How To Be Brave (29 page)

Young Rose is right. In a story there is always the end and then a
what happened after that
, because really there’s never an end at all. Stories don’t stop dead and no one lives happily ever after. Even when we die the things we did live on after us, like the spray from a homeward-bound ship.

After their rescue Colin and Ken recuperated aboard
HMS Rapid
for some days, until she reached Freetown, in West Africa. There they stayed for two weeks at the Disabled British Seaman’s Rest Hospital. Only then, at the end of May 1943, did they board a troop ship bound for England.

Once home, Ken and Colin parted ways to return to their loved ones. They united again to deliver the many messages for their lifeboat brothers’ families. Together they visited Officer Scown’s wife and handed over his broken ring, with the words, ‘He was courageous, and a gentleman to the last.’

Mrs Scown had the ring repaired and today their daughter Wendy cherishes it; along with her father’s medals and many letters he gave before setting sail from Hull. One paragraph written in curled script might have been written with poetic foresight:
Don’t forget your Daddy whilst he’s on the sea, for he’ll always think of you, his darling one – Wendy
.

For a while after their return Colin and Ken gave help to the Ministry of Information in promotional work, recounting their tale in numerous factories across the UK. But Colin found it increasingly difficult to talk repeatedly about his ordeal. Reliving it impacted his health, and he eventually stopped.

Colin didn’t return to the sea; he trained as a joiner and married his sweetheart, Kathleen. They briefly broke their honeymoon to go to Buckingham Palace, where Colin received the George Medal. His bravery also earned him the Lloyd’s Medal, which gave the Armitage family a unique record. Brother Alf, a Captain in command of the tanker Scalaria, was also given this award for his gallantry. When the ship was bombed, he carried the third officer to safety, and ordered the anchor to be lowered so the crew could cling to it for five hours while a fire blazed above.

Colin fathered three children, two sons and a daughter, who then went on to have his six grandchildren. Sadly he only lived long enough to see his children reach four, three and one. They grew up with barely fleeting memories of him, his absence felt as acutely as their mother’s presence.

Six years after he was rescued from the sea Colin died, aged only twenty-seven, of heart failure and asthma. He left behind his medals, a worn wallet, an identity card, a legacy of bravery, and an incredibly proud family.

Thank you to the incredible early readers who helped shape and improve the book: my beloved sisters Grace Wilkinson (the first reader!) and Claire Lugar, my (crazy) mother who wishes I would describe a blade of grass in six pages, Scott Derry, Daniel Ash, Ruth Dugdall, and Jacqueline Grima.

Thank you to my father for the sharp and helpful edits. He and my aunt, Jane Leng provided a rich wealth of family information and some wonderful stories. Thank you to the late Peter Armitage for all the beautiful family photographs, footage, newspaper cuttings, and letters. Thank you also to Wendy Scown for sharing with me her father, Officer Scown’s, letters, medals and stories. How wonderful that this story brought us together. Thank you also Vivien Foster for your support and help, and for allowing us to march on Colin’s behalf at the 2014 Remembrance Sunday parade in London.

I owe thanks also to Kenneth Cooke. His incredible memoir,
What Cares The Sea
, gave me much information, background, and facts, from which I was able to build my story and imagine what he and Colin went through.

Thanks for the support my daughter and I have had from Hull and East Yorkshire’s HEY Parent & Child Diabetes Support Group. This book is a tribute to all the brave kids with Type 1 Diabetes. Thanks also to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation – support them at
www.jdrf.org.uk
.

I want to remember every brave merchant seaman on the lifeboat in 1943: Basil Scown – First Officer, Unnamed Second Engineer, Platten – Chief Steward, John Arnold – Apprentice, King – Apprentice, Kenneth Cooke – Carpenter, Colin Armitage – Able Seaman, Davies – Able Seaman, Weekes – Engineer’s mate, Fowler – Cabin Boy, Stewart – Cabin Boy, Bamford – Army Gunner, Bott – Army Gunner, Leak – Army Gunner.

Thank you to those who helped on this writing journey, either by encouraging, inspiring or more actively guiding: Carol Macarthur, Roy Woodcock, the Luke Bitmead Bursary team, especially Elaine Hanson, the Hull Truck Women’s Writers and the crazy and creative Ushers, Gill Sennett, Ann Marie Jibson, Fiona Mills, Lesley Oliver, Claire Nolan, the Five Fecks gang, Nick Quantrill, Chris Miller, Jennie at number 1, Carl Wheatley, Lizzie Buckingham, the WF Gang, Carrie Martin, Tom Steer, Rachel Harris, Russ Litten, Cassandra Parkin, Morgan Sproxton, Fawn Neun, Burnsey, Louise Brown, Dave Windass, Sam Hartley, Bryan Marshall, Will Ramsey, Vivien Foster, Brenda Baker, Beate Sigriddaughter, Sarah Louise Davies, Eddie Roberts, and the beloved much missed Kathleen Roberts.

I can’t forget two important men in my life; my husband Joe who put up with me in the throes of all that writing involves, and my brother Colin who broke text tradition and sent happy emoticons when I told him I’d be published.

Thank you to the wonderful Karen Sullivan of Orenda Books. I’ll never forget the day (right down to the time) when she told me she would publish
How to be Brave
and made my lifelong dream come true. Thank you also to her incredible reader, Liz Barnsley of LizLovesBooks who championed me right from the start. Also to West Camel who worked with Karen to provide some great edits and suggestions. Without all of you, the book would not be what it is.

And last, but absolutely not least, I want to thank my children, Conor and Katy, both of who inspired the book. Katy has to live forever with Type 1 Diabetes, but Conor grew up in a family where a lot more attention had to be given to her because of this, and he never complained, only loved her. I love you both more than you’ll ever know.

Louise Beech has always been haunted by the sea, and regularly writes travel pieces for the
Hull Daily Mail
, where she was a columnist for ten years. Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice and being published in a variety of UK magazines. Louise lives with her husband and children on the outskirts of Hull – the UK’s 2017 City of Culture - and loves her job as a Front of House Usher at Hull Truck Theatre, where her first play was performed in 2012. She is also part of the Mums’ Army on Lizzie and Carl’s BBC Radio Humberside Breakfast Show. This is her first book.