Tina was 13 years old in two weeks time. She was a huge Bay City Rollers fan just like every other teenage girl on her street. Totally in-love with the lead singer Les McKeown, she'd spend hours gazing up at him pinned to her bedroom wall and dreamed of the day she'd marry him.

The two things she wanted most in the world were a complete "Rollers" outfit and a rare-as-gold-dust ticket to their one and only concert planned for Dublin. She'd saved all her pocket money for months and still hadn't enough to buy a pair of "parallels" let alone a ticket. This much sought after outfit consisted of a V-neck jumper with a big star on the front and stripes at the waist and cuffs, a pair of parallel trousers, cropped to the shin with a narrow tartan inset down both sides of the legs, a pair of doc martens, a bomber jacket and to top it off, a tartan scarf tied around the wrist for waving frantically to "Bye Bye Baby" and the rest of the Rollers' hits. Tina had a pair of socks with Les' face on them but she was hopeful as her mother, who was very handy with a sewing machine had offered to make her a pair of parallels. Resigned to the fact that she would not be going to the "Rollers" ball, she revelled in the excitement of all the other girls who were going as they showed off each new piece of their outfits purchased in the weeks before the concert. The fact that every one of them would look exactly the same just added to their excitement.

Although she couldn't go to the concert Tina was happy knowing that at least she could wear her new parallels on the big day. She tried to keep tabs on her mother's sewing progress but was shooed away with every attempt. "Can I just have a little look Ma?"
"No, do your homework or you'll get no trousers at all".
Tina's mother, like most of the neighbouring women, was in effect a single mother as her father worked long hours to support a home with five demanding children. Even though money was scarce her mother always kept her children looking "smart" as she knit and sewed from the latest patterns at every opportunity and took great pride in her results.

Finally, the day arrived; the Rollers would take the stage to thousands of hysterical, screaming girls in a wavy sea of tartan. Tina's mother called her upstairs; she had left her a surprise in her bedroom. Taking the stairs two at a time, Tina barged into her room. The look on her face was one of complete shock as she stared at a Rollers' fan's nightmare hanging on the back of her bedroom door. A two-piece red tartan suit made up of full-length parallels with turn-ups and a tight fitting jacket. Under the jacket hung a mustard coloured polo neck and there was a pair of shiny black wedged shoes lying in a box on the floor beneath the ensemble with a big red envelope stuck between them.

Still in shock Tina opened the envelope, gob-smacked she pulled out a ticket marked Seat 4, Row D, in her hand was a ticket to the Rollers concert. She choked back the tears as her mother knocked on the door
"Well, what do you think pet?" "Do you like the pearly buttons?"
"Does it fit you?"
"I can take another bit off the trousers, if they're too long".
Tina had watched and waited as her mother spent every spare minute making that suit, she knew how much it meant to her mother to see her delight in wearing it. She put the suit on and with her head held high she opened her bedroom door, her mother stood back, tears welled in her eyes as she looked at her little girl.
Tina wrapped her arms around her mother, "thanks Ma, it's just perfect, I love it".