Loving Memory (1971)

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(Hens cluck)

Ta-ra, Mrs Swales.

- Cheerio, George.

- Cheerio, Herb. See you Monday.

Bye-bye, Mrs Swales.

Thanks very much.

Bye-bye, love. Bye.

Cheerio.

(Birdsong)

(Cattle lowing)

(Gulls crying)

(Bicycle wheel spinning)

(Car door opens)

(Car door closes)

(Footsteps)

What a pity, Ambrose.

(Doves coo)

(Water sloshing)

(Clock chiming)

(Birds squawking)

(Shoes tapping and scraping)

(Clock ticking)

(Rings)

(Car engine)

(Clattering)

(Flies buzzing)

(Clock chiming)

(Birdsong)

(Trundling)

(Water sloshing)

(Clock ticking)

(Door creaks)

(Flies buzzing)

Oh, everything's so dirty.

Your shirt's just about done,

all frayed around the collar.

Best if I wash everything.

Be more comfortable.

I'll do them in the morning.

'Won't take long to dry

if it's a good day.'

(Flies buzzing)

Our James was just growing hairs.

About the same size, you look.

'Better have his shirt.

'Yours nearly fell apart in the wash.

'Not really worth keeping.

'Wear one of James' shirts.

'Much better and warmer.'

All clean and ironed.

James' shirt's nearly new.

Same one as in that picture.

Well, new when he came home.

Ambrose was keen for it.

He's got that many shirts.

He was very poorly.

Hurt in the stomach and legs.

Just before James came home,

a plane crashed.

Ambrose got lots of pieces for his hut.

Wheeled the propeller home

on his barrow.

"Present for James

when he comes home", he said.

Strange how Ambrose seemed to know

that James was coming back

and so sick.

Oh, but he was glad to be home.

We took lots of photos,

like this one of the propeller

and James all dressed up in his uniform.

But he got very weak.

He had to stay in bed

nearly all the time.

This was his room,

but it was different.

Ambrose brought

the propeller up here,

so James could look at it.

He slept for a long time

before Ambrose took him up the hill.

We didn't wake him.

Better not when he was so poorly.

Eh, that fits you just right.

You'll be a lot more comfortable like that.

I found your glasses.

Very like James' glasses, too.

Not very strong.

This side's all broken.

You could maybe wear

James' glasses sometimes.

I could show my books.

They're full of pictures and letters.

Took such a long time to make.

Every piece has to be stuck in

very carefully

not to mark it, mind.

You can't move marks

once you've made 'em.

Don't make books

any more now, though.

No more pictures.

James took

nearly all the pictures I have.

What would be nice,

if I could show you my books

from the beginning.

There's three of them.

Read you a piece every day.

I could show you all of them

before you go.

(Gramophone record playing)

# Everything's in rhythm

with my heart

# The flowers that grow

and the breezes that blow

# Seem to go

with the flow of my song

# And the song I sing's

in rhythm with my heart

# Everything's in rhythm

with my heart

# The rhythm is sweet,

even crowds in the street

# Move their feet

to the b*at of my song

(Clock chimes)

# Everything's in rhythm

with my heart #

There's his first picture,

one James took

in Saltburn on the beach.

This is the lift

that takes you down to the pier.

Costs a penny to go on the pier

and you can look through

special glasses out to sea.

Fishermen pay sixpence

to fish off the end of it.

On a Sunday, James would take me

and Ambrose on the pier

to listen to the band.

Lots of little old ladies in deckchairs.

(Brass band plays)

This was James' room.

It was different, though.

I'd bring the books up

and he'd tell me

about all the pictures,

where he was when he took 'em,

the people in 'em.

"Always have your back to the sun,"

was his rule.

He always got good pictures, too.

We'd sit just like this,

and he'd tell me a story

about each picture.

Well, it was different,

because he was lying in bed

and the bed was over there

in the corner by the window.

The window was always open.

The little table stood right against the bed.

He always had his glasses

and a book on it,

and a picture of Mother and Father.

Sometimes, at first,

he'd sit in this chair.

And he even sat

by the front door on a hot day.

But after he'd gone,

Ambrose changed everything.

Told me I wasn't to sit in here all day.

It wasn't healthy, he said.

He started to move things in here.

And he put hooks in the ceiling

and hung the propeller up.

Made more room for storing things,

he said.

'Bit by bit

Ambrose took all his shirts.

'Except that one.

'That's my favourite.

'James sold the farm

and went to work for Mr Tud.

'We moved up dale to here.

'Not far.

'They'd just closed the railway.

'Sometimes they ran special trains,

but they never stopped here.'

Oh, it was different then.

We had some sheep and hens,

and grew potatoes

and cabbages out back.

You'll get a crick in your neck,

sitting like that.

(Flies buzzing)

(Sniffs)

Ah.

# You have been my inspiration

# Love has been my guiding light

# When I close my eyes

# My heart always smiles... #

If I put you in his uniform,

you'll be just like him, sitting there,

wearing those same glasses, too.

James took us to Saltburn

in his uniform.

It was different then, though.

We go to Saltburn

every three months of a Saturday

to get special things

like coal and wood and nails.

Ambrose gets expl*sives

and things for his mine.

I got some Wellingtons last time.

They still send Christmas cards.

These same ones every year.

Mr Spate, the milkman,

always sends one.

Only the vicar comes now.

Funny, though.

I watched him through the curtain

in my bedroom last time.

He opened the door,

called out and walked around the house.

He's different now, not Mr McGill.

'He were only young.

'Came up the dale on his bike.

'I watch every day.

'Every day,

Mr Spate brings milk and groceries.

'I watch for him at nine.

'Sometimes he's a bit late.'

(Engine still running)

(Mr Spate drives off)

'It's a nice field

with woods up behind, you know.

'Used to be a cornfield.

'Eh, Mother really liked it that day,

sitting on the grass in the sun.

'It was a lovely day.

'Brought Mother down specially.

'She d*ed not long after.

'James said

he could tell she was going.

Showed in Father, too.

He was like an old man.

After Mother d*ed,

Father never came out of his room.

James would take food in to him,

but he'd never eat it.

One morning,

James couldn't wake him.

Said he'd passed away in his sleep.

One morning,

a letter came for James.

Told us he had to join the army.

There was a w*r with the Germans.

Before he left,

he sold all the sheep

and got Ambrose a job

in the lead mine with Eddy Clark.

The man's just over the hill

at Greenhaugh.

But Eddy didn't last very long after.

Heart att*ck.

He's looked after the mine

on his own since then, you know.

'One night,

just before James came home,

'there was this terrible noise, very low.

'Then there was this bang

and the whole house shook.

'Oh, the sky was all lit up over the hill.'

They took all the fire engines

and the army

up to the mine over Greenhaugh.

Ambrose was terribly worried.

Thought the mine had blown up.

'All these people went up and down

the dale for two days.

'Some of them knocked on the door,

'but Ambrose told me not to open

the door when he wasn't there.

'Lots of them were in army clothes.

'I kept looking for James,

'but he wouldn't have knocked.'

I stuck in all James' photos

very carefully.

Hot summer days then.

Always had a window open.

And curtains billowed over the bed.

Then Ambrose made this box for James.

'Same as the one he's making you.

'Wheeled him on his barrow up the hill.

'Buried him in the wood.

'I asked Ambrose not to take him.

'It would be all right.

'Look after him, I would.'

Never listens to me.

I often sit with James on the hill.

His favourite spot.

You can see right down dale

to Mr Tud's farm.

Ambrose is going to put you

next to James on Sunday.

Silly, though.

You could stay here.

It's nice you being here.

Silly you have to go Sunday.

# Some day when I'm awfully low

# When the world is cold

# I will feel a glow,

just thinking of you

# And the way you look tonight #

Haven't drank your tea again.

Ambrose had left

before I came down.

He's blasting the mine at ten.

'Should hear it any time now.'

(Cuckoo calls)

(Clock chimes)

(Hissing)

(Muffled explosions)

(Flies buzzing)

What would we do

if Ambrose was hurt?

The expl*si*n was very big, you know.

Could have been badly hurt.

(Clock chimes)

He's never been this late before.

(Birds twitter)

(Door opens)

I keep telling Ambrose about

the propeller and how it could fall.

Two small hooks

aren't strong enough.

It's a heavy thing, you know.

It's not safe,

you sitting there in line with it.

Only wants door to bang

and it'd all fall.

If the mattress were moved...

You'd be better there.

You have to bend right low

to get under it.

Eh, these floorboards.

Not safe at all.

Better make them safe

before Sunday.

Oh.

(Thud)

Easy to fall like that.

(Clattering)

Oh, these floorboards!

You look much better.

Better than you've looked

for a long time.

It's worn well, you know.

But then, you've looked after it.

Can't understand Ambrose.

No need for you to go at all.

Washed and pressed

all his best for tomorrow.

Found some of your shirts

under a pile in his room.

Turns ever so funny

if he knew I'd been in.

He's got a pair of your boots

in there, too.

Better to make it safe for tomorrow.

Be all right.

Be all right, James. Be all right.

(Plane roars overhead)

Be all right. You'll see.

(Door creaks)

(Footsteps)

(Birdsong)

(Digging)

(Hens cluck)

(Footsteps)

(Thud)

(Vibrating)

(Vibrations stop)

(Clock ticks)

(Kettle hisses)

(Flies buzzing)

(Clatter)

(Clattering)

(Clang)

(Footsteps)

(Squeaking)

(Thud)

(Scraping)

(Crash)

(Ragtime music)

# Button up your overcoat

# When the wind is free

# Take good care of yourself

# You belong to me

# Eat an apple every day

# Go to bed by three

# Take good care of yourself

# You belong to me

# Be careful crossing streets, ooh-ooh

# Don't eat meats, ooh-ooh

# Cut out sweets, ooh-ooh

# Don't get a pain-a-roo

in your tum-tum

# Keep away from bootleg hooch

# When you're on a spree

# Take good care of yourself

# You belong to me