Leonard to the family:

Dear Alec June Susan and Carol

Many thanks for letter and enclosures from the girls duly received of this morning. What a week for weather especially at Ascot* and Lords. We had a really good week and practically no rain which was most fortunate from my point of view with the work I had on Outdoors. we were sweltering in the sun and the TV showed us Ascot etc. with bucket fulls of rain to spare. It has been called some nights but not to wish for a hot water bottle – yet. Longest day gone now for another year worst luck. It is obvious you have had some of the worst of the weather in your area. The water can is in good use down here. Perhaps it will improve for you during the next few weeks.

The Richings started their journey to Finland yesterday and should have been aboard the ‘Avalon‘ last night.

Noted June’s mother returned to Ealing on Saturday which you say is Pauline’s birthday. The 20th is our wedding day.

You gave us some good laughs with the account of Susan’s sports effort and of her journey to London. You will have to give her some coaching for running races – shall have to tease her about letting other girls win all the prizes**. What a day she had in London and what an education. Even I have not been to some of the places you mentioned including the House of Commons. No wonder she was tired when she got home. Pity about the cork in the lemonade bottle. What was Carol’s reaction to the glossy photograph? No wonder she had the nightmare. Never mind as long as they all enjoyed themselves and got home against safely. Did you not feel a bit nervous with her away like that? Tell Carol she must do better than Susan when she runs in a race at school***.

Very sorry to hear of Roy and Delph’s disappointment regarding their trip to Doncaster. It happens to everybody at some time or another but we hope they will be able to get away at the new date and make up for lost time.

Yes I should think your lawns should look better after all the rain and attention they have had. Must keep you busy with the mower.

What is the matter with Carol? Query the difficult weather hot and cold then humid. Could be the trouble. But to hear no more news of scarlet fever – the incubation period must almost be out by now. Fancy you still have some cherry with orange wine left. Nothing left here but I did bring out a bottle of the elderflower (1959) last week and handed over to Bushell who had some friends from Birmingham and who brought down some potato wine of which I had a glass. Very good too. The elderflower was at its best and they thought it excellent. By the way have you got through all of this wine I brought up at Whitsun? What has Peter to say about it? He generally likes to sample the various brews.

I heard last week the station gates had been opened again but when I went down this morning they were across the road barring entrance to the station. Nott is making himself a nuisance over many proposals which he is trying to force the Council to take up.

Surprised you stopping the kids from throwing earth over from fields – thought you would have been glad to have it with the work entailed in fetching it in the barrow. Noted you have been busy on the path under the front room window. When you cement it give it just a gentle slope from the house to avoid any moisture from rain etc. seeping back under the house.

Several of our currant bushes have been dug up by grownups and carted away and the watchman asked me one morning if I would not like to have some of ‘these lovely currant bushes’. Told him where he got off and also that I had seen him giving them away the previous evening. No doubt he had a dab in the fist for them.

Yes it is nice to see Roy Hewitt but it is a bit of a nuisance inasmuch as it is necessary to fix him up with the seat and it takes him several minutes to sit down and then one must talk to him even if your mind is on something else. It must be a very tiring life for him as he can do just nothing. I do not think he improves although he makes light of his troubles.

You have had good results from your sowing of cineraria seeds and it is nice when you can hande some over to friends etc. Keep your eyes on them – they take aphids very quickly and can become a sticky mess in no time. Use a suitable liquid to spray on them and when they are bigger wash the leaves separately with such liquid. It is a lovely flower but wants very much attention. The leaves will droop too if the plants are given too much water.

Fancy Mrs web paying a visit to Clevedon but I expect she only saw the Front and perhaps a few shops.

I’m afraid Mum did not use a very big pot for her seeds so pricking out will be necessary later i.e if they come up.

Your news of the King’s Cross Station Master was first but only by about 10 minutes when the morning paper came. Expect it has caused a lot of heart-burning among the ‘elder statesman’ who may have been considered. Next day the ‘Express’ed’ showed him waiting for the train which was very late. Still no news this end of the appointment for Bristol. George Burge (Relief) must be fed up.

We still have a few ants prowling around but nothing serious.

So far as the houses near the church are concerned there has been another development. A meeting took place on the site last Friday between the County Planning authorities, the local surveyor and staff, and the builder and his Solicitor. In the end it was agreed to allow the building to continue although the houses already in course of erection will be three feet higher than agreed. It was a ticklish issue however and the builder can consider himself very lucky.

Our trees are still lying where they were cut down last Tuesday – the men have been away for a few days but are back again now. I agree they had had their day but they would have done for us. Now we are entirely without and Mum today even bought a few strawberries. Perhaps we can sort this out next season together with a number of other things. It is D-Day for the erection of greenhouse tomorrow (Wednesday) and we are hoping it will keep fine. The work of cleaning up the framework and putting on boiled linseed oil and cleaning all the glass taken out for safety purposes has been a very tedious job and has taken me over a fortnight. Just managed to finish all this by teatime today so can say I’m ready for tomorrow.

Have not seen Cornish on the road but two or three neighbours who have say that when he sees anyone he sticks his hand out of the window and waves to them. Hope he does not see many friends when he takes his test.

I’m glad you mentioned the Annual Meeting of the mobile section of the Radio Amateurs as saw a bit in the paper last night about it which I think will interest you. Will enclose it with letter. Hope Carol liked the cutting about Millie.

We both had a real good laugh reading about Susan’s adventures in London but as mentioned before what an education.

Just heard on TV (6 p.m. news) that rain against stopped play at Lord’s and Wimbledon this afternoon but we have had a lovely day. Mum and I ran into Weston this morning to get one or two articles including some glass to replace a few panes broken when taking it out of greenhouse. Found it was much cheaper there than in Clevedon. It was very hot and sunny and there were crowds about. Could not get into Woolworth’s.

The road to the end of the cul-de-sac in the field behind us has now been marked out and it looks as if it will finish about in-line with the side of the garage which was nearer the greenhouse. Aanother bulldozer is now here and I shall have to negotiate again for some topsoil to be put over the new fence. Am still waiting for one of the men to come and try and break the pond on the far side without smashing up the portion on our side. No urgency about this as I shall be fully occupied from now on in putting the greenhouse in order – paths etc. – and building up the beds inside. Not likely to produce anything in it this year but must make ready for the winter.

Noted you have not made many radio contacts lately but I expect you enjoy a few spells trying. Had a letter from Don this week and he says he is a little stronger but still far from well. Has seen the herbalist again and is not sure yet whether or not the medicine is doing any good but will continue for the time being. He cannot expect quick results but if in the long run there is any improvement it will have been worthwhile.

You will have seen advertisement in the ‘Mercury’ re: garage – the same wording as putting Western Daily Press a fortnight ago. Not a bite has been received from either advert which amazes me somewhat. Can understand labour costs are the snag but nobody has been to even look at it. Am pretty certain Bushell will have it and reduce its size as I mentioned last letter otherwise should have had to stock it somewhere on garden until could have disposed of the pieces.

Astons have returned from Eastbourne – weather not bad they say but Mrs Aston was taken ill the same day as they arrived and was poorly most of the time. The Palmer’s are in the Isle of Wight and due home Saturday. Had a card from both lots last week.

Managed to put motor-mower over lawn this afternoon so have that out of the way for a week. The dry weather has kept growing to a minimum recently. Incidentally there is not quite so much to cut nowadays. I’m still digging a little at odd times to get sufficient ground ready for the winter greens. Heel has promised me some plants when I’m ready for them. Told him I will wait for a good storm of rain to soften soil.

Getting towards the bottom of page again. Shall be writing again this week by the look of the date****. All our love to you both and lots of kisses for the girls. 

*Day 2 of Royal Ascot was rained off in 1964.

**Yes, good idea, make her feel inferior and shame her for her weight: there’s no way *that* will have repercussions sixty years down the line, is there?

***And, while you’re at it, set up a totally unnecessary rivalry, so that there will be absolutely no jockeying for position and no golden child/scapegoat dynamic in play later on in life. Great parenting, as usual.

****Alec’s birthday was now imminent.

Alec to his parents:

Dear Mum and Dad

Many thanks for both letters and paper duly received. Sorry you had trouble with June’s parcel, but the final version travelled alright as you have heard. Weather both good and bad still a current topic of conversation this end. It was really cold in bed last night and I could not get warm. Should have been glad of a bottle*.

As per the general news – Test matches and all that** – the weather this end was very shocking at the end of the week. Thursday night I got out at the station and it was emptying down and looked set in for the night. I arrived home soaked and after I changed June said it had been like that since 11 a.m. The path at the back was running with water and there were puddles lying about on the left-hand and right-hand lawns the size of small lakes. It must have stopped some time after dark but I did not see it. The following day Friday was cold and cloudy all day with the threat of rain always about, but we did not get any until evening. Susan was due for the trip to London on Saturday and the forecast was – the lot – thunder, rain, lightning etc., but more of that later. Today it has been rain and shine, rain and shine all day, and at the moment 4:30 p.m. it is so dark in the dining room that I have the lights on.

To return to your letter, Mrs Baker returned to number 17 yesterday for Pauline’s birthday. I took her back in car at about 9 a.m. and we all spent most of the day in Ealing (accept Susan) and returned in the evening. Peter returned from South Wales today.

School sports. Mrs Baker and June went to see the juniors on Wednesday. Carol’s crowd have theirs later. It appears that they arrange things so that each child is in one event. Susan was in a race (sprint) and would have won had they been running the other way. I gather she lolloped along with a grin stretching from ear to ear, and looking all over the place. Needless to say she was last past the post. No prizes this time then.***

Roy and Delph’s trip to Doncaster hit for six. June spoke to her the day before and everything was on, but we heard yesterday that Roy was down with hay fever and Christopher has chicken pox or tonsillitis or something so expect she is furious. They have postponed their departure until Wednesday. Roy was to have flown home on Monday for a meeting in any case.****

Bare patches on the lawns now growing over rapidly as a result of the recent rain. I must say the lawns do look a lot nicer this year.

Hope you can get the station car park sorted out, but I see from the paper that old Nott is still pushing his suggestion for a swimming pool. I suppose he wants the contract. Should imagine your old garage will do Bushell a treat, but it will probably fill his garden.

No more news of the scarlet fever, but Carol has not been at all well lately. In the past few days she has been complaining of a sore throat and difficulty in swallowing. She is up and down, one minute singing away and dancing, and the next very sorry for herself. However we had her coughing a bit in the night during the week, but I went down and fetched a bottle of Granddad’s cherry with orange and the wine-glass full swigged straight back put paid to that.

Still not decision on the pond then. Also note that a little can be seen as a result of each day. It is a mammoth job, and you cannot expect to get [it] right in a hurry. There is no doubt that the work is progressing well. After all the garage is up, and greenhouse now well on the way.

The kids are as much of a nuisance here as Cornish is at your end. This heap of earth still stands right up against the fence next door, and despite the rain the children still climb to the top. What they must be like when they get home I shudder to think. I caught our two having a slanging match with some herberts on top of the heap this morning, and as I looked out a couple of chunks of earth came flying over. Soon sorted them out after that one, and they left in a hurry. The kids here operate the cement mixer and move everything that is not chained down.

Nice to get a visit from Roy Hewitt. He must be a bit better if he can resume his walks around.

I have to give a lot of cinerarias away as I have not the room for them. I have used most of my pots and put them out one each to a pot. I suppose I had about 60 good plants from seed, many more than I expected. Gave Webb some today and he came over with some flowers for June, so we scored on that deal. Incidentally he tells me that his wife was in Clevedon last week and had a fine day. She has been to Weston with her mother for a holiday.

Glad the seeds arrived intact. They will not be up yet, but I had a very good lot come up. I have three with a pair of ordinary leaves which will later give way to true cactus leaves, and the rest of various cacti types but a bit early to say which. Hope Mum used a big flower pot or she will have to transplant.

Thought we were well ahead of the news about the S.M. at King’s Cross. Still have not heard who has got Bristol.

No sign of the ants. Don’t know if it was the stuff we put down, or if the weather has upset them. In any case don’t want to see them again.

I am surprised that the news about the house is by the church. How far had they been erected before the builder was told to take them down? I have never heard of that happening before. Someone will have to pay for this.

Note the surround of the greenhouse is now in position and you hope to have the framework up this Wednesday. You will be able to see where you are when that is up. Of course it was a pity to see the trees grubbed out in five minutes as it were, but some had reached the ripe old age and although would have fruited for a year or two, may not have been all that good from now on. I think you can safely say you had your money’s worth out of that bit of land. I wonder how the unpaid foreman is getting on with his driving lessons? Have you seen anyone who has seen him about?

We have just been out in the front garden and put up the shuttering for the pathway. We have not done anything scientific, but just put out the shelves from the lean-to supported by some wooden stakes. It looks level and in any case will be neater to look at than the rough grass edge.

We have not yet moved into our new room at Liverpool Street, and there is no fixed date for it.

Nothing new on radio lately about how not been all that active as doing a bit of construction work at the moment.

Well Susan has had her trip to London. I took her down to the station for 8:10 am on Saturday and left her with the others. Apparently they must have travelled to The Monument and got out there and she says they climbed to the top 311 steps. They went to the Tower and had a good look around there. They caught a river bus from Tower Pier to Westminster Pier and then went into the Houses of Parliament. They also visited Westminster Abbey and had their sandwiches in St James’s Park. Susan says she visited the Bloody Tower, the Jewel Tower, saw Traitors Gate, suits of armour, Beefeaters, a museum (goodness knows where) and saw some Guardsmen on sentry go somewhere. They fed the ducks in a park and pigeons somewhere else. She saw the Crown, the Sceptre and the Orb which she recognised. She also brought back a glossy photo for Carol. The subject – the Headsman’s Axe and the Block??? We were supposed to meet her at 6 p.m., but on going down the road at 5:45 p.m. found them struggling along the road home. She looked tired and dishevelled to say the least. Sometime or other she had forgotten to put the cork back in her lemonade with the result that all the other stuff in her satchel was wet. Anyway she told Carol the tale in some form after they got together so much so that Carol woke up with a nightmare.

Today is the occasion of the annual Radio Amateurs’ Mobile Rally at Longleat House. Last year it poured and the whole place was a sea of mud, so looks as if the formula is about the same this year.

The building this end is moving quite fast. Two or three houses have the foundations in and a few courses of bricks up. That was until the rain. When I was coming home on Thursday I saw the earth of the footings crumbling and dropping into the trenches with the weight of the rain. On the Friday morning I saw that the trenches were full to the top with yellow water. Have not seen any moves since. I suppose they are waiting for it to dry out. Webb says they are going to build one semi and one detached all the way down the hill. They are going to have two groups of maisonettes separated by a service road (wall facing East Mead) and there is supposed to be a Convent or Nunnery next again along East Mead and adjoining the school. That is far enough away unless we get the Angelus being rung.*****

Thank you for the cuttings you sent. I have seen several of the new S.M. I understand he is a Traffic Apprentice (L.N.E.R. version). This is the same as our old General Manager Trainees.

Well I am being threatened to get out of the way for tea to be laid so will bring this week’s letter to a close. Hope to hear news of Don in your next, and more up to the minute report of the work. Love from us all. 

*I have a hot water bottle every night, wherever I am – even in the tropics in Australia. Apart from anything else, joint pain doesn’t go away just because the weather happens to be good. But why deny oneself something so cheap and simple to organise just because the calendar doesn’t think it’s appropriate?

**The second Test Match that year – at Lord’s – was a rain-affected draw in which the first two days (18 and 19 June) were lost to the weather. Freddie Trueman took 5-48 and John Edrich scored 120.

***Positively *dripping* with condescension…

****I’ve been unable to confirm whether or not this was *literally* the case, as I imagine it would have been an expensive operation, but it would have been possible. Roy would likely have had to check in for his flight at St George’s Hall in Bradford, then in use as a departure lounge, from which passengers were taken by bus to Yeadon Aerodrome (now Leeds-Bradford Airport). Tracking down which operators flew from Leeds-Bradford back then has been challenging but, for example, Euravia – later known as Britannia, and more recently Thompson’s in-house airline – was definitely operating from there on domestic services at the time. Bradford is reckoned to be 45 minutes from Doncaster by taxi in present-day driving conditions, so it would have been quite feasible for Roy to do this if necessary. (‘Robin Hood Airport’, also known as Doncaster-Sheffield Airport, was still R.A.F. Finningley at the time, and remained so for a further thirty years.)

*****Well, Webb was wrong – although it’s not impossible that the plans he describes had been submitted and rejected at some stage. ‘Queen’s Walk Terrace’, as it was called, has two pairs of semi-detached houses bracketing five detached houses, and round the corner in East Mead the semi-detached houses continue. There does appear to be a building of some sort with access from Crest Gardens which also adjoins the playing-field of St. Swithun Wells school, but it’s impossible to tell what this is – a gym, an art or craft block, a dining-hall, a science facility, or living accommodation for members of staff. I doesn’t look much like a chapel, nunnery or convent, however, and I strongly doubt whether the ringing of the Angelus troubles the residents of Queen’s Walk these days.

Alec to his parents:

Dear Mum and Dad

Another budget duly received for which many thanks. June’s birthday has come and gone, and she will be adding a word or two hereon. Again the weather has been its usual mixed bag. We have had a thunder and lightning (Friday night), plenty of rain, and yesterday it was not a bad day at all, quite warm and dry for the most part, but later we had rain and managed to get the car wet enough for the chamois to be again in evidence. Today it is dull, and as the man on the wireless said also a bit dismal. There has been a fall of rain since we got up and everything is dripping. There is no wind to speak of and all looks quiet and autumnal. However forecast is better for later on so we may get the sun again. Wimbledon week next week, so the weather usually improves.

Have not touched the lawns this weekend as they seem not to be too bad. The sand we put down has killed off everything under it including the grass and it looks striped like a zebra until the new grass grows.

Not much of an improvement to close the station forecourt, how can intending passengers get there with cars? Perhaps the council will now realise that if they want this sort of facility for the townspeople they will have to provide it rather than the railway. Not much help at the present time I agree.

No music yet today, Carol busily writing something – for you I think. We heard Lollipop yesterday on car radio from Radio Caroline when we were out.

Re: teeth, this is the result of the six monthly check-up. They usually find something to be done at least once per year so that they can get the pound out of you. £1 is the National Health charge for any attention needed to teeth however much. Inspections only do not qualify for the pound so they have to do something occasionally, or you are a dead loss as a patient. Don’t know about having them all out. This might be all right for the aches etc., but might just as well have one’s own teeth if they can be kept in good nick.

Can see the new road being called Saltings Lane or Close or something similar. Who names roads anyway, is this done by the Council?* Why not get them to run a competition for a good name with proceeds to Saint Ediths or something? I like your alternative title, way more apt too.

Sharp practice by the builders in measuring the land at your places. Good job you have Cornish on the lookout it must keep them on their toes. I expect he thinks he is back on the beat. I must say it sounds like dog eat dog regarding his dealings with them. Nothing further on the garage although now advertised then. It may be just right for someone and possibly a farmer might like it. It’s just the sort of thing that would make a good outhouse or small barn. Did you quote a price for it or did you ask for offers?

Nothing more on the scarlet fever front and I have not heard any more children having it. I think there is a three-week incubation period or something like that so we may have a week to wait for it still.

It is possible that the Herbalist may be able to do something for Don. Whether they have anything that the accredited accredited professional doctors have not I would not know. It smells a bit of witch doctoring or gypsy medicine, but I think one of the main features is that something is being done, and the mental effect on the patient is more beneficial than qualified doctors telling him that nothing can be done. Many patients have been known to cure themselves by the will to do so.

By now I expect the pond has been cut into, and you will know what it looks like. My previous remarks apply. Nothing like getting your own back in the way of topsoil. I should get all you can even if you have to overlay some cultivated land, as the subsoil is poor and a lot of the top well-worked now.

They are getting on with the laying of sewers etc. Here the people have made a lot of progress in the last week. Another heap of earth has been created, this time right against Les’s hedge, and it is about 15 feet high or more. The local hobbledehoys have been climbing all over it and shouting etc. etc. and of course the thing is so close they can overlook our garden and for a time being they are a bit of a nuisance. The garages are nearing completion and the foundations have been dug all over the field. Bulldozer still quite active moving earth from one place to another. The latest heap of earth effectively blocks the shortcut for people take across the field from next to our house to the road behind. Of course the damp weather has deterred people from going around it.

I hope Moore and his petition gets some success, but he is in attempting the impossible. recently people in Eastmead created about something (the field I think) and asked for a reduction in rates. After a lot of argument etc. etc. the Council conceded the point and knocked about 10/- shillings off the rates [equivalent of £12.50 in 2024]. Might just as well have lost for all the good it did.

Note Caple has been to France and how to look around some old sites. I wonder you don’t have a trip over. You can still get privs even if pass not still available. In any case you can go midweek and avoid the rush. I should think it would make a very nice little holiday.**

Did not know that Roy Hewitt had typhoid. I always knew he was a bit delicate, but we live and learn.

The dog we had last week is the first we have ever had here as far as I can remember. No further trouble from him or any other. I think he was lost.

Re: contents of the lean-to I am sorry to say we have lost all the honeysuckle cuttings. They grew for a time then all of a sudden they went pale, limp and just shrivelled up. The rose cutting also looks sick and I think that one is a goner. The carnations are just about coming into flower, and the two cacti of ours that I’ve shown flower are finally out. The rat-tail is over and the flowers now decaying. My cactus seeds are doing well. They are going quite fast really but have to make a lot of progress yet before the winter comes or we shall not save them. I enclose a packet of the same seeds for Mum to have a go at when not so busy.

We are not bothered by the mouse. Have not seen him since and he is not in the house so shall not bother him. I doubt if he lives in that hole. If so he has been like a drowned rat this week. We have got some stuff for the ants and put it down last night. They had a good meal of it and we hope they will suffer accordingly.

I expect you had had enough of the concreting by the time you had done four and a half hours of it. Good job you did not have to mix it. The one trouble of the Readymix is that you have to work fast as it dries so quickly. However if the job is of any size I would get the instant concrete any time. The visit of the Rating Office official was well-timed for your book then. Seems a reasonable sort and can only hope he acts in the same way. They are not usually quite so benign.

I find a spade much better to use than the shovel for concrete mixing as it has a sharper and more firm edge. Shovels tend to get bent, and also have old concrete sticking thereon and as a result they are harder to use. Not that we do much here.

Had to pop up the road yesterday to pick up some more hardcore that was offered for the path in the front. Must now get some cement and chippings and mix up enough for the pathe. It should not take long to do.

Your garage now equipped with shelves to all accounts. Good thing to have all the stuff you want within reach but off the bench. Sounds as if the place is gradually getting to be ship- shape again and will be nice to see it. Which reminds me that it is not all that long now. We are almost halfway through the month and one more to do then holidays.

I expect that this week when the concrete base has hardened you will be putting up the greenhouse again. Good job in a way the weather is like this as the ground soon recovers where any bare patches have been made.

Not much to report from the office. We had a visit from chap in the week who was eyeing the room over as he is destined to occupy it in future. We have to move further along the corridor, but presumably we shall have our own room done out before we occupy it. New S.M. at Kings Cross is 30. Been on railway at least seven years.

Carol went to church parade in Ruislip on Friday evening. Left here at 6:30 p.m. and was due back at bus stop at 8 pm. we did not see her until after 9:00 p.m.. Slight miscalculation. She’s going up to London on Saturday morning with the person in charge – and others to see the sights. Has to take 10/- for fares, admissions etc. We know they were going to St Paul’s but where else we don’t know. Hope it keeps fine.

Just had a visit from a chap I knew at Paddington lives in Melthorne Drive, and he brought over about eight dahlia tubers will well-grown shoots had a chat and gave him some cinerarias and a rooted buddleia cutting, and he has gone on his way rejoicing. Talking of cinerarias we had some well-grown seedlings so gave him about a dozen in a pot. The zinnias are growing well but look a bit pale. Well now approaching the end of page so will close once more with love from us all. 

*Answer, yes, and they made the mistake of letting DH do it at one time – which is why there is now a ‘Puffin Close’ near the railway line in Weston-super-Mare.

**Leonard never did return to the battlefields: I suspect the memories were too painful for him. However we did take Alec towards the end of his life, in the late 1990s.