Help! again...

Yep, the Fabs are on tv tonight - 10.45 pm on BBC2. Great fun! I'll watch it tonight. They don't make 'em like this any more.
On the subject of help (tenuous, I know), I've had another conversation with Noel the Ultimate Proofreader. Noel has revealed that he likes the poem at the beginning and the name of the young girl, and that one of his favourite bits is the last line of the third chapter, which refers to a cat. He also enjoys the atmosphere, which I build from the beginning of the current first chapter, and the fact that I have enough in the form of people in the story to create interaction and events that mean something. Noel hopes that the cat will play a larger part as the story goes on. No worries on that score, I assured him!
Solvey believes that the story has great potential, but, like Noel, feels the beginning needs some kind of punch or memorablity to be more effective as a beginning.
I'm writing an opening that, I hope, reveals danger to the audience and also gives more information to the audience than the hero is allowed. It's not a reversal, but it is death by murder - a strong event that will only work if I write it well enough.
The original and now-removed prologue is a rather flat flashback that is probably unnecessary - perhaps the other flashbacks will be emphasised because of this removal. I don't want many of them, for sure, so we will have to see there.