Twopence to cross the Mersey

the long version

Twopence was the price of the ferry-boat between Liverpool and Birkenhead. A tiny sum but an impassable barrier for the poor of Liverpool - desperate to escape the city's grinding poverty. When Helen Forrester's grandfather went bankrupt in 1930, she and her six siblings were forced from their comfortable middle-class life into utmost destitution in Depression-ridden Liverpool. The running of the household and the care of her younger siblings all fell to twelve-year-old Helen. In slum surroundings and with little food or support from her feckless parents, Helen was forced on her own resources.