TWOPENCE ... for an umbrella.

"Helen would have felt right at home...literally," said writer Rob Fennah.

The Wirral-based musician and playwright-half of musical duo Alternative Radio with brother Allan - was at the emotional unveiling of an iconic blue plaque to mark what would have been the 100th birthday of author Helen Forrester.

Helen was world famous for her acclaimed four-volume autobiography which started off with the best-selling Twopence to Cross the Mersey.

Rob told The Globe at Friday's windswept unveiling: "It was apt that it was raining and windy at the event.

"Helen endured a lot of rain in her own early life.

"But the sun came out eventually to reward her determination to make something of herself despite a poverty- stricken upbringing in Liverpool.

"Helen told me she spent the first six month of her life at her grandma's house at 5 Warren Road.

"She also enjoyed her school holidays there until she was eleven years of age.

"She said the time she spent in Hoylake were the happiest days of her childhood."

The unveiling was also a timely curtain-raiser for the UK tour of Rob's sequel to the hit drama adaptation of Twopence to Cross the Mersey.

By the Waters of Liverpool - produced in association with Bill Elms - will be at the Floral Pavilion from March 3 for a week.

It will also visit the Isle of Man and Blackpool on a huge three month UK trek.

Former Brookside and Holby City star Mark Moraghan, who plays Helen's father in the drama, unveiled the Warren Road plaque with co-star Sian Reeves of Coronation Steert fame.

He told the Globe: "It is an honour and privilege to be a small part of local history being made."

Oversess drama student Alicia Dunham, who is living in Spiral braved the weather to attend and said she could not not miss the opportunity to see the unveiling even if it meant getting soaked in the process.

She said: "At last I can see a place that is part of Helen's roots.

"My mum told me all about the books and I have been hooked ever since."

It was also a moving experience for Helen's son Robert Bhatia who had flown in from his home in Canada.

"This is the place my mother longed to come to if only she had had twopence to cross the Mersey."

Robert was delighted with the turn out of the media and fans of her mother's work to celebrate her centenary.