Letter from Hedley Madgett to his parents
Title
Letter from Hedley Madgett to his parents
Description
Writes from Washington Irving Hotel, Stratford on Avon noting that he had moved to hotel they have meals at. Mentions he is up on fire picket and talks of meals. Writes that he is leaving Saturday to I.T.W, most likely St Andrews in Scotland. although he does not wish to go there. Discusses uniform and clothing and mentions activities in local area. Writes of maths test, physical training and that civilian kit will be sent home. Concludes with request for aircraft recognition book.
Creator
Date
1941-06-04
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Five page handwritten letter
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
EMadgettLR-AGMadgettHR410604-02
Transcription
NO. 1330340. H.R. MADGETT.
FLIGHT 11/22. NO. 9. R.W.
R.A.F. Washington Irving Hotel,
Bridge Street,
Stratford on Avon.
[underlined] 4th. June [/underlined]
Dear Mum & Dad,
As you can see, we have moved – to the Hotel we have our meals at, which is very convenient.
I am writing this letter at 3.15 in the morning at Grove House, as I am on Fire Piquet Duty. We only keep the boiler going, and read. We are on in pairs, and our time is from 1.10 a.m. to 3.40 a.m.
Our meals, as I have said before, are very good. Lately, we have had salad – including tomatoes, onions and
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
cucumbers. This evening I had the ordinary supper – salad and cold suasage [sic] meat today, and then had another supper for Fire Piquet Duty, of 3 cold pilchards, beetroot and mashed potatoes. The midday meals are just as good.
We should be leaving here on Saturday to go to the I.T.W. the most likely one to which we shall go is St. Andrews in Fifeshire, Scotland. I don’t think any place could be so out of the way. We are all hoping we are not posted there.
[deleted] As [/deleted] I have not received my pants yet, and have had to wear the RAF issue, and they are awful. There is no
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
need to send on a vest, as I do not wear one now. The uniform is quite warm, and on Whitsun [deleted] we [/deleted] Sunday, we were stewing. Stratford was crowded for the holiday, and on that Sunday went to church, and then went boating on the river.
We have just had our maths grading test – it was fairly easy, and did all but two questions. They want to know your standard, [deleted] on [/deleted] and no permanent record is attached to this exam. We have been having a lot of drill lately with a new P.T. Instructor, and he is much more strict than our other
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
corporal, who has gone on leave. On Saturday we had P.T. We had to run 3/4 mile to the riverside, where, on joining the other Flights, we were put through it. It was very strenuous, and quite a crowd watching. Then there was a race through the town back to our billets, which just about gave us all the exercise we needed that day.
The R.A.F. are sending our civy [sic] kit home, so you should be getting it at the end of the week. There is the attaché case and a parcel of my raincoat, & jacket attached outside. In the case you will find some picture postcards
[page break]
[underlined] 5 [/underlined]
of the town. I have written G. Harker & Co. and Nellie.
By the way, when you send me the parcel, would you enclose that book of various aircraft, British and German. We have to know 87 different types of aircraft, and I am sure I do not know more than a dozen. It includes Italian planes as well.
Well, that is all for now, so Goodbye,
Love from [underlined] Hedley. [/underlined]
P.S. It’s beginning to be rather boring cleaning one’s buttons every day. Can you suggest a method where you do not have to rub.?
FLIGHT 11/22. NO. 9. R.W.
R.A.F. Washington Irving Hotel,
Bridge Street,
Stratford on Avon.
[underlined] 4th. June [/underlined]
Dear Mum & Dad,
As you can see, we have moved – to the Hotel we have our meals at, which is very convenient.
I am writing this letter at 3.15 in the morning at Grove House, as I am on Fire Piquet Duty. We only keep the boiler going, and read. We are on in pairs, and our time is from 1.10 a.m. to 3.40 a.m.
Our meals, as I have said before, are very good. Lately, we have had salad – including tomatoes, onions and
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
cucumbers. This evening I had the ordinary supper – salad and cold suasage [sic] meat today, and then had another supper for Fire Piquet Duty, of 3 cold pilchards, beetroot and mashed potatoes. The midday meals are just as good.
We should be leaving here on Saturday to go to the I.T.W. the most likely one to which we shall go is St. Andrews in Fifeshire, Scotland. I don’t think any place could be so out of the way. We are all hoping we are not posted there.
[deleted] As [/deleted] I have not received my pants yet, and have had to wear the RAF issue, and they are awful. There is no
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
need to send on a vest, as I do not wear one now. The uniform is quite warm, and on Whitsun [deleted] we [/deleted] Sunday, we were stewing. Stratford was crowded for the holiday, and on that Sunday went to church, and then went boating on the river.
We have just had our maths grading test – it was fairly easy, and did all but two questions. They want to know your standard, [deleted] on [/deleted] and no permanent record is attached to this exam. We have been having a lot of drill lately with a new P.T. Instructor, and he is much more strict than our other
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
corporal, who has gone on leave. On Saturday we had P.T. We had to run 3/4 mile to the riverside, where, on joining the other Flights, we were put through it. It was very strenuous, and quite a crowd watching. Then there was a race through the town back to our billets, which just about gave us all the exercise we needed that day.
The R.A.F. are sending our civy [sic] kit home, so you should be getting it at the end of the week. There is the attaché case and a parcel of my raincoat, & jacket attached outside. In the case you will find some picture postcards
[page break]
[underlined] 5 [/underlined]
of the town. I have written G. Harker & Co. and Nellie.
By the way, when you send me the parcel, would you enclose that book of various aircraft, British and German. We have to know 87 different types of aircraft, and I am sure I do not know more than a dozen. It includes Italian planes as well.
Well, that is all for now, so Goodbye,
Love from [underlined] Hedley. [/underlined]
P.S. It’s beginning to be rather boring cleaning one’s buttons every day. Can you suggest a method where you do not have to rub.?
Collection
Citation
Hedley Robert Madgett, “Letter from Hedley Madgett to his parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed October 30, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/11095.
Item Relations
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