The Cashier worked at the Viaduct Sporting Club where Elsie Tanner applied to become a member in April 1964. She had been a member of staff working on the croupier tables on its opening night two weeks earlier but had resigned when she found out the owner, Laurie Frazer, with whom she had been having a relationship for several months, was married.
Without a job and at a loose end, she went to the club where her son Dennis still worked and signed in to become a member with the cashier taking down her details. A greasy, leering man, he upset Elsie when he asked for her age and settled on 25 when he realised that he was going to get nowhere on that score, and then compounded her dislike of him when he pointed out that twenty-four hours had to elapse before her membership took effect. Further bad news awaited Elsie when manager Gus Lowman was asked to witness the application form and pointed out that under club rules ex-staff couldn’t become a member.