The place erupted with people people cheering and clapping, some of the men and women were crying.

I was taken back to join our group and dad said," I am very proud of you for what you did."

All night, people came over and said how proud they were to know me, of course Billy being my escort was reveling in all the attention.

One of the kids asked, "Why did you donate all that money?"

"Because other people might need help sometime, and if the fund got added to, it would help even more people."

"Why didn`t you get yourself a computer with it?"

"I`ll just have to get one another way. People were important than computers and toys."

I saw a group of adults talking in the corner and looking at me, I didn`t pay them much interest. After the Banquet, all the tables were as usual removed and the dancing began.

I`d never danced in heels and a long dress, and it would seem I wasn't the only one there that were tripping over our hems. The dance was stopped and Mrs Clegg and a few of the women with their escorts started giving us lessons on dancing, this took about a half hour and the dancing resumed.

Mrs Clegg was the most elegant lady I ever saw, always smartly dressed, made up to perfection and perfectly mannered, she wasn't a snob or thought herself better than everyone else.

I had seem the other side of her and knew how lonely she was, for all her bravado, was often scared of people opinion of her. She hadn't been born into money, but had been in an orphanage till she 18.

She had got herself a job working as a waitress in a restaurant, had put herself through college and had gone into some sort of business. I knew she owned a few stores. Eventually, she had met Mr Clegg, got married and settled down.

Then her husband who'd been active in the community, died about 10 years ago. As I already said, she had no family. She had no servants, although she employed a couple of the village women as cleaners and a couple of the men as gardeners and general handymen. No, there were no pretentiousness with Mrs Clegg, she hadn't forgotten where she'd started from. She was loved by all everyone, especially the kids and always had time to listen to people, but not everyone knew her background.

The Grand Ball was success, everyone had a good time and I don`t think it would have ended if everybody hadn't of been so tired. As the night had gone on kids, were found sleeping in side rooms and were just left where they were with someone looking in from time to time.

Our group were among the last to leave at 5:A.M. the next day. Tired we may have been, but we walked home that evening or should I say morning despite the freezing cold. Yes, it had been a successful night, it brought the whole community closer together. We had 'Met the foe at gates and repelled them.' as someone said.

We all knew that the world outside our little community was a lot different, and we all knew that someday, it would come here with a vengeance, but not today. Today let us all be content with what we have and what we are. Did I just say that?

We all grabbed a few hours sleep, got up, dressed had a meal and descended on the village hall for the clean up. What a mess there was, we all pitched in and soon it was back to it`s normal state, a rubbish skip had been hired and was now full to brim with cardboard boxes and black rubbish sacks. Once we had finished, we all sat around talking in groups while tea and coffee was brought out. Buses only run every hour on a Sunday and looking at the clock, I knew one was due through in the next few minutes.

Just at that moment, someone ran into Hall and said, "THE BUS HAD CRASHED!"

We grabbed our coats and went to the accident scene. There hadn't been many people on board, but those that were had been injured and some badly. I was sent back to get more help and alert the police, I wasn't gone long. As I went back, I saw one of the farmers tractors heading that way, he stopped and gave me a lift.

In the short time that I was gone, most of people had been taken out of the bus and placed in a nearby barn, there were still a couple of people left in the bus, including the driver who couldn't be moved due to being trapped or too badly injured. A couple of the farmers had taken tractors and used them as road block, only allowing the emergency service through.

The area was mess, the bus on it`s side with wreckage all over the road. The bus had skidded coming down the slight slope and rolled over as the driver tried to regain control.

It had luckily enough been stopped by the parapet wall from ending up in the river. The firemen cut the wreckage clear and freed those that were trapped so that the paramedics could get them treated and off to hospital.

Another team of paramedics was attending to those in the barn, and before long, all the injured were on their way to hospital. Unfortunately, there were 2 killed: the driver and Mrs Allen.

A black cloud of despair seemed to descend on the village, Mrs Allen had left 4 yr twins behind, she had lost her husband 3yrs ago to a heart attack. The villagers rallied to see that children wanted for nothing, I was told to take them home with me as we were the nearest family. I had baby sat these kids and they were used to me.

It was unusual that the twins had been left alone in bed and Mrs Allen had gone out,but apparently she was just going to drop some knitting wool of at one of nearby farms and wouldn't be long. Now she would never be coming home to young Susan and Sandra. How do you tell someone that young that their mother is dead and isn't coming back? We knew they had no other family, but the community was determined that they stay in village.

Mrs Clegg got hold of her lawyers and told them what she wanted done and they agreed to start first thing, Monday morning.

Mrs Clegg told me, "It was going to be a hard fight and costly one, but no way was Social Services getting their hands on those girls! I know what orphans went through and it wasn't happening to one of ours!"

Mrs Clegg phone round various agencies and hired a full time nurse and nanny to look after the girls who went to live with her. We packed what clothing they had and toys and they were taken as well. They had started school last summer and Mrs Johnson, formerly Ms Platt said she would tell the headmaster what had happened and that the girls wouldn't be at school for a while.