Wednesday 7th March, 1917

On By Sue JenkinsIn First World WarLeave a comment

30 men transferred to our lot from Marignolles. (1st Train Crew ) Out all day learning road.

The following additional information is from Martin Farebrother:

  1. I cannot identify a place called Marignolles, or anything close. The Train Crews Companies (TCCs) were numbered 18th to 22nd. This transfer was probably from the 18th TCC, since it was the 18th who were transferred away on May 16th 1917 (see below). We have no other information on the 18th TCC.
  2. [Later]‘Marignolles’ is Merignolles, a station just south of Froissy on the newly constructed SG line from Wiencourt, and on the light railway. This station is adjacent to Chuignolles (see 4 March). Information from British Army trench maps of the area.

Wednesday 7th March, 1962

On By Sue JenkinsIn 1962 lettersLeave a comment

Leonard to the family:

Dear Alec June Susan & Carol

Many thanks for letter and excellent drawings received once again on Monday but I wonder what happened to the one you should have had on Saturday – my guess it was wrongly sorted and arrived on Monday with an extra postmark on it. We make a practice of posting for the 1:15 p.m. collection on Fridays. Anyhow in case it might happen again this week we will post on Thursday. Hope the last one did eventually turn up safely.

Sorry to hear Carol under the weather again but hope it was of short duration and – the winds are still very  treacherous. One day I can work comfortably in garden and the next has to be spent in greenhouse or garage but however bad it is here I’m sure it is worse in your area. Just heard on 1 p.m. news that the south coast has had another battering and Dawlish Warren has been washed away again. I suppose the better weather will come soon.

Note your visit to dentist and latter’s method of getting the girls confidence that makes a wonderful difference. Sorry to hear you all have a bit of bother with your teeth. It was in 1939 when I last had trouble and then had the lot out – good and bad. A bit awkward getting used to false dentures but everything alright since. Mum can tell you what trouble she had today we all get it at some time or another. Susan was a good girl then when it came to her turn – she sent us some nice drawings again and gave them titles as well. No doubt about it she is improving quickly.

Did you finally make a selection at the gas showrooms? You must have warmth in the house during these icy blasts. Is not the trouble with the electric heater that so many are using electricity for the same purpose heating that the generating station cannot properly cope?*

Noted re: Forsythia and Esther Reeds – will try and take cuttings off former and have plenty of roots of latter to replace – shall have to start another list of things to bring up on our next visit.

Very interested in your Acton Yard anticipated savings per annum – what was Phillips’s reaction? Should like to have seen his face when he went through the report. I see the South Wales people are kicking up a tremendous row over probable loss of passenger services on the Eastern and Western Valleys. Presumably the cut in the West Region passenger service came into operation last Monday but I have had no reports about it yet.

So Notley has got a job in Costing Section of B.T.C. – he has not done so badly since he came back to the railway service after completing his National Service.

No more trouble with car then – that was an extraordinary occurrence for tyre to go completely flat without apparent cause.

Have not heard from Geoff since our last letter to you so we do not know how he is progressing. I believe he is doing a bit of travelling in connection with a committee he is on.

Your kitchen waits then for workman to turn up – hope he does not arrived on a washing day. It is a bit of a nuisance though to be left wondering when the job will be done.

Fancy car due for another test already but this time there should be no query about this or that.

So Leslie Morgan did not relish Raymond’s economy drive? Some of those individuals have been having a right royal time and obviously do not like being cut off without – as it were – the proverbial shilling.

Our neighbour – Bushell – who recently obtained a job with the St John Ambulance people in Portishead bought himself a motorbike to do the journey and a few days ago his uncle – who is is Puddy of the East Clevedon Garages – chivvied him about it and said he would have sold him a car for £10. Anyway Bushell went back to him and asked to see the car but he said he was only joking about the price. Anyhow having quoted £10 he let him have it – a Morris 8 1936 in good condition and with a test certificate. Bushell says it is in good condition as and as he himself has already learnt the trade of fitter he can look after it properly. I think he has got a good buy.

It was the parish church and St. Peter’s annual social last night in the new Pavilion at the community centre. It is a fine structure and will certainly be an asset to Clevedon. Should think there were nearly 200 people at the party which started at 7:30 p.m. and continued until 11 p.m. but we left about 10:20 p.m. Not a bad do really. Mr Palmer was there – his operation due that day having been postponed by surgeon for a fortnight.

Frantic efforts are being made by river board to rebuild the sea wall behind us before the high spring tides are on us – a matter of days only. Fortunately at the moment the wind is southeast and this would not affect the wall so much as if northwest.

No typewriter yet as you can see but I have to go down to Houghton’s house in Coleridge Vale at 7:30 p.m. tonight to get the one he has picked out. Cannot tell you any more about it at the moment but may add a P.S. to this letter. I hope it is one that can spell properly.

In the Mercury to you with with this letter – there is a paragraph under heading of Spade and Plough about homemade wine thought you might be interested to read it.

Presumably no more news from your neighbours removing to West Country. Hanson the Town Clerk told us at party last night quite a lot of non-townspeople were having houses or bungalows built here and were going to occupy them themselves – the last few months having seen a remarkable increase in such building.

Vicar and Curate still absent owing to sickness and neither could be present last night. Three retired clergyman took charge of proceedings and made a very good job of it.

Did you notice in national press and exhumation of a body in the Clevedon Cemetery had been necessary to establish the identity of a man missing from Radlet (Herts). He was washed ashore here last November. **

Not much local news again this week – gardening still subject to weather but I did manage to dig up up up a small plot yesterday morning. Greenstuff  getting very scarce now – the east winds having shrivelled up what little there was. Broccoli should however be soon turning in but they will be very small.

No more now hope this letter arrives on time. all our love to you both and lots of kisses for Susan and Carol

Mum and Dad

P.S. the typewriter is an Oliver – Four Bank – Model 21 in excellent condition £6 but source of origin must not be disclosed or Houghton might be in trouble. I am very pleased with it. Dad.

*I don’t really know whether or not this was ‘a thing’ at the time although we did sometimes have ‘brownouts’ which June insisted were caused by excessive use of the system – everybody making a cup of tea at half-time in the football match, or after ‘Doctor Who’ for example; the same was also said of the gas supply, and was reputed to be due to ‘low pressure’ – especially on Sunday lunchtimes when ‘everybody was cooking their dinner’. It’s not impossible that the demand for these services occasionally exceeded the supply, and it’s also difficult to convey to what extent – at this time – everyone was presumed to be doing exactly the same thing at exactly the same time; anyone who actually didn’t cook a big Sunday lunch or watch ‘Doctor Who’ for any reason would really have been considered an oddity!

**I have not been able to track down any further information about this poor man, whoever he may have been.

Eva to the family on the remaining three quarters of a sheet of Leonard’s paper:

Dear Alec June Susan and Carol

Many thanks for letter & drawings which were very good this week. it has been blowing us nearly inside out again, hope the sea wall will stand it it. We saw on TV about Cornwall and Torquay, dreadful. Wonder if Aunt Lydia’s bungalow is alright.

We have the typewriter at last this evening, but Dad had already written his letter. I must get into practice to as I mean to use it.

The party was very good considering that three retired clergy had to stand the racket. The hall is really an asset to Clevedon. It was designed by Mrs Plant of Tickenham one of the W.I. members. We each had a sausage roll, roll and butter, an iced cake and cup of coffee but it was an awful scramble to get it. I grabbed the eats while dad got the coffee and Mrs Cornish waited, there were 200 or more there. Of course the object was to bring the churches together but I noticed that St. Peter’s kept down one end of the room while we were at the other end.

The council want to make a roadway behind Joe Reed’s place down to the end of allotments but Cox whose property Joe Reed’s house is on is kicking up about it.

The lorries are going along the seawall at back from early morning till dark filling up the breaches in sea wall.

Lots of love from Mum and Dad.

Eva’s drawings are enigmatic; there is what may possibly be a washing line, a woven mat, a Wellington boot, and three oddly shaped shoes, with stiletto heels, labelled ‘winkle pickers’. 

Sunday 4th March, 1962

On By Sue JenkinsIn 1962 lettersLeave a comment

Alec to his parents:

Dear Mum and Dad

Well surprise, surprise, no letter this week, at least up till last post on Saturday. Imagine you must have been snowed up, or snowed in this week. Hope it does not mean that you are unwell and unable to get outside. The weather has been so shocking, and the temperature so low that going outside the house is quite an ordeal.

I took the car out on Monday morning as we had arranged to spend the afternoon (half-day) at the dentist. The roads were very treacherous, and a lot of snow fell. When we went to see the dentist in the afternoon it was still falling heavily. We left the car at Ruislip Station and walked from there. The dentist is a couple of hundred yards beyond the traffic lights in the direction of West Ruislip. There are two of them there working more unless independently, but our chap was very nice. He has very spacious and modern premises, with good light waiting room complete with comics. When it was our turn we all went in together. June had first go in the chair, and the dentist knowing that neither of the girls had been before, invited them round the front to see what was going on. Susan would not go, but Carol nipped round and stood on the front of the chair and had a good look at the proceedings. Of course it was natural for Carol to go next, and the dentist gave her a couple of rides up and down in the pneumatic chair. Of course she had nothing to be done, and by the time she had been dealt with, Susan was ready to be  looked at. Carol tried to operate the chair for her to go up, but she was not strong enough. Susan had to have a drilling, but it was all over so quickly and so gently that she really did not know what had happened. Yours truly has to have seven fillings, etc etc. Harking back on Susan’s treatment, I must say she did not twitch a muscle during the whole of the operation.

On the completion of our dental visit, we went along to the gas showrooms to get some more information about fires etc. I am sure I must have told you that we are interested in getting one of the latest ones for the front room. Although our electric heaters are good ones, we do not seem to get instant heat in that room, and in the really cold weather, even two kilowatts are insufficient to keep the place warm. June brought the oil heater down from the bathroom during the week and placed it in the hall just inside the front door. With that on all day, the warmth all over the house was appreciable.

Poor old Carol has got a cold again, and has been waking up at night. As it happens I have not heard much of it after I have gone to sleep, but we had one evening when we had to bring her down even before we had got to bed. That was Friday night. Of course, with a head cold, heavy catarrh, and a flushed face she looked a picture of misery, but she seems well enough in herself during the day. She has been pottering around filling a coal bucket for us this morning. It is hard to realise she is nearly four years old.

No further work on the lawn as you might expect. Had a look round the garden yesterday and there is no sign at all of the Forsythia, I am sure all the cuttings are dead. Your rose has put out some new shoots, and the beeches (from Burnham) seem to be going on well. The Buddleia has had some of its new growth affected by the frost, but there will be some to prune later in the month. Those (indoor) chrysanths (now outdoors) are still alive and well with plenty of shoots from the base. No sign of the daisies (Esther Reed, or what have you) in fact there is no trace at all of all the clumps we put in.

On Tuesday I held the second informal meeting with the Acton Passenger Station Staff side of the L.D.C. and we were able to agree at what level to introduce the scheme experimentally for a period of six weeks (starting on March 19th). On the Thursday we held the official L.D.C. meeting and produced a minute to that effect. We are getting to the interesting stage of a number of investigations now – Acton Yard with savings of £31,000 per annum [roughly £707,500 in 2022 money] was dropped on Phillips’ desk on Friday night. If the staff are satisfied with the station scheme after the six weeks trial, I am sure I can get the Yard scheme accepted. The same L.D.C. is involved for both.

To hear the children stomping around in the front room now, you would think they were both 100%. I have just been in there and they have lined up the cushions, stools, dumpy* and table to form a railway track, and the bumps and bangs are coming from that.

By the way we shall soon be losing Tony Notley. He has got a Special B with the Traffic Costing Service. (B.T.C.) It was all very hush-hush for a few days, but he was told during the week that he had got the job. It is one grade below that for which I unsuccessfully applied a couple of years ago. although attached to the B.T.C., he will be working on the Western Region at Paddington attached to the divisional setup. His boss, recently appointed, is Walton, and their premises are on the 6th floor, the one immediately above us. Sounds like an Irishman’s transfer.**

Have not seen Geoff since last writing, so will be glad to have any details on his condition.

While on the subject of work, we handed in an outline report on Old Oak Common Carriage Cleaning Depot during the week, and it is going to cost us about £16,000 per annum [roughly £365,000 in 2022 currency] to apply our scheme. This will make them cough a bit when they study it.

Have had no further trouble with the car. Since pumping up the back offside tyre two weeks ago, it has required no further attention. The test certificate expires on 8th March so I shall have to get it retested.

We are getting a little sunshine now, but there is no heat in it. Yesterday afternoon we had quite a lot of sunshine but it was notably cold outside the car.

By the way it appears that our new dentist was also Bill Bryer’s, as he was asking me if I knew him.

We have had no sign from the joiner who undertook to do our kitchen. He said he would be along at the end of February, which presumably is earlier than the beginning of March. I suppose he has been tied up with other jobs – a bit like old Drewett. June gave me a hand yesterday with the crosscut saw, and we polished off most of the wood that required sawing up. It has taken us seven years to get rid of all the accumulated wood left by the previous occupants. This as you know included an old shed and an old summerhouse. We shall endeavour to clear all of this as logs, and will also run down coal stocks before we go over to gas.

We thought we had cleared out all the bulbs from the front garden in the autumn, but they have come up as thick as ever to all accounts. Hope they are not all blind ones this time. There were quite a number in the back garden but I have seen no sign of them yet.

The officers are feeling the pinch of Raemond’s policy already. Leslie Morgan, up to a meeting last week was not entertained, and gave his opinion of it in no uncertain terms. By the way the betting on Powell’s successor has now shifted in favour of Claude Hankins. No further news on that score.

Well there it is again for another week. Hope you are both alright, and look forward to hearing from you. Love from us all. 

*A ‘dumpy’ in family parlance was a pouffe, or a footstool without legs. I have never heard this expression used anywhere else, so it might have been a childhood nickname for the thing or possibly a short-lived brand name; a superficial internet search has produced no applicable results.

**’An Irishman’s transfer’ also doesn’t seem to be an established expression, and Googling it only produces results related to Irish footballers being transferred here and there. It’s probably on a par with the other casually-racist ‘thick Irish’ jokes that were about at the time and to a certain extent still are. I take it to mean that ‘an Irishman’s transfer’ is a distinction without a difference; Notley is going to in the same building, with the same people, doing much the same work, but with a new title and presumably a different salary – which Alec probably considered not worth the effort required to achieve it.