Alec to his parents:

Dear Mum and Dad

Thank you for another long letter, three shorter, and the usual Mercury. I will reply to yours, comment on latest position of each item as we go.

Firstly June’s leg shows no sign of further improvement, and we suppose that the best has been reached now. I suppose we have to be thankful that the stocking business is over, at least for the time being. Unfortunately the leg still aches, but I imagine that it cannot be as bad as it was before the injections.

So far has the business at number 155 High Street is concerned, we gather that the property has again been sold, and the purchaser himself has sold his own business and is ready to move in. When last heard the agreement had not been signed, but the deal was definitely on. Again all is rush to get number 17 straight. Seems the need is such that work must start as quickly as possible even if this means that any grant may be invalidated in consequence. We went over yesterday, and found that the electricity men have made good progress. They have got the wiring into the house and have worked in all rooms. There are switches in the rooms upstairs, but elsewhere there are just the holes for them, holes in ceilings with some wires through, and channels in some of the walls to let in conduit. They have a number of floorboards up.

Incidentally June found an old newspaper dated 1919. Looking through it I found three articles of Interest. The first and main one was all the information then available on the signing of peace. The second was an article showing the state of opinion in America as who would be the winner of the big fight between Jess Willard and Jack Dempsey and the third was about an ultimatum given to the Great Northern Railway by the N.U.R. (Topical??)

I took some tools over with a view to removing the dresser in the kitchen/dining room and what a job it was. In the end it was almost impossible to use tools on it and once a plank or two had been prized out it was a question of brute force and ignorance. I got the bottom cupboard part out in almost one piece, but in doing so a lot of plaster and wallpaper came away. That piece had been in there for nearly 100 years. June made some tea on a paraffin stove and we packed up when it began to get darker. With no lights inside, the place is almost in darkness even with full daylight outside.

Your arrangements for the visit O.K. with us. If you travel on the Friday it will make no difference at all. We are not arranging anything except the visit from Headstone Lane so apart from the Sunday the other dates can be shuffled.

So you made a trip to Burnham and found it a little too rough. Pity it was early closing day too. What is the next seaside town on Burnham by the way, is it much further on?

So they have landed you with the job of (temporary?) choirmaster. By the sound of it Bissix will be away for some time. If he has ulcer trouble I do not suppose he will want to have the choir side to attend to in addition to organist duties.

I remember Valerie Bush vaguely. Had not seen her for many years so and would not recognise her now anyway.

So you are having a go at elderberry brandy. This explains the shredded wheat and raisins*. Do not forget to make it sweet enough as one of the drawbacks of elderberry is the sharpness of the taste. Have not had much myself lately. I really must get round to it. The tree that Peter showed me was really loaded, and many gallons could have been made from it. How many are you making?

Nice surprise to get two lots of visitors together. I expect you would have to prefer them separately though. I remember that you told me that Stevens had started up on his own but I believe that he then joined another firm. I see he is Secretary of the Hereford firm. Is he now satisfied with life?

What do you think the lower pond level is due to? – evaporation? – or is this too much of a drop to be accounted for by that? Your Majestic potatoes have obviously filled out a little as a result of recent rain. I think you were worried that the crop would be small potatoes.

I should say the most difficult patches of the garden to weed are those where you have permanent or semi-permanent plants. Have in mind raspberry canes strawberries etc. If you were able to confine your work to annual crops all the weeding during the summer could be done by a mechanical hoe-cum-digger. Not all that easy I know but worth thinking about.

We are glad to hear that you are both much better now and able to get about the garden again. Both the girls have had colds and are in fact in the middle of them now. Carol as usual has coughed at night and the cherry wine has been in evidence although has not done the trick this time.

I note that you have not read the E.R. mag. I did not read it in great detail, but it certainly looks a better job. The whole organisation seems to be a cut above our standards of recent years.

My details were a little inaccurate. it seems there is no Divisional setup as we know it. There are Area Managers in the places I named, but no District organisation below them. One exception to the Areas given should have been Peterborough where I find there is no local headquarters. I made a mistake it should have been Sheffield.

The office I have is quite nice although a bit on Victorian side. We have by entitlement a carpet piece on the floor. Higher graded staff get a fitted carpet (wall-to-wall). We also get a wall-fitting bookcase. Again higher up you get a bookcase mounted on a cupboard. Also we are supplied with senior staff desks (about 6 ft long).

It is a bit difficult to say what Jeff’s reactions were to hearing my news. There was a short silence after I told him then he offered congratulations and said it was the right thing to do etc. He seemed interested.

The set-up I am in is the equivalent to the General Manager’s Office. If you could imagine two S.O.L.s say one at Paddington and one at Cardiff each controlling Optg. Commer and R.&M. in the areas they would be the same as the E.R. Line Managers.

Well I had my eyes tested again yesterday as the two years interval have more than elapsed, and took Susan along with me. I am afraid the result could not have been much worse. He sat Susan in the chair and put on the second largest size letters. He covered her left eye and ask her what they were. She said she could not see them. He tried the largest which she was able to see. I had some doubt if it was genuine and said so**, but the optician tried some lenses and with them she was able to read some of the smaller letters. The same applied to both eyes and he said to me I am sorry but she will need glasses. He has recommended us to take her to a specialist, and has given us a telephone number to ring. The optician, whom I have known for many years, says he is not surprised as it is hereditary. Of course Susan is now remembering all the things we told her would happen if she held the comics too close to her eyes. We have had a tear or two about the prospect of glasses which now I am afraid seem inevitable***. I think we have caught it at the start as a recent school test did not reveal anything wrong.

The Recreation Ground she ran to is that one alongside the river almost down to Whitby Road. There are a few swings and slide which are the attraction. She went down there again later on in the week and disgraced herself into the bargain. June is now meeting her in the evening again as being the only way she can be sure of getting her home.

I do not know if I shall bother with cutting the lawns again this year – perhaps once more anyway.

Our new neighbours have been in residence since they returned from their honeymoon. We do not see much of them.

Hope your neighbour gets through his test this time. I expect he is quite anxious to do so with the winter approaching. The trip to Portishead can be very moist on the motorbike.

June took us around the shops in the car yesterday and would have taken us to Hanwell had it not been for the load we had in the boot. I thought her driving was much improved on the last outing the main fault being a failure to change down for corners. Position in the road is much better and signals are improving.

The blackberry season almost over this end. Back in August the kids had been pillaging the bushes on the field, and I doubt if there are any in sight there now. There was no shortage of them though.

I should imagine guessing the weight of the cake was very difficult. After being used to mother’s I should say it could be very deceptive.****

I note about the cacti and will give them just one watering per week from now. I got some cactus compost yesterday and topped up all the pots with it. Have not got enough to repot all of them. Have taken most of the remaining leaves off the tomatoes to let the sun get at them.

What price the strike? Cannot see myself getting to Liverpool Street on October 3rd, and certainly not taking the car up. As it is only one day I shall have to take some work home. You can think of us when at the Harvest Home.

Well as I am working towards the bottom of the paper again I must close. Hoping you clear up those colds. Love from us all. 

*I haven’t been able to locate a recipe for elderberry brandy that includes shredded wheat and raisins but I have no difficulty believing one exists.

**This level of mistrust in a six year old is unbelievable: talk about ‘give a dog a bad nme and hang him’.

***Unfortunately June’s reaction was to laugh and deride me for needing glasses – which in any case were the awful pink plastic N.H.S. ones – and that combined with the teasing at school meant that I didn’t start wearing glasses regularly until I was 30. As for ‘ruining my eyes’ by reading too much, it doesn’t seem to have occurred to anyone that my eyes were already ruined (at birth) and no amount of reading would have made any difference. You would expect Alec, who was colour blind, to have been more sympathetic – but sympathy was not part of his genetic make-up either.

****Again, putting down and deriding women simpy because they are an easy target. Mother’s cake could not possibly be any good because Mother made it, Q.E.D.

Alec to his parents:

Dear Mum and Dad

Thank you again for two full foolscap pages of news etc. As I start this at 9 a.m. the sun is coming up warm and there is every indication that it will be a nice day. Yesterday started like this but went off cooler in the middle of the afternoon. However it was a good morning and became quite hot.

So Mr Bushell is going in for fowls is he? You could give him some advice as well as assistance on that subject. I suppose it must be an economic proposition, but they are a bind as you always have to provide for their feeding if away from home. Good that the rattle in the car has stopped. It seemed more serious when I had it.

I do not quite know the extent of the improvement to June’s leg. On the credit side, she no longer has to wear the stocking, or feels the need for it, but the leg is still painful. There is no sign of the pain reducing. As you say anyone can put up with a couple of injections every two years if it is going to do the trick, but the results must be obtained to make it worthwhile.

More up-to-date news on the E.R. I went over there on Monday as arranged, and was well received. The setup so far as we are concerned is as follows: – Top Pearson Armstrong, Chief Establishment and Staff Officer. (Formerly Western Region.) Next F. Jagger assistant C.E. and S.O.. (Formerly of L.M.R.) Next E.S. Russell Productivity Assistant. (E.R. man as far as I can ascertain, and no connection with the Russell you mention.) Next Deputy Productivity Assistant (formerly of E.R. Stratford Shops) F.A. Cook – one step above me. Next F. Unwin and myself Work Study Assistants. (Unwin originated at Stratford Shops after Cook, but spent two years at Swindon on the W.R. in the Shops. He has just recently returned to the E.R.) The staff below us have been reduced to few in number following devolution of authority to the “Lines”. We have only two assistants going at the moment, one at Retford and one at Parkeston Quay. All others are being carried out by the “Lines”. At Retford we have a P. and T.C. in charge, who was formerly at Reading W.R. in the engineers. He is by common consent pretty useless. With him are one P. and T.B. and two P. and T.A.s. One other P. and T.C. is at Liverpool Street and in due course he will be helping me. Both the C.s are disappointed men. They thought that one of them was going to make the jump to three stages out of category. The man from Reading has not the ability anyway, and allows his number two to make all the running at Retford. (I did not know him by the way although his face is familiar.) The other one is better equipped and in my opinion could probably have done the job – he has actually been doing it for some time. Unfortunately for him he was on holiday when the interviews took place and he was not even given one although considered. This of course all adds up to an outsize chip on the shoulder. As he has had to hand over to me the things that he has been doing and even explained them, it has not made for cordiality on his part. That is all his worry and not mine.

Everyone else has been more than friendly, particularly Cook and Unwin. Had lunch with the former on Monday, and he introduced me to the principal of the Work Study School who promptly took me on a tour of the place in the afternoon. They have a wonderful place there fully equipped with modern apparatus. Two large lecture rooms and a laboratory. It is all streets ahead of the Paddington school which is now in wooden huts on the top of the Bishop’s Bridge building.

I share a room with Unwin (he was out all the week) and a retired man who has come back as office boy. He will get the push shortly I understand then we shall have the place to ourselves. The room is on the main at No.1 corridor in which are also J.R. Hammond General Manager, Armstrong etc, and the rest of our staff. The E.R. Area Board has a boardroom a little further along. The building was originally the H.Q. of the old G.E.R.

I doubt if I shall go out much at least for present with only two jobs outside. Unwin has both of them under his wing. Went to Retford on Thursday. 8:10 a.m. from Kings Cross arrived 11 a.m. left at 2:26 p.m. and arrived K.X. at 5:15 p.m.. In between the travelling Frank Unwin showed me over the Retford Signal and Telecommunication Repair and Manufacture Shops. Not a very big place but quite interesting. Equally as important was the opportunity to see something of the E.R. Main Line to the north, meet the staff at Retford, and have a good long talk with Unwin to find out what is going on.

It seems that there is a little bit of a tug of war going on between the H.Q. and the Lines. The latter having got most of the staff and will take over all of the assignment eventually naturally are in a strong position to take independent action, but H.Q. want to standardise times, methods etc. My job will be to prepare a library of standard data from all available sources, agree this with the Lines, and issue as a “do-it-yourself kit”. It is something I have been advocating for some time, as continued time study of the same operations is wasteful in time and money. Only a start has been made on this job, so there is plenty of work to come.

There are two Line Managers on the E.R. One takes the G.N. Section and the other the G.E. Section. There used to be three lines but the L.T.S. line has recently been absorbed into the G.E. line when Dedman who was in charge was made the Divisional Manager of the L.T.S. division within the G.E. Line. The set up is therefore Line Manager G.N. controls King’s Cross, Lincoln, Doncaster and Peterboro Divisions. The Line Manager G.E, controls Liverpool Street, L.T.S., Norwich and Cambridge Divisions. What District formation exists I have not found out yet.

My predecessor Simpson is now Work Study aAssistant to the Line Manager G.N. and he resides at King’s Cross. His post is one grade up from mine and on par with Cook. Joe Lane is his equal and opposite on the G.E. He resides at Liverpool Street. What staff these people have I do not know, but I doubt if they are as many in number as we had at Paddington.

I have bought a magazine which will be enclosed with this letter – I hope.

Your query about the G.C. A lot of the former G.C. has gone to the L.M.R. and as they have Marylebone they start most of the trains. However the train service has been pruned to such an extent that I don’t know any of the through trains run from Marylebone any more.

I have not seen Doug Matthews as he is at King’s Cross and I do not know his phone number there. I see no point in ringing him at his home.

Well things progress regarding Eccleston Road although not all in the right direction. The deal for the sale of 155 High Street Yiewsley is off. The enthusiastic couple who were going to have the place brought their grown up daughters round to see it and as a result have backed out. The agent is getting in touch with another person who wanted it and I gather he is putting the price up a bit. That side therefore is still in the air. So far as number 17 is concerned, we have not been over ourselves since but the property has been inspected by a builder who may be undertaking the work necessary. Also arrangements have been made about electric light. The builder himself lives at number 18, has the identical property and has apparently done wonders with it himself. He at least will be handy. It is understood he is efficient although a bit pricey.

As the sale will not now involve clearing out in three weeks, presumably there will now be lots more time to get things straight before taking over. It will be helpful I think if you could visit us for the week ending Saturday 20th of October. This will enable you to keep your date with Uncle Joe and come to us the following week. It suits us, perhaps you will say if it also suits you. I have mentioned the fact that you will be coming up probably that week to Geoff and have invited them over on the proviso that that will be the week. It all hinges on your reply however as we have left it that way. We owe them an invitation and would rather they came to us on the occasion of your short visit than for them to whisk you off there, I tried to get Geoff on the phone last Friday week but he had not returned from leave. I rang him up last night to tell him about my move but the jungle drums had not given him the message. He was surprised.

I did not have much chance to talk to Bob Hill as we were in the lift with other people. I expect I shall see him again.

You did not say if you thought the bungalow was worth the money paid. I agree it could have been better sited in relation to other property, but no doubt the builder crammed them in so they could all get the view – and pay for it.

Please thank Mrs M. for her good wishes when you see her.

Geoff was telling me that in the press on Friday was an arrangement to cede the Birmingham division to the L.M.R. and also the whole of North Wales, and to take over the lines west of Exeter from the Southern. This means now that the “too many staff” position is now aggravated by the “too few posts” position. A sorry state of affairs I am afraid but inevitable.

Talking about wine, Peter showed me a tree full of elderberries last week, but I really have not the time to deal with them so had to let them go. I have not made any since January, nor racked any off into bottles.

Good about your visit to Crane’s place. Sounds as if you picked up a tip or two there.

Sorry to hear that you have both been off colour lately. I take it you have had an early winter cold – or late summer one – each. There has been some flu this end although fortunately we have not had it.

Some slice into that hedge to take a foot out of it. June and I had a go at ours at the back yesterday and let in a lot of light. We got Carol to trot round to the field with a basket of cuttings every now and then, and she cleared the lot. June pruned the roses and we have thinned them right out too. While out walking a week or so ago I snipped of a 4-inch piece of flowering currant and stuffed it into the ground here. I see it has taken and is putting out shoots. I hope that it is of a different colour to the washed-out one we already have.

All the buddleias are alive but make little progress. The rose you gave us is growing well and we find there are buds waiting to open and we were even able to take a cutting to plant elsewhere.

Thank you for the book you sent to the girls. There was a bit of a to-do as to who should have it, but that soon got sorted out. Susan is reading an awful lot now and holds everything about two inches from her nose. She reads in the worst light possible and screws her face right up to read. I am afraid she will overdo it, and it is a job trying to get her to stop it*.

So much for the business at Bampton Street. As you say I don’t suppose Uncle Joe wanted it at his time of life, and there is no one on his side who would.

We are going to the harvest festival at the Methodist Church this afternoon. Susan is taking some of my apples. Best of luck to whoever eats them too. She should have gone to a party yesterday, having accepted the invitation, but on Friday she took herself off to the Recreation Ground after school instead of coming home so that was that. It is not the first time she has been told. One day perhaps it will sink in.**

I am only watering the cactus once a week now, is that right? In October I tend to give them water once per two weeks, and stop in November. We have been having our tomatoes and find them very tasty. I cannot differentiate between the tastes of the various kinds though. Have not had to water them hardly at all as the rain has done that regularly for me. The lawn wants cutting again although it was only last week that it was done.

We understand that Christine has been doing so badly at a new school – Pinner County – that she has been taken away and placed in a different school. It seems she does not do her homework, and her term results are not good. Seems a pity as she was the only one in her class who passed.

Not much sign of our new neighbours. They have had a man to attend to their guttering. He pointed out that ours wanted attention, but he did not get the job.

Susan has the same teacher in charge of class as she had when she first went to the school. She has been doing sums. They play a simplified game of roulette, and have to add the resultant numbers each time. The winner is the one who gets the highest total after two or three goes. She has also been playing with wooden cut-out shapes. One is a circle then two semi-circles, three-thirds of circles and four quarters of circles. All these fit over one another and can be arranged several ways.

Well no more for the time being, perhaps some more news and radio newsreel next time.

Love from us all. 

*OMG, a child that loves to read! Stop it immediately, she might be enjoying herself!

**Six years old – should be responsible enough to hold down a full-time job and contribute to the family, get up at 4 a.m. to blacklead the grate, do the laundry before school and then come home to make tea and clean the house… /sarcasm.