Left Frise at 2.00pm, arrived B209 at 3.00pm. Here I found my old Longmoor chum Bob Baker*. I am now about 2 miles from the trenches. This is a cosy little dugout, all boarded-in and no rats or mice. Shells whizzing over us all the time.

*It would be nice to think that this might have been Robert Lionel Baker (1885-1971), June’s Uncle Rob, and that this was how the connection between the families was first established. Whilst not impossible, this does seem unlikely as I am not aware of Leonard and Rob ever having met except at Alec and June’s wedding. My theory has always been that the first meeting took place when Alec went into lodgings run by June’s Aunt Eva; when describing June to his parents for the first time he referred to her as ‘Miss Baker’s niece’ rather than ‘Mr Baker’s niece’, which would have been the case if Rob had been the first point of contact. Unfortunately, therefore, I suspect this is merely a coincidence of (not uncommon) names.