Wednesday 3rd May, 1961

On By Sue JenkinsIn 1961 lettersLeave a comment

Leonard to the family:

Dear Alec June Susan & Carol

Many thanks for letter received on Tuesday and thank you to Susan for your drawing of an Acorn House. Glad to hear June is better again. A letter from Geoff this morning says he has been home ill with a cold plus – whatever that means – but apparently he is alright now. Also said that Phasey collapsed on the first corridor last Thursday morning with coronary thrombosis and they only just managed to get him into St Mary’s Hospital in time to save his life but this may not be news to you.

Susan still enjoying her first days at school then – noted request for Mummie to take her again and an invitation to a party already – what a lucky girl. Yes it certainly must be a bit different in the house with only Carol about and as you say you see her without the influence of Susan – a chance for her now to develop her own personality which she will in due course.*

Re: cider – I think I said Don brought up 12 flagons and as a flagon holds a quart my calculation is that he brought up three gallons. Note you may fit in a visit to Lyng if convenient to all whilst you are with us. We shall see them when we return from Exmouth as we are calling to pick up a strawberry net Don has no use for.

Have turned down Office Outing this year – it is a bit soon after our visit to Exmouth and I can find another use for the cash.

I used to get a copy of the Railway Gazette weekly direct from publishers when at Temple Meads and I passed them on to the Chief Insps. The accounts of accidents were most interesting.

I like your point about the Bays and Main Line Platform – am afraid they are all dead ends.

Yes the horse is still with us but Mum gets a bit annoyed when she sees him tearing a few small twigs off the fruit trees and eating them – it means one or two less plums for us presumably. He has access to the river and drinks there occasionally – no fence there but he does not make any attempt to get through the water. He now likes to stretch his neck over the wire fence and get the grass on next garden (Cummings’ old place) and as the posts were a bit weak I had to put a couple of new ones in this morning to stop his caper – the grass on that side of the fence must be much sweeter than ours.

Have not been round with bucket and shovel this week for one reason and another but must do so early next week when we get back home. You mention ‘hot beds‘. That’s why I’m putting all collections in one of the frames together with lawn mowings. Enough strength there to blow the cover off.

Mum’s visits to the field are to see how the fruit is forming and to try and judge whether the season will be good – poor or bad.

Note the carpentry work under way in your front room – the job will finish that corner off nicely. If only we were within reasonable distance I’m sure I’ve enough wood here to finish off.

Sorry to hear of your holdup with car last Sunday. Only a small item but unless you can quickly diagnose the trouble it’s just as bad as if the axle had broken. It’s another experience and one of the first things you will look for if you are stopped on the road again. Sounds like a bit of a Job’s comforter but you know what I mean. It’s most annoying though especially when you are visiting friends and your timetable is upset.

I finished the bathroom on Monday and cleaned up Tuesday morning. It certainly looks better for the doing. Now Mum has to get some different curtains to match. The big bedroom will have to be repapered now the Electrician has done his worst but shall probably leave this item for a month or two until work outdoors eases. The ground is still very wet and we are getting a lot of rain but I managed to cut all the lawns today with motor mower – put in another row of beetroot and started earthing up the potatoes. The runner beans sown in boxes a couple of days before we came up to Ruislip are crying out to be put into garden but I’m afraid they will have to wait until our return from Exmouth. Broad beans by the way are beginning to form and should be available when you are here. Does June like them?

Have heard the cuckoo several times this last fortnight but he was later than last year. So far I’ve not been able to find any birds’ nests in the garden but am sure there must be two or three somewhere. I hope I can locate a couple for the girls to see. Naturally we are looking forward to having you all with us again for a holiday.

Cornish came over this morning when I was putting in new fence posts and I then went over to his place for a look round. Still plenty of weeds and generally in a mess but he has some crops growing well – must be the poultry manure he uses on the ground.

Have not heard from Richings since our visit to Weston but I think he takes his motor driving test early this month.**

Good idea picking up a few barrow loads of earth from the field – will help you to build up the lower side of the lawn but to complete the job you will have to make many journeys with the barrow.

Local election here next week but not much enthusiasm about. I noticed from National Press you had yours a few weeks ago. The comical part of the Clevedon Election is that the Secretary of the Liberal Club – a man named Thomas – is putting up as a Labour candidate. His argument is that the club is a Working Men’s Club and non-political.

I do not think I shall put any more yeast in the Parsnip wine – just let the present lot finish the fermentation then bottle it up. Where do you get powdered yeast? Grocer of chemist? I’ve always used Baker’s yeast to date but as you know it has to be bought fresh for every occasion.

Your journey last Sunday – apart from holdup already referred to – must have been rather interesting although no doubt plenty on the road. We had a lot of rain here both morning and afternoon – drove me home early in morning when walking round the Hill with Bill Aston. Incidentally he has been on the Hill with a wheel barrow where the ponies and donkeys are grazing.

Well I think this is about the lot for another week but will drop you a card from Exmouth during the weekend.

All our love to you both and lots of kisses for Susan & Carol.

Mum & Dad

*Oh my goodness, what Machiavellian horror of an older sister suppresses her sibling’s personality so ruthlessly? And how wonderful of the parents and grandparents to psychoanalyse them in such detail when they could – like lesser (normal) people – just have accepted each day for what it was and taken their children in the same light!

**This might be a good moment to mention that, although they both had driving licenses, neither Alec nor Leonard ever took a driving test. Leonard learned to drive before tests were introduced in 1935 – presumably he got his first practical experience during the 1914-18 war but I have found no actual evidence to support this – and Alec certainly owned a motor-bike during the 1939-45 conflict as we have diary entries to prove it. It appears that driving tests were suspended for the duration of WWII, probably on the basis that most people who learned to drive then would be doing so for military or war-related purposes and it would only slow down the progress of the war if they all had to be tested by a civilian authority as well. In any case there was no attempt to make up for the missing tests after 1945 and so Alec – along with millions of other drivers of the same age – returned to the peacetime roads without ever having taken a test. Fortunately the very few accidents he had thereafter were of an extremely minor nature – and Leonard is not known to have had a ‘prang’ of any sort until the late 1960s!

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

Dear Alec June Susan & Carol

Many thanks for drawing of the acorn house & what or where is the other to be seen I mean the sunshade & armchair & the television stand.

More people are going in to look over Spenser’s house, trouble is they don’t like the small kitchen. They have had their house painted all over now. White with blue door & gate. Bushel’s house is all cream, ours will be the oldest one presently.

Weston-super-Mare is worried about all the teddys & their girls coming into the town & spoiling it for the nice families but I don’t see how they can stop them now.***

Our bath room looks nice & clean now only needs a few fresh articles to make it look smart. It is moss pink walls & duck egg door & wood work except where the tiles are then the woodwork is white. We shan’t be able to do the rest of house until the autumn, there will not be time.

Glad June’s cold is better, have got a sniffel [sic] myself. What can you expect when it’s hot one day & cold the next.

Mrs Cummings going on all right & yrs truly delivered the mags. Don’t know that I should fancy doing it regularly, it’s hot work.

Well I think this is the lot now except the drawing for the artist.

Love from Mum & Dad

[Illuminated with two small biro sketches, one of something round on a plate with the words ‘This is a pudding house’ and a fork, knife and spoon with twisted handles marked ‘Whose are these?’]

***What the linked Wikipedia article doesn’t make clear is that these groups now had enough disposable income to be able to afford cars and motorbikes of their own and were able to have cheap holidays in traditional sea-side resorts which were usually only too glad of the money. (Some camped or slept on the beach, of course, but some stayed with landladies or in caravans and brought money into the town – not to mention whatever they spent on beer, chips, slot machines, petrol, etc.) People on the whole weren’t used to seeing high-spirited youngsters in large groups and were naturally afraid of them – especially as a ‘yob culture’ developed which included vandalism, spitting, fighting etc. This sort of thing continued through the ‘Mods’ and ‘Rockers’ battles of a few years later, and has since devolved into large music festivals, cheap flights to Malaga, and hen nights in Hamburg. The problem hasn’t gone away, it’s simply been transported elsewhere. NB: June’s brother Peter was the closest thing the family possessed to a Teddy Boy; he certainly had the hair-style and the clothes. In fact he was a dead ringer for the singer Joe Brown and was almost exactly the same age.

Sunday 30th April, 1961

On By Sue JenkinsIn 1961 lettersLeave a comment

Alec to his parents:

Dear Mum and Dad

Thank you for your letters again this week. Sorry I was unable to complete my last in time for your Tuesday morning delivery but gather that June finished off all the news. No more serious accidents at school to report thank goodness but there were a couple of grazed shins which the teacher dealt with on the spot.

As you say Susan is not very forthcoming about her activities at school but occasionally, as if by accident, she drops out a little bit of news. Susan has pals everywhere, she seems to attract them. She has an invitation to a party of a girl she met at this school. It was a nice little formal card, and we shall let her go. She was so independent minded that after a couple of days she was allowed to go to and from school on her own, but now she wants June to take her again. I suppose these fads will come and go according to circs. , but anyway June is now taking her and she finds her own way home.

June’s cold is much better now thank you, and I am happy to say that for the time being at least this one seems to have passed over.

I am sure that Peter and Brenda will look you up if they take a trip your way. I think it quite likely that they will come as he seems to like taking long trips.

Hope your week-end at Exmouth goes off O.K. From the weather point of view though it needs to brighten up a lot. To-day went according to the B.B.C. forecast (cloud early – turning to rain).

Carol does not mind at all being on her own all day. She is quite a good little girl, and for the first time we are seeing her outside of the influence of Susan. We are quite sure that left alone she would be much better behaved. She did say on Friday “Susie stop home from school to-day and play with me” but did not press it. She will stay quiet on her own for a long time just looking at a book.

Don seems to have stocked you up well with cider this time. Accord­ing to my reckoning you had six gallons, and that must be about half his supply. I hope we shall be seeing something of them when we are on holiday but will not make any definite arrangements until we find out the most convenient date all round.

Why not accept the invitation to go on the office outing? I know you have been there before, but it might give you a chance of a natter with old friends, and if you do not want too much refreshment you can always claim “Doctors Orders”. I wish I could give you copies of the Railway Gazette to read and pass on but ours has a long distribution list. The one you had was one I took home and forgot about go long that it was easier for it to vanish.

I notice that Nos 1 and 2 bays also 3 and 4 bays in the green house are fully utilised, but you do not say what is the occup­ation of the Main Line Platforms. Perhaps it is because you have no through service. *

Note you are again planting runner beans in bulk. Hope to sample some of those in due course.

Decorations are causing you some disturbance, but at least the waiting for the men to start on the wiring is over. Note the horse still in good order. ( What about preparing a hot-bed, and forcing a plant or two?) Is the river fenced off so that he cannot get out? We shall have to go on the hill to fly the kite I expect otherwise he may take fright. Why not suggest that Mother takes a toasting fork down – it was effective against Felix. Incidentally, what inspection does Mother do to the fruit trees, and is it effective?

Note your Parsnip wine still under fermentation lock but working slowly. You will find that if you use more yeast you will speed up the process. In each of my last gallons I have put in a whole one oz. packet of powdered yeast with the result that there is a terrific fermentation started almost immediately, and it comes to a full stop at approximately three weeks.

Note you had a good trip to Bristol and that there seems to be another in the offing.

Yesterday I set about making the low cupboard in the alcove behind T.V. so that we can dispense with the T.V. stand. After most of the day on it, apart from afternoon shopping, managed to get most of it done, the original cupboard with the glass fronted doors now rests at an angle of 90 degrees to the diagonal of the room with the right hand end ( front corner ) touching the corner of the chimney breast. All the space between the existing cupboard and the wall has now been filled in with the wood taken from the old bookcase on the right hand side. This is supported on battens fixed to the wall with plugs and screws, and the whole assembly screwed together. Due to using old wood of a fixed length it was necessary to leave odd shapes out if the best possible utilisation was to be obtained, and these shapes have since been filled in rather like a jigsaw puzzle. One remaining side, that adjacent to the bureau, has to be fitted but as I am now out of wood altogether, that will stay until next week-end. The surface is fairly level and with the application of a plane and sandpaper plus some plastic wood for the small cracks and a coat of paint, it will look quite passable.

To-day we went over to Tufnell Park to visit friends of June’s. The last time we were there we had not long been engaged. We went via the Western Avenue to the North Circular Rd then turned of into Archway Rd (A1). The forward journey took 21 miles and 90 minutes. The delay was due to having engine failure when on the Western Avenue. I had had trouble getting away and this I thought was due to some dirt in the filters. I thought if I could get out on the main road and rev the engine up for a bit, the trouble would clear. This seemed to work until we got almost into Greenford when the car stopped and would not go further. I managed to push it back about 10 yards into a layby with June’s help. After taking raincoat and jacket off and rolling up my sleeves and generally looking important and getting nowhere, a chap offered assistance. We tried the plug wires which I suspected but they were all in order, so was the feed. All the trouble was caused by a loose connection on the coil. This tightened, off we went without any further to-do. Coming back we crossed over Hampstead Heath and went by way of Cricklewood, Harlesden, Willesden, Stonebridge Park and Wembley. This journey was only 17 miles and about 50 minutes.

Note Mother has been doing some clearance work on the long grass. Could do with her assistance ( or that of the horse ) on our lawn as it has not been cut for over two weeks now and looks it.

So Mum is delivering the Church Magazine, I thought they would get her on it in the end. What is the commission?

We got a few barrow loads of earth off the field the other night to make up the levels a bit and hope to get some more when convenient.

Well that’s all for this week. There was something from Susan floating about, but the output has seriously fallen off since school started. Will get Carol to take over as soon as possible.

Love from us all.

*Railway humour, arf arf!

Tuesday 25th April, 1961

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Leonard to the family:

Dear Alec June Susan & Carol

Many thanks for your combined letter received this morning – have started to reply tonight as we hope to be in Bristol on Wednesday evening (more of this later) and I do not like leaving the whole letter to Thursday.

Fancy Susan going to & from school on her own – how long does it take? query ten minutes.* Expect it is a job to get much out of her at present but various bits and pieces will come out when you least anticipate it. She must be a very proud young lady going off on her own. The weather has not been too good either, even for such a short journey.

Very sorry to hear you have had a bad cold June and we hope you have shaken it off by now. We have kept fairly free recently but with such changeable weather anything can happen.

Note you have been having visitors and looking forward to another evening out – makes a nice change from routine. If Peter and Brenda find themselves in this area when out on their travels we should be very pleased to see them. As you know we shall be at Exmouth during the first weekend in May but after that should be here on Sundays until further notice. They must pick a fine day though – Clevedon not much of an attraction for visitors in wet weather but really delightful on warm & sunny days.

Glad Carol had her birthday present safely and we note it has gone to her credit in Post Office – very nice too. She does not mind now at being on her own all day – can quite appreciate she wants to help Mummie. Is she interested in what Susan has to say about school?

It was no fault of yours that we did not go to Eastcote whilst we were at Ruislip – the weather was such that we were better off indoors except when we went over to Wembley on the Thursday and that to us was new ground and quite interesting. Shall hope to visit Eastcote on another occasion.

Mum must draw a little sketch for you shewing route to your holiday accommodation – presumably you will be entering Exmouth from the Budleigh Salterton direction. Note you will try and get some good holiday snaps this time. We have only seen the one snap taken by Joe or Lydia which as already mentioned is very good but I think they took one or two more which we shall probably see when we go down again.

Don and Joan duly arrived on Sunday but it was a miserable day, only clearing up in the late afternoon. Still we were pleased to see them and had a good natter. Don brought up 12 flagons cider which are now in store in garage – the previous consignment being still in use. They asked about you all and if they would be seeing you sometime during the time you are on holiday here.

Tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday) we shall be going to Bristol to see Mr & Mrs Newman and shall not be home until about 10.0 p.m. – hope weather improves. It has been raining continuously since 9.30 a.m. after a glorious day yesterday (Monday).

Stacey called up later today and wanted us to go to their place (near Zoo) on Saturday but Mum has one of her nights out then attending the Clevedon Playgoers last show of the season so another visit to Bristol is off until after Whitsun.

Had a letter from John Wills (Secretary of Office Outing Committee) yesterday with an invitation to the Bristol D. T. M. staff outing to Paignton on Saturday 13th May but am doubtful if shall accept. Incidentally the invitation for the first time includes wives. Expect Bill Aston has had a letter too but I’ve not seen him since last Friday. He was then going to be busy on his allotment (behind Mogg’s house). Did not see him on Sunday for our usual walk round the hill because I had to hurry home to be here for the arrival of the visitors from Lyng.

The railway gazette you gave me was read by Bill Aston & Roy Hewitt and Don took it back with him and also the books for mechanics you let me have – all very interesting.

This week I took down remainder of staging in greenhouse and now have planted out a total of 44 tomato plants – ten each in nos 1 & 2 bays and 12 each in nos 3 & 4 bays. Outside I’ve put in the sticks for runner beans – 201 altogether – and set beans in against 104 of them. Against the other 106 I shall transplant from boxes at end of month – these are already about 2″ high but if frost anticipated at night I can put boxes inside. The row of garden peas was a failure – the sparrows pecked out the shoots as soon as they came through soil. The remedy – black cotton along the next lot which will go in as soon as can walk on garden again. Of the 50 or so lettuce plants I’ve been protecting nightly I’ve lost a couple but have plenty from which I can replace. The gale force wind today has blown the broad beans about and blown over part of the hedge between us and new neighbours – had to cut it away as it was blocking drive to garage. Looks a bit ragged for a few feet but it will recover by the end of the summer.

The electricians arrived on Monday and they have been busy rewiring from the attic downwards. This means the bathroom being done out when they have finished and the biggest bedroom repapered. Still it had to be done.

The horse still behaving himself and having his fill of grass with the odd lump of sugar. Yes I’m sure Susan & Carol will be pleased to see him – at a distance. Mother always carries a stick when she goes down the field to inspect the fruit trees but it is the horse that does the disappearing trick.

Parsnip wine still under fermentation lock but working much more slowly now. You are fortunate to get old of those nice gallon jars. Is your last lot of wine still working?

Thursday 27th April

Now continuing letter after our visit to Bristol yesterday – a really fine sunny afternoon and moonlit evening for the run home at 9.15 p.m. Today I put in another row of Peas & carrots. Found the carrot fly had had first outside sowing of carrots but those in frame looking fine. This afternoon started on bathroom – cleaning off ceiling – sandpapering woodwork and walls and filling in cracks etc. Another busy day tomorrow obviously.

Now must close or mum will not get much of a look in this time.

All our love to you both and lots of kisses for school girl Susan and Carol.

Mum and Dad

*Yes, just fancy – not even five years old at this point and walking to school and back unaccompanied twice a day, a distance of a good half a mile each time (checked on GoogleEarth), crossing a couple of roads, because Mum can’t be arsed to sling baby sister into the pushchair and go along. The fact that nothing untoward happened can only be attributed to a miracle. June really did like her kids to be ‘out of sight, out of mind’ so that she could ‘get on with the housework’, 90% of which she made for herself. It was her way of feeling validated, which is really pretty sad. And Google Earth says 10 minutes for an adult, so maybe 20 for anyone with five-year-old legs?

Eva to the family on the remaining half sheet of Leonard’s writing paper:

Dear Alec June Susan & Carol

We are up to our eyes in decorating at the moment. Problem is whether to have pink walls & blue doors or vice versa. The electricians made a has of everything leaving their mark & am afraid it will have to stay until we decorate the rooms in turn.

It is very foggy here now & I expect another fine day.

Yesterday afternoon while Leon was busy stopping up I did some grubbing out grass by the shed which was about a foot long & wringing wet.

Glad Susan is going on at school alright. I thought she would soon want to go it alone because she knew the way the Sunday morning she showed us. What is the score (handicap) round in Alec’s golf, one in three? I wouldn’t know. Do you have to caddy for yourself?

Mrs Cummings in Southmead hospital for an operation expects to be in there three weeks & yours truly is delivering the church magazines for her.

The ‘do it yourself’ shop is open in Alexandra Road where the fish shop was & seems a good place. Name of Hollyman.

Well I think this is the lot now lots of love from us all & kisses for Susan & Carol.

From Mum & Dad.

[Sketch at the bottom of the sheet that looks like a set of lockpicks or crochet hooks marked ‘What is this?’ Almost certainly intended to be a set of five (!) golf clubs in a bag without a handle … ]

Sunday 23rd April, 1961

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Alec to his parents:

Dear Mum and Dad,

Thank you for the letter again this week. For once we received it after we had been to Eastcote and returned with the weeks shopping. We had an early start to the Saturday as we were giving a dinner party for Delph, Roy, Pauline and Norman. It went very well. June of course prepared the meal and made all the arrange­ments, and a good time was had by all.

To refer to your letter, there is not a lot we can tell you about Susan’s schooling. She goes to and fro on her own now and seems to make a good job of it. She does no more than play with the Wendy house, paint, crayon, draw and play with water or so she says. She has learned to play a game in the play­ground.- Cowboys and Indians. – “you make your hands like a gun, and run round saying bang, bang”. The boy two doors up the road keeps pestering her and taking her hat away. She has a nice hat now, red with F.E.S. on it for Field End School. She knows the names of all the boys and girls in her class and some others in other classes. There are fours boys named Paul and three named Susan. No doubt we shall hear some more details later on.

Carols birthday festivities we went off very well, and thank you for the card and present sent. As I think I told you we did not go to a party for her as she is a bit young. Frankly two of them is a permanent party and quite enough to handle. We are sorry you missed going to Eastcote when you were here as I know you like the place. We must make sure to go there next time. No more shoes tied to the lamp so far but I did see them tied to something else yesterday. No trouble with the children over the beds now. They have taken to the situation and do not cause much of a rumpus.

Note you will be going to Tiverton on 5th May. Hope your visit is enjoyable and that you have good weather. We have arranged to go to Norman’s flat for a meal that day. Hope we can get a Baby sitter. Forgot to get Mum to tell us how to get to the road in Exmouth that we shall visit on our holiday, perhaps she can think to let us know some time. Glad your snap came out good. I am determined to get a decent camera before the holiday so that perhaps we can take some coloured snaps ourselves. There is not much difficulty in taking them provided you have the proper facilities.

You will have to arrange with Don for him to bring up his consignments of cider in a sizeable cask so that you can do a bit of home brewing in it. I tried to get another of the gallon jars on Saturday but was a day too late as the shop had cleared their empties the previous day. They will keep one back for me to call for in a week or so.

[Unfortunately this letter ends here, at least 4.5 cm from the foot of the page – and Alec was a demon for using every morsel of the paper he could. If there was a second page, it seems no longer to be in the collection; the random second page floating around unattached – mentioned previously – clearly isn’t part of this letter either. Possibly something unexpected occurred to halt Alec’s progress and he ended up putting the typewriter away and finishing this particular letter by hand; it seems the only logical explanation.]

Wednesday 19th April, 1961

On By Sue JenkinsIn 1961 lettersLeave a comment

Leonard to the family:

Dear Alec June Susan & Carol

Many thanks for letter duly to hand on Tuesday and we were both very eager to see how Susan got on during her first days at school. Apparently she did not mind but Carol did – for a minute or two at least – but now she has got used to being on her own. Susan was soon in the wars then by falling down and skinning her knees. Glad Carol enjoyed her birthday festivities now it will soon be Susan’s turn. Looks as if she has a pal already at school – makes all the difference even to small children to have a special friend.

Glad to hear you have now got a shade and the lamp is complete. Strange you should get it at Eastcote – this was the first time we missed going there when on holiday with you. We like the shopping area there very much and with a car it is practically on your doorstep. Note Susan tied her shoes on to wire support of lamp – presumably for good luck but I don’t suppose she thought so when you had dealt with her.* We imagined they would try and celebrate the rearrangement of the beds in their room but Father & Mother apparently took a dim view of the idea.

Fancy mothers having to listen to the headmistress for half an hour when their children go to school for the first time. Quyite a good idea no doubt to get all the gen but this is the first time I’ve known anything like this to happen. Hope June did not think she herself was starting school again. Anyhow they were happy days when you look back upon them.**

We had another letter from Uncle Joe at Tiverton this morning asking us to go down early in May for a long weekend as we cannot manage Whitsun so have decided to go to Tiverton on Friday 5th prox. and on to Exmouth the following day for a weekend at the bungalow.*** Last October they took a coloured snap-shot of Mum and I standing either side of the car and sent us a copy this morning. It is a lovely shot, one of the best we have seen for a long time. Must remember to show it to you in due course. We have asked Don & Joan to come up next Sunday the 23rd inst. and they have replied accepting so let’s hope it will be fine & warm. I understand he is bringing up another consignment of cider. Sorry about that last bottle of yours. Query was cork loose.

You are quite right about the donkeys. Apart from Salthouse Fields the paths around Wains Hill have to be negotiated very carefully now-a-days. I see there are also about half a dozen ponies and one carriage – something like the 6.5 p.m. Special but called the ‘Spaceship’. Nothing like being up to date.****

The horse in our field is getting along alright and what grass he does not eat is trodden down so same effect – for me – is attained. Have been round with the wheelbarrow a couple of times and it reminds me of years ago when I used to go out on the road – with others – with a Tates sugar box on wheels and pick up for your Grandad’s allotment. No motor cars in those days but plenty of horse carriages.

Chettiscombe and Chevithorne are two little hamlets with rather long names but both are somewhat picturesque and are only a few miles out of Tiverton. Halberton is a village roughly halfway between Tiverton Jun. and Tiverton.

We think Joe & Lydia do fairly well in letting the bungalow but if you own one of these it is much more convenient to be living somewhere near so that you can pop down occasionally – particularly at changing out weekends – to see how things are going on otherwise damage and breakages cannot be debited to any specific boarder. In Joe’s case there is someone they know well in residence on the Dock throughout the year and he does what is necessary.

I managed to get grass cut last Saturday afternoon. The garden soil is still like concrete and most difficult to work. Incidentally I unrolled the hose just after dinner today and about an hour later it started to rain and continued raining remainder of day. I bought 10 tomato plants yesterday & put them in the ring culture bay of greenhouse. These will provide the early tomatoes and my own plants the sequence. Runner Beans (in boxes) are coming up and I’m trying to get the ground ready for transplanting. The first row of peas is a failure – seems to be an annual event – something eating them as soon as they come up. Now trying some in a box for planting out later.

Going back to your letter again what a nice lot of presents Carol had for her birthday. I’m sure she had a wonderful time and what a novel idea to have a ‘birthday’ chair at Sunday School.

Our new neighbours – in Cummings house – were busy during the weekend putting a cement wash on the walls and it looks very nice. The people next door again – Mrs Drewett’s – are also there daily painting and papering but they have not moved in yet.

Thanks for the promise of more plum wine – it’s excellent. Have you tried the cherry I brought up – quite a pleasant taste to it. Cornish looked over yesterday afternoon & I gave him a drop of the orange which he admitted was good. The parsnip is still working under fermentation lock and I shall let it continue indefinitely.

On TV the other night we saw a primary school in which children were assembled for their first day and it was very amusing. One thing we saw was the issue of a beaker of milk complete with straw. Does Susan get any milk at midmorning? Rather looks as if she does as I notice the milkman who delivers it is named Baker.

Has Peter has his car put right yet? Hope no ill effects to Mr & Mrs Baker consequent on their unpleasant journey on Easter Monday.

Well I think this is the lot once more. Hope you are all keeping well.

All our love to you both and lots of kisses for our big school girl Susan and our three years old Carol.

Mum & Dad

*Leonard is clearly expecting the result of this innocuous-sounding prank to have been a ‘smacked bottom’, which was no doubt the case. I leave it to you whether the punishment was appropriate to the ‘crime’.

**It’s nice to know that for some people school is a pleasant experience and not an unmitigated hell of bullying during which the best a parent can come up with is ‘I expect you started it’.

***A bit of unravelling to do here. Firstly, business custom used to be to use ‘inst.’ for the present month, ‘ult.’ for the previous month and ‘prox.’ for the coming month. Since Leonard learned his business habits before and during the First World War it is really no surprised that he was still using them forty years later. (In the same way the present writer simply cannot use a single space after a full stop; having been taught to use two, it’s quite immaterial that the convention has changed; it’s as ingrained as breathing and could only be altered by a global search-replace.) Secondly, the early May Bank Holiday (often described as May Day but only occasionally falling on 1 May itself) did not exist until 1978. What Leonard refers to as ‘Whitsun’ is the holiday surrounding the religious festival of Whit Sunday which tended to float about in the calendar between late May and early June, depending on the date of Easter. Secularising the public holiday means that it became pinned to the last Monday in May – as the early Bank Holiday is pinned to the first Monday – which makes planning a lot easier for people who are not otherwise tied to a religious calendar. Proposals to move the early May Bank Holiday to October and celebrate Trafalgar Day instead have so far been unsuccessful; adding Trafalgar Day as an extra Bank Holiday would probably be more successful!

****Ooooh, boy, here we go down the rabbit hole! Trapnells of Weston-super-Mare (now Weston Donkeys) have run donkeys on the beach at Weston for generations. Clearly at this time they had also expanded their activities to Clevedon, although the two resorts are very different in character and it has to be doubted whether it was really worth doing. Apart from putting individual children on individual donkeys, they also ran carts or carriages with seats for the very young or those unable – or too nervous – to sit astride a donkey, and the carriages were always themed around whatever children were interested in at the time. Leonard’s observation of a “6.5 Special” ride no doubt ties in with the BBC TV series Six-Five Special which ran from 1957 to 1958 but which may possibly have been recorded and repeated in subsequent years. The Spaceship was no doubt the one in the photo below, taken at Weston-super-Mare the following year, named after ‘Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future‘ (which future was apparently the 1990s!) who was very popular in the ‘Eagle’ comic at the time and is still enjoying a protracted afterlife amongst his devoted fans.

Eva to the family on the remaining two-thirds of a sheet of Leonard’s writing paper:

Dear Alec June Susan & Carol

Many thanks for letter. I expect the girls have been much occupied to do any drawings this week so much excitement about. We are now going to Exmouth May 6th for week end will be spending the Friday night at Tiverton then go down with Joe Sat. morning & expect Lydia will come in afternoon unless she gets time off. Her boss is negotiating the purchase of another shop as all those in Bridge Street are scheduled to come down to widen the road soon.

May is a busy month for me. On 15th we go to Glastonbury to look over Moorlands Factory where they make the sheepskin rugs & slippers etc. Whit Monday the Headstones***** will be down for day. June the first we go to Cannington Farm Institute & afterwards they will dump us either to Bridgwater or Taunton for tea. Mr Horton Coleridge Vale Road’s son is engaged I don’t know if you know the girl Janet Hart of Kenton Road Harrow.

It’s been drizzle on & off all day, I haven’t got any gardening done but Dad has been busy all the day. I wish it would get a bit warmer so that we can leave off jumpers.

Well I think this is all for now, hoping to soon hear the next school budget.

Bye bye for now.

Love from Mum & Dad

*****Presumably Geoff, Stella, and their daughters, who all lived in a house at Headstone Lane! I’ve never heard this expression used before – it will be interesting to see if it turns up again.

Sunday 16th April, 1961

On By Sue JenkinsIn 1961 lettersLeave a comment

Alec to his parents:

Dear Mum and Dad,

Thank you for your letters, must give you all the latest news on school and Birthday but first to reply to your long letter. I agree that in some senses it does not seem so very long since you were here – time went in a flash and has done ever since, so not know if there is anything from Susan and Carol this week, they have been very active but in other directions this week.

We had one very bad day this end for weather but I fancy it was not the Monday. It poured all day and was certainly a day to forget. Bad luck you were unable to find the grass sufficiently dry to cut but no doubt by now it has been cut.

Front room does look better now we have given it a face lift. The large armchair went conveniently to a jumble sale on Saturday, and its replacement will be taken in hand. We bought a very nice pink lampshade on Saturday in Eastcote. It is a circular shade made of pleated linen, the circular wire support at the top is slightly smaller than that at the bottom. It goes well with the stand and also with the wallpaper. Ten minutes after installing it Susan tied her shoes to the wire supports by the laces and could not get them off. – What will she think of next. The children were joyfully pleased with their altered bedroom and tended to high Jinks the first day but that inclination was squashed. Have practically no trouble with then at nights going to bed but Susan had a restless night the first day after going to school – dreams we think.

Glad you liked the plum wine and sorry supplies dwindling. Will try to member to put one in when I come down. There is nothing to pay for the sweet jars – did not intend that there should be anyway. Yes there are no now apparent effects of the injection hanging around far as Susan is concerned. She has not mentioned it since going to School. We have had reports from Susan re School but as you will learn when reading on, its a bit like the curates egg.

The children are interested in the report of the horse and will look forward to seeing him when they come down. Hope he does what is required of him in all senses. I do not suppose the “donkey” arrangement is going to be all that popular with holiday makers or Clevedonians either. They are O.K. on sand as they can run along sea washed sand which is smooth and also the sea obligingly cleans up after them which it cannot do if the performance takes place in Salthouse Fields.

You will have to have a louder bell fitted to telephone apparently so that Richings can be sure of a reply.

Note the colour of your parsnip wine. My earliest finished up by being a sort of off-white cloudy liquid but the second effort finished up a light gold colour. The taste of the latter however is too strong. Have almost finished the cider now. The last half pint is left. Did not like this bottle quite so much through leaving it a day or two it developes an oily film on the surface which I am sure is bacteria. Moral do not leave it long enough for bacteria to form. If you want to sell tomatoes in any quantity at a time when the price is worth it, I suggest you put in some plants to augment your own sowing.

June and I saw the Hales van in the same place again on Saturday. I expect he has a regular run.

Sounds as though the bungalow at Exmouth is going to pay for itself. Be interesting to know more about the economics of that sort of business. Sorry I do not know Chettiscombe or Chevithorne other than that they must be small towns or hamlets outside Tiverton. I did not go out into the surrounding country on any occasion other than one trip to Bampton and another to Molland with Grandad. I remember going through Halberton on a bus from Tiverton Jcn and looking in the shops there, but did not get around to the more distant places.

Have to change young Richins name to Michaelangelo Richins if his future wife is going to gad about on trips to Italy.

Quick work with the skirt Mum made. Our front room was easy this time as we had only to paint it, and that can’t take too long.

Gather the horse is supposed to be in the garden to eat grass not sugar. If you take away his appetite for grass you might as well send him back to Norman Baker.

Well lets get round to Susan’s school capers. She was duly taken round by June and escorted by Carol. The Mothers had to listen to a half hour delivery by the headmistress welcoming them and giving out the rules. When Carol saw Susan disappear she burst into tears but was soon quite happy singing to herself in the garden at home. Susan was fetched at midday and everything seemed in order – she had played with a Wendy House and had been given paints to play with. In the afternoon she managed to disgrace herself, and also to fall down ( she said she was pushed ) in the playground and scrape the skin off both her knees – one so bad the teacher had to put plaster on it. The next day there were no tears from Carol and again Susan played with the Wendy House and sand and water and paints. She was kept home in the afternoon for not doing what she was told to do, and that was the second day. On the Thursday she had a day off for the elections and back to normal on Friday. She seems to like it. Her friend Gillian from the Sunday School is in her class and there is another Susan sitting next to her. She has already picked up some school phraseology such as ‘giving out’ for issuing. Her teacher’s name is Miss Smith – hope no one lisps. The milkman who brings round the milk every day is called Mr Baker. It seems they have stories read to them by the teacher and paint and play with the Wendy House in varying order each day.

We had Chris, over from Greenford for tea with Carol on the occasion of her Birthday and we have had a right good lot of goings on. After tea it has been a job to calm them all down and it was a relief when they went home. Carol appreciated her presents and cards and thanks you for yours. She has been singing “Happy birthday to me Happy Birthday dear Carol happy birthday to me.” She has two dollies almost identical which we call the twins – lots of money – a bell for her bicycle – some little Noddy books – a Noddy eggcup shaped like Noddy and a Noddy hat with a bell on it for an egg warmer. We did not hold a party as such – what we had was quite enough thank you, but there was trifle, jelly, ice cream and and a cake with three candles on it for her to blow out. At Sunday School she sat in the Birthday chair and blew out three candles, so she has had quite a day.

Your mint not showing through yet but should not be long now. Some of the roses have had their leaves eaten off by the slugs and only the stalks remain but most of the others look healthy enough. The clover is growing so we shall soon have a decent lawn again.

Well there it is for the time being – more of the school saga next week no doubt. Love from us all.

Thursday 13th April, 1961

On By Sue JenkinsIn 1961 lettersLeave a comment

As previously mentioned, there should be a letter from Alec to his parents for Sunday 9th April 1961 but it seems to have vanished – and, although I have an undated partial letter floating around loose in the box, it is very unlikely to be from this particular date due to its contents.

Leonard to the family:

Dear Alec June Susan & Carol

Many thanks for letter received on Tuesday with all the latest news. It does not seem a week ago yesterday that we left Ruislip after our holiday – time just flies. Thank you Susan & Carol for your very nice drawings – we have been thinking of you this week going to and from school – Susan to stop and Carol to come home again. How do you like it Susan?

Weather here typically April although Monday was as bad as Easter Monday – kept raining continuously until 4.0 p.m. All outdoor work at a standstill for days including grass cutting. The lawn has not been touched since the day before we came up to you.

Note you were soon busy on the decorations after our departure and I expect the front room now looks very nice after your efforts. Can quite picture the rearrangement of the twin beds in the girls’ room – are the young ladies pleased with it? No crayons taken to bed presumably. We are still waiting for the electrician to come and rewire the house then have a spot of painting and papering to do here.

Am enjoying your plum wine – a wineglass full dinnertimes but it’s nearly gone now. Some of the best home brew I’ve ever tasted. By the way I did not think to pay you for the sweet jars when you handed them to me so will put right in due course.

Note Susan had a booster injection last week – expect she has fully recovered by now. What a wonderful thing these injections are – never heard of them in our time and we caught one illness after another until we were almost immune from the rest. Let’s hope they work on Susan. Should just like to peep in on her in the classroom – have you had a full report from her of her doings?

Had a call from Norman Baker last Saturday morning “Could he come down & put up fence & bring horse along?” Replied Yes and he duly arrived with posts & cross pieces and barb wire. The horse (Joey) is 26 years old and quite docile. Norman still uses it at horse shows for playing Musical Chairs on horse back. So far he has not made much impression on the field but his appetite is good and he eats quite a lot of grass. Am hoping it will save nme some of the work with the scythe later on. Will report progress in future letters.

I see in last week’s Mercury the Council have agreed to donkeys on the Front this summer for the children. In fact the animals are already here and foraging on Wain’s Hill – something else for Susan & Carol to see at Clevedon. I think I read they are to be used on part of Salthouse Fields.

Last Sunday morning just as I was about to go over to the Church for ringing the telephone bell rang – Mrs Richings Weston – said she had phoned four times over Easter. Told her we did not hear as far away as Ruislip. They wanted su to go and see them again so we went down yesterday afternoon and after about two hours prowling around the shops – Woolworths etc. – we called on them at 4.0 p.m. Left again about 9.15 p.m. and home just before 10.0 p.m. Mr Richings I gather is now learning to drive a car and is he passes test proposes to buy one. Also heard that Michael had taken a test at Reading & failed. He was home for the Easter holiday & returns to Reading on the 29th inst.

You mentioned the Peach cutting in your letter. I’ve not put it in garden yet – have however repotted it as it needed a larger pot. Not made up my mind so far as to most suitable site.

The Parsnip wine is still working under fermentation lock but it is getting clearer – a lovely golden brown colour. Richings says he is going to make some as he has a lot of old parsnips lying about which otherwise would be dug back into the ground. Note your cider getting low – am sorry cannot replace just now. I still have a crop on hand and have a glass most nights at suppertime.

Have started to get greenhouse ready for tomato plants & am still in doubt whether to buy a few or not. Mine are coming along nicely but may be about three weeks behind the time I usually start picking so may buy 8 or 10 just to give that earlier picking and make up complement with own plants – the next fortnight will decide.

Hales have delivery vans over the South of England. They leave the bakery with fully loaded vans and are away for two or more days. I’ve seen them at a number of places distant from Clevedon. Still it must have been a bit of a surprise to see one of the vans so close to Queen’s Walk.

The chrysants I brought back are still looking nice & fresh and I’m more likely to get them to take than you will the rose cuttings which are most difficult to strike. Still you must let us know what happens. The tendency apparently is for the cuttings – if they are not going to take – to turn brown from the top.

It was a nice compliment to get a copy of the report on C.P.C. sent to you by the B.J.C. – something to look at when the children are in bed?

Carol’s birthday on Sunday – three years old – as I said before How time flies. How does she get on without Susan to play with? Query keeps closer to Mummie.

Had a letter from Tiverton yesterday asking us to go there at Whitsun and on to the bungalow at Exmouth for a few days but as Geoff & family are coming down here on Whit Monday we had to decline the invitation but we may be able to go down at the close of the Season. We understand they are fully booked up at the bungalow from the beginning of June – nice work. John & family have now moved from sharing a house at Chettiscombe to the school house at Chevithorne – the school now being closed. It is a mile or so further away from Tiverton but he has a little car to get to & fro.

Between somewhat heavy storms today managed to put in remainder of potatoes but soil was like a wet cake mixture. Have quite a lot of plants of one sort and another waiting to be put in but ground is so wet that very small seedlings would be swamped so they must wait for drier weather. Got 50 lettuce plants out last weekend – working from concrete path – and am protecting them nightly from slugs by putting flower pots over them – so far with success.

Well I think this is the lot for another week. All our love to you both and lots of kisses for Susan & Carol.

Mum & Dad

From Eva to the family on the remaining two-thirds of a sheet of Leonard’s paper:

Dear Alec June Susan & Carol

Thank you for the nice drawing you sent. I am putting them with the others. We have been pretty busy since coming home. I tore strips off the milk people & the next time they forget me will change, but they simply pass the buck from one to the other.

Had a good chin wag at Weston for a few hours. Michael was there but his fiancee had just gone to London en route for Italy with the school. She is at a boarding one & getting £7.5.0 [roughly £168.50 in 2021 money] plus food not bad at 24, she is two years older than Michael. They are thinking of marrying Mr R says but he won’t be able to earn for a year if he passes his finals in July. Mrs R was interested in news of the children.

I bought some small check material & made a skirt on Monday & Tues to wear it to Weston on Wednesday. Wish we could work as quickly as you in the decorating business, it takes up time when you have to stop & get a meal.

I get on with the horse alright, take him some sugar lumps & he tries to see into my pocket. He is being made a fuss of by the neighbours so hope he won’t go overeating.

Wonder how Susan got on with her first day at school. I bet June missed her the first time. You will be having plenty of ‘school’ in future. I must leave a space for a drawing.

[Biro sketch of the school (front elevation with clock tower) and a little girl with hair ribbon, pleated skirt, cardigan and odd shoes, and randomly a flying book.]

Love from Mum & Dad

A note on historical inflation calculations

On By Sue JenkinsIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

There should be a letter from Alec to his parents for Sunday 9th April 1961, but it seems to have vanished – and, although I have an undated partial letter floating around loose in the box, it is very unlikely to be from this particular date due to its contents.

Therefore, this seems a reasonable moment to explain where I get my ‘2021 equivalent’ money calculations. I use a very helpful calculator on ‘This is Money‘, which is part of ‘MailOnline’ (no political agenda intended). This is not the only such calculator available, but for the sake of consistency I think it’s important to use the same one every time – and this just happens to be the one I used in my previous occupation as an editor and publisher of fiction books.

It’s really nigh-on impossible to pin down equivalent values from one era to another. There are always websites that will tell you how much a pint of milk cost in 1961 and how much it costs today – ditto a pair of shoes, a modest family car, a TV licence, a flight to Alicante etc. etc. The simple fact is that of course inflation does not move at a level pace across the board, and manufacturing/harvesting processes change all the time. Also markets open up and close again with astonishing frequency, which is why betting on stocks and shares has always seemed an especially hazardous occupation. (Short-term no doubt there are profits to be made, but you’d better be prepared to keep your money on the move!)

In particular, the cost of housing has increased out of all recognition in the past sixty years – despite the fact that the supply has also gone up. Houses in Leonard and Eva’s road in Clevedon were selling at around the £3,000 mark (depending on condition) in 1961. Their house – which has admittedly had plastic windows and solar panels since their time, but now has only half as much garden – would be something like £425,000 if it came on the market today; that’s a mark-up of about 1,400%. If all inflation operated at the same level, a toaster – £6 in 1961 – would be £8,400 today, whereas the cheapest one in Argos at the moment is £9.99!

So, on the whole, these calculations have only limited usefulness – unless one cares to speculate how much profit could have been derived by hanging on to a house which, in Leonard and Eva’s case, they had moved into the moment it was completed and moved out of forty-eight years later without ever having had to change the light-bulb in the hall. For anyone who reads these posts and is not in the same ever-so-slightly-over-21 age bracket as the present author it may, however, serve as a salutary reminder that “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.”

Wednesday 5th April, 1961

On By Sue JenkinsIn 1961 lettersLeave a comment

Leonard to the family:

Dear Alec June Susan & Carol

Just to let you know we arrived home safely at 1.40 p.m. and to thank you again for giving us such a nice time. The weather could not be helped but we made the most of the time and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The week went all too quickly but like all good things must come to an end. You have made great progress with your home in more ways than one and the children are lovely and in really good condition. A big day for Susan next Tuesday and we shall be thinking of her quite a lot that day – she should do well at school once she has got into the rhythm of school life. Carol will miss her but should reap an advantage by having an elder sister to show her things.

It was a nice break for us and as I said above it was soon over. Hope you were not too exhausted by having two more in family for a week.

Now for some news of our trip home. It came on to rain at Beaconsfield and continued until we arrived Chipping Sodbury when sun came out and quickly dried things up. Earlier we had arrived at Cirencester at 11.15 a.m. (mileage recorded 77) and whilst we were having coffee the skies literally opened up and it poured down for twenty minutes – people could not leave the Restaurant. It eased a little and we slipped into Woolworths where other people had had the same idea. We left Cirencester at 12 noon and at Yate turned right onto the Aust Ferry road and at Rudgeway connected with the main Gloster [sic] to Bristol road thence via Filton – the Zoo and Suspension Bridge. Then after getting on to Beggar Bush Lane it became so hot I stopped car and took off mac. It had been a glorious afternoon here and my goodness how things have moved in the garden – quite a transformation since our departure a week ago.

There were no incidents en route this time and everything in good order as we unloaded it from the car including the Plum Wine. The ‘sprinkler’ (for which again many thanks) is now on a shelf in the garage waiting suitable opportunity for use together with the two sweet jars you gave me this morning. The Chrysanths clump and the peach cutting (latter ex Geoff) in greenhouse for attention tomorrow. The two lots of Parsnip wine – under fermentation – are working well and already the colour is excellent. The car was absolutely dry when I ran it into garage so did not have to wipe it down. Needs a clean of course which it will get as soon as possible.

Found a letter from Don here to say he had had to make another journey for cider and asking if we had used all ours yet. The Rate demand was also on the mat waiting for us – £19 10s 6d [in the region of £455 in 2021 money] for half year – gone up again. Have not seen anyone yet since we arrived ( now 4.0 p.m.) but I notice bath (for rain water off garage) empty when we went away is now completely full but there are many other signs too that plenty of rain has fallen here over the Easter. The grass on lawn needs cutting again so it looks as if there is plenty of work in garden now for next week or two. The milkman did not leave milk this morning as requested so it was just as well mum brought back a bottle or we should have had to drink wine instead of tea.

Mum picked the remainder of the daffodils this afternoon but apparently there were not many left – a number having finished flowering in our absence. The wallflowers in front garden are now coming out nicely – rather late for us I’m afraid and I cannot account for it as they were planted out last October. Can only put it down to the very wet winter.

I wonder what those two little girls have been up to today? Query fine enough later in afternoon for them to get outdoors – perhaps you were able to go out in car. It was nice to see Mr & Mrs Baker – Peter & Pauline again but we both feel very sorry for Mr & Mrs Baker with the problem that must be uppermost in their minds all the time. Can only hope that something will turn up to ease the position.

Now I must close as should like this to catch early post this evening.

All our love to you both – it was so nice to see and be with you again – and lots of kisses for our two lovely grandchildren.

Mum & Dad

Eva to the family on the remaining one-third sheet of Leonard’s writing paper:

Dear Alec June Susan & Carol

Just to say we have arrived here. Thank you very much for a lovely rest & holiday now have to keep my nose to the grindstone for a bit.

It is hot here quite different to what it was before Easter have to put away the winter woollys at last.

Good job I brought home some milk that’s the second time they have served me that trick, they will get only one more chance.

No more now lots of love to all & again many thanks.

Mum

On the remaining blank side of writing paper – since these are shorter letters than usual for obvious reasons – Eva has drawn (1) a skipping rope, (2) a rather demonic-looking horse with cloven hooves, snaggle teeth and what appears to be a Batman cowl, pulling an apparent Conestoga wagon with a chimney at one end, and (3) an enigmatic object that could be a tea-cup from the top, a padlock, or a toilet seat. The caption is ‘Can you guess what these are?’. The answer, from the distance of sixty years, must inevitably be ‘no’.

The Baker Bunch – Part Two

On By Sue JenkinsIn Baker, UncategorizedLeave a comment

We continue the saga of the children of William Augustus and Alice Esther Baker with their five youngest – all boys.

5. Stanley Baker (‘Stan’) 1888-1960

Alas, not the movie-star of the same name, who was forty years younger and Welsh. Stan was married to Grace Maud Philpot and they had one son, Philip Stanley Baker – June’s ‘Cousin Phil’ – who laid much of the groundwork of the family history detective work in this particular line. Alas, in later years, June became very confused, and actually spent a whole day with her Cousin Clive thinking he was Cousin Phil. Phil died in 2007, and it would be very interesting to know what had happened to his research material; enquiries I have made have yielded precisely nothing, unfortunately.

6. Reginald Baker (‘Reg’) 1890-1968

Reg was married to Jessica Munton, and their son was named John – and this is, I’m afraid, all the information I currently have about him except that, like all of his brothers but Frank, he both served in the First World War and worked his entire life for the GWR.

7. Frank Edward Baker 1892-1963

We’re on safer ground with Frank; he was June’s father. He married Edith Nellie Louise Mullinger (1895-1987) in 1919 and they had four children – William Edward Frank (‘Teddy’), June Edith, Pauline Mary, and Peter Neville Macord.* Frank was excluded both from working with the GWR and also from active military duty in the First World War as the result of a childhood accident which left him with only one eye. He did, however, go to France as an ambulance driver; the emotions of Alice as she waved away all seven sons, in turn, to the battlefields can only be imagined.

Frank had a glass eye, and is reputed to have entertained guests by taking it out and polishing it at the dinner table – but this story seems to have circulated about everyone who ever had a glass eye, and should probably be taken with a pinch of salt! He was variously in the licensed trade, a cinema manager, and the proprietor of a tobacconist and sweet shop – the business, and premises, of which he is trying to divest himself of in the course of the 1960 and 1961 letters on this site. He was also a Freemason, but this is an area of family history which is notoriously elusive and I have not attempted to research it yet; however I am aware that the masons refused to help Edith when, towards the end of her life, she needed a place in a residential care home.

8. Cyril Baker 1893 – 1960

Cyril married Beryl Smith, and they had four children – Patricia Kathleen, Iris, Anthony Cyril Raynham, and Clive Robert Ian. Again, as with some of the other ‘boys’, this is all the available information at the moment; clearly further research is indicated.

9. Hubert Dudley Baker (‘Bunny’) 1896-1917

Lacking any definitive information about how his nickname came to be, it isn’t difficult to imagine young Hubert being his mother’s darling and consolation after the death of her husband. Apart from this we know little, and it is only recently (i.e. February 2021) that a photograph of him has emerged on a ‘Member’s Tree’ in the Ancestry database, incorrectly labelled as being of Frank. Clearly a wrong attribution had become attached to it by someone who had never met Frank, or indeed anyone who knew him; close scrutiny, however, reveals a cap badge bearing the Prince of Wales’ feathers, and we know that Bunny was in the Prince of Wales’ Own Civil Service Rifles.

The circumstances of Bunny’s death are still a mystery, although it should be possible to research. He died (appropriately for a railway worker) at Railway Dugouts, near Ypres, on 18 January 1917, and is commemorated on the Ealing Memorial Gates at Ealing Common, along with over 800 other local men.

So, these are the seven men and two women who made up ‘The Baker Bunch’. They undoubtedly knew hardship – Alice used to tell her sons always to carry a half-penny and a stone in their pocket, so that they could jangle them together and sound wealthy even though they weren’t – however they all seem to have won through in the end and made decent lives for themselves and their children, who by my reckoning numbered 26 in all, with goodness knows how many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great grandchildren (Frank certainly has at least three!) and potentially great-great-great grandchildren before too long.

It really needs little more than this snapshot of one family to realise exactly how big a task Family History is, even when you already have a lot of the information you need. Family is indeed, as Dodie Smith memorably called it, a ‘Dear Octopus’ from whose tentacles one can never completely escape; that being said, however, it is not un-reasonable to document it to whatever extent is possible – if only so that future generations do not continue to confuse Phil with Clive, or Frank with Bunny!

[*Mullinger and Macord are both fascinating families with very long recorded histories; the Macords in particular were Huguenots who fled to England from religious persecution in France in the seventeenth century, and it would be reasonable to suggest that every single Macord in the various online genealogy databases is somehow related to ‘our’ Macords – it’s a particularly unusual surname. My distant relative Colin Gronow is currently working on a definitive ‘One-Name Study‘ of the Macords. The name came into the Baker line via Alice Esther’s mother Rachael Nickolls Macord.]