brought in sandwiches and more beer, Mum put her head round the door and called to me: "Come on young 'un, it's half past nine and time you were in bed." I washed at the kitchen sink, went upstairs reluctantly and fell asleep to the sounds of singing and laughter.
The next morning was Sunday and when I woke I heard raised voices from downstairs, so I kept out of the way till things quietened down. Someone had cracked a leg on one of the armchairs and Mum was furious...
Betty McKay recalls the the excitement of a family party - and its aftermath.
For earlier chapters of Betty's life story please click on I Only Came For The Music in the menu on this page.
...Five of the girls in my class at school were called Betty, and there were three Bettys living in our street. When I was born the newspapers and magazines were full of stories about Princess Elizabeth; apparently everyone called her Princess Betty...
Betty McKay continues her captivating life story.
...Things went wonderfully well at school. I was top of my form, and had played Gepetto in Pinocchio before we broke up for the summer holidays. Then one day as I was going shopping for my mother I passed a gang of boys. I recognised most of them, except for one sturdy, red headed, freckled-faced boy, who was staring at me. I heard someone say: "Go on Roy, go on then. Do it."
My antennae quivered...
Betty McKay tells how she dealt most satisfactorily with bullies.
...One day a small boy called Johnny Screawn, who I am quite certain had never spoken to me before, gave me a blue, knitted purse. He told me that he had asked his big sister to make it especially for me. The purse was a lovely surprise and I thought perhaps I was special.
Miss Craig, my teacher, seeing it on my desk, picked it up. "That's a pretty purse, Betty. Did your mother make it?"
When I said Johnny had given it to me she gave me an amused look, then smiling she showed it to the rest of the class. At playtime I was surrounded by children admiring my purse. That was to be my undoing...
Betty McKay, with irresistible narrative verve, continues her life story. Further chapters will appear Sunday by Sunday in Open Writing.
...When you are a small child your world is miniscule. People are larger; adult faces distorted by close proximity loom down upon you. Mr. Taylor appeared to have an enormous face and huge teeth. The wheel had come off my pram and he kindly put it back on again. That is my first conscious memory. I was eighteen months old. I know that happened, I was there and I can still remember it...
Today we begin the serialisation of the autobiography of a lassie from Lancashire, Betty McKay. Betty has an engaging narrative style and, as the above paragraph indicates, an enviably keen memory.
Follow her story week by week. A new chapter will appear in Open Writing every Sunday.
