Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Durham Days
Never, never let them persuade you that things are too
di~cult or impossible.
Douglas Bader
On a bitter November day, Arthur and Maggie arrived back in
Gateshead on what should have been Norman's fourth birthday.
They went to stay with Maggie's parents having no money,
nowhere to live and no child to brighten their days. On the
journey home they had instinctively looked for Norman, expect-
ing to see him come running. Habitually they would turn to see
what he was up to; look up in response to another child's cry,
or reach down for his hand that was no longer held out to them.
Then remembrance and grief would sweep over them. Over the
following months they wished over and over again that they had
left Burma at the same time as Stanley Hunter. Had they done
so their son would still be alive. But Holmes had taken his role
as manager very seriously and had tried hard to obtain the wages
owed to Yomah Oil's employees. He had hung on as long as he
could. Too long. Now they both bottled up their grief; Arthur in
particular was unable to speak to anyone of Norman's death,
not even his oldest friend Bob Lawson.
By the time he had left Burma Holmes himself was owed
nearly a whole year's salary, which he tried to salvage
through solicitors in London, but LCT, by then on the verge of
