(35) 'The Story of the Wartime Shilling'

[Ken]

My dear friend's, loved one's and fellow descendant's of Walt and Ruby,  This memory tells of something that occurred a few years before I was born in the first half of  the October of 1943.  It began when my father sent a birthday card from wherever he was stationed at that stage of the second world war, the card was addressed to his son Robert Tuffs and the event was young Bob's tenth birthday.  

I know the details of that long ago day from a conversation I had with Bob during one of his numerous visits to my home in Wales.  It was in the early 1990's and Bob, Len and I, were once again enjoying an evening in The Lock and Key, which was my local pub.  Len was playing one of the locals at pool when Bob told me the delightful story of his wartime birthday card from Dad.  "Inside the card was a shilling", he explained with obvious pleasure, "Dear old Dad didn't forget me and two weeks after that he didn't forget Len either, because he sent another shilling to him for his birthday".  Bob then called out to his pool playing brother and asked him if he remembered the shilling that dad sent him during the war?  The hard of hearing brothers then began another debate that had my Jenny laughing with joy the next morning.  That was when for the first time in her life she heard, 'The Story of the Wartime Shilling'!

At this stage it is important to remind everyone who reads this that our oldest sister was called Gladys, and that is where the mix up began.  When Len finished playing pool he returned to us and asked Bob to repeat the question.  Bob once again said, "Do you remember, during the war, when Dad sent us both a shilling?" Len then informed him that he had no recollection of such an event.  Bob said, "You must remember, both of us got a shilling and a birthday card from dear old Dad, way back in 1943."  I recall that Bob sounded somewhat frustrated as he spoke.  He became even more so when he heard Len say, "Glad wasn't even in the second world war."  "He bloody was", Bob roared, "She bloody wasn't, she wasn't even old enough", retorted Len.  "Of course he was old enough, he fought in both bloody wars", an exasperated Bob exclaimed loudly.  "She wasn't even born in the first world war", claimed an infuriated Len as he glared at his brother.  The entire pub listened as the row between the two continued with lots of animated claims of, "he bloody well was", from an insistent Bob, followed by an equally high number of "She bloody well wasn't", replies from Len.  

Of course by this time I had realised what was happening and I just sat back amused, as my beloved siblings argued at completely cross purposes.  It was obvious that both of them were right and neither of them were wrong and, as the argument raged on, I could see that not one of them was willing to back down. Eventually Bob said in a calmer and more measured voice, "I'm just a little surprised that you can't remember that our dear old Dad sent you a shilling for your eleventh birthday...."  What followed was a very long few seconds of complete silence before Len said, "I thought you said 'GLAD'," and at once all became clear to them both!  The laughter that followed was enjoyed by many of the pubs customers that night and of course both Len and Bob gave us all a full account of,  'The Story of the Wartime Shilling'.

For those younger readers of this very pleasant memory,  I realise you will have no knowledge of what a shilling was?  It was a measure of money that came into Britain after the Norman Conquest of 1066 and remained in use for nine hundred years until decimalization changed our coinage in 1971.  There were twenty shillings to the pound and each shilling was worth twelve old pennies.  Back then in 1943, our money consisted of pound notes, ten bob notes and various coins known as, half crowns, two bob bits, shillings, sixpence's, thrupenny bits, pennies, ha'pennies and farthings.  Strangely, the common name for a shilling was 'a Bob', and that's somehow appropriate for today's story.  A story about two brothers, Bob aged ten and Len aged eleven, who were more than delighted to get a card from their Dad with a wartime shilling inside it as a birthday gift.  A birthday gift worth just five new pence in today's money!    
                                                                                                       

[Ken]

Some people may think it peculiar to laugh at another's partial deafness.  I challenge you to read this memory of a conversation between my brothers, Bob and Len, without smiling.