Chapter Three Ruby and the Butlin’s Redcoat Following a meeting with the school governors, permission has been granted by County Hall for Mrs Smith’s caretaking duties to be extended by four hours per week. Extract from the Ragley School Logbook: Friday, 9 October 1981 ‘All the sixes, sixty-six,’ announced the confident bingo caller as he flicked a comb through his Billy Fury quiff. ‘You’ve got that one, Ruby,’ whispered Betty Buttle, but Ruby looked preoccupied. ‘Key of the door, twenty-one,’ reverberated the voice from the giant speakers. ‘An’ that one, Ruby. C’mon, wekken up,’ muttered Margery Ackroyd. Ruby crossed off the numbers on her bingo card but her mind was elsewhere. ‘Downing Street, number ten.’ The ladies of Ragley and Morton sat round their tables in the Ragley village hall as the excitement increased.
