Leonard to the family:

Dear Alec June Susan and Carol

Many thanks for letter received this morning together with magazine and letter from Susan and drawing from Carol. What a budget!

Very sorry to hear you have had a couple of days off but we were not surprised following June’s note that you had gone to work on the Monday with a cold coming on. Hope you are all much better now. There is a lot of sickness around here at the moment – flu, gastric and otherwise and no wonder with the weather prevailing. The conditions must be worse in the London area especially the fog. Unfortunately it is the time of year when we must expect a continuation of bad weather.

We were pleased to hear the girls saw the Johnny Morris programme with the elephants at Bristol Zoo – believe it or not we also looked into it and thought it quite good. We said at the time that we hope Susan and Carol were looking at it. Some of the children’s programmes between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. are very good.

Well we had our second visit to Weston last Thursday and before calling on the Richings had another look round the shops and I managed to get a haircut while mum toured Woolworths. Picked up the wallpaper ordered the previous but would you believe it one roll was damaged for about 12 feet of its length so I refused it and told firm to get another. At 14 shillings per roll* I did not want to waste paper. This means another trip to Weston later but this can be at our convenience as it is not proposed to start work until the New Year.

Had lunch with the Richings and afterwards he had an appointment at police station where he is taking an Advanced Driving course. The police at Weston apparently instituted this course which is free. There is no test afterwards but it is to give members of the public the benefit of the training given to the mobile police. We left them about 3:45 p.m. and were home again by 4:30 p.m. It was then just getting misty.

Yes it was a Work Study chap visiting Weston who told Richings of your move. He told me about Burt going to Euston.

We did not call at Hillmans’ this time as they told us it will take at least 10 to 14 days to get the fitting for the fire grate and in any case they would advise us when it arrived. No news to date.

I take it Baynton-Hughes is fancied for Burt’s job because he is being displaced at Birmingham?

Hope June managed to get in a bit of driving on Sunday even if only as far as the Sunday school. It was inclined to be foggy here but turned to a misty rain in the late afternoon and evening. We went to church and what do you think mum had to come out just after the sermon started because she could not stop a cough. Incidentally the Curate (who took service) called Monday afternoon when we told him mum had gone out to avoid the collection. He (the Curate) is moving into Miss Emly’s old bungalow in St Andrews Drive on the 13th of December – moving his mother and sister together with furniture etc. from Paisley Scotland by road. At the moment he is lodging at the Girls‘ Friendly Society hostel in Madeira Road off Sunnyside. What next.

Noted you had a bit of a scare at Ruislip Manor on Saturday but only from the spectators point of view. These occurrences can be very disturbing though and it makes one think. I’m sure speed is the root of most of the trouble – going too fast to pull up quickly enough. Bushell is still going out in his car without an experienced driver with him. Have not seen him lately to talk to.

Sounds as if the demolition squad is in number 17 Eccleston Road. Who is going to pay for that mishap? Cannot say I remember very clearly the layout of the premises. Hope the matter in connection with the disposal of number 155 proceeds satisfactorily to Mr and Mrs Baker. They surely must be looking forward to getting out as soon as possible.

So there is a possibility of getting some wines and spirits from E.R. Vaults at this time of year. Just as well to know. Have ordered a few bottles from Geoff.

Your visitors duly turned up then on Sunday at it worked out fairly well. Wonder Susan and Carol did not rebel at going to bed with the others still in the house. Perhaps they were tired. June would have been disappointed if they had not arrived with all the eats available. Your picture gallery will never get stale Alec and I expect you all enjoyed seeing it again. I noticed Geoff was very interested in the projector when they came over.

Yes June you must check on the Blenheim Orange apples now and see if any are gone or going bad. I think they should be alright but have a look in case.

Can see I shall soon have to go over to the red section of the typewriter ribbon or you will be complaining of poor type. Have not used the red at all so far so it should give good service for a while.

Had a letter from Griffiths (chief controller) this morning and he said that Albert Bray (Basher) died suddenly last Sunday and funeral is at Stapleton church next Friday. You remember him of course as being the Rolling Stock Inspector at Bristol for many years before going to London as Travelling Cleaning Inspector with home remaining at Bristol. I knew him when he first joined the service at Westbury Wilts as messenger boy in the D.B.O. that must have been in 1919 or 1920. I should say he was about 56/57 years of age.

What are you trying to do in the loft? Put another floor down for storage purposes? Surprised to know the joists are uneven though. Ours are level right across and will take flooring without any trouble. Not necessary here as we have such a lot of storage space in shed and garage. You will have to have a light ladder with just the right number of rungs to get you to the opening of loft. Unless of course you can afford one of those disappearing jobs advertised in magazines etc i.e. where the ladder itself can be pulled down from roof and returned to there too after use. Godfrey had one in his house at Maidenhead. Bit expensive and I expect you can do with lots of other things first.

The various queries you have raised about the geranium and succulents I will leave Mum to comment upon in her letter.

Have not read mag yet but will have a go this evening. All who have seen previous copy say it is more presentable than the W.R. mag. There are certainly some nice articles in it. The ones about the various stations I find most interesting.

I take it you would rather have your present job than be an applicant for one of the three you say Mann is after. Personally I think a change of venue will work out much better in the long run.

Not much doing in the garden etc. since I last wrote. Have picked up two or three hampers of ‘fall-downs’ in the field – mostly Bramleys – and stored them in the garage. Broccoli and cabbages seem to be very very small this season and it takes two to make a meal. Cannot quite account for this unless it was due to the ‘soppy’ weather in the autumn.

You are still in touch with Notley then although you do not come in contact at work. Expect he had a chat with old colleagues at Bristol.

The horse has not arrived yet. Norman Baker must put fence right first. I do not want the animal in the garden again although at this time of year I only have broad beans and onions planted apart from the fruit trees – currants etc. It will do the field good for the grass to be eaten off.

You will be interested in the Mercury this week with the scheme for making another lake at Clevedon. Somebody will have to pay for it unfortunately. Cannot see it being made for many years.

Now I see the Press are crying out about the railways being closed down on Christmas day. About time too they were closed. There was never much doing at Temple Meads that day and it was always a job to get people to work. Even those who were booked on duty did not all turn up – some of them suffering from a hangover from the previous night.

[Continued on Wednesday 28th November, 1962]

*This equates to about £16.65 in 2022 currency and the damaged portion would be maybe 40% of a roll or the equivalent of about £6.65 so I really don”t blame him for not accepting the roll.