Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula

Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula

Number 78-135. No letters from her. Reports on weather and state of camp. Writes he is living with excellent crowd of fellows and goes on to describe some. Mentions persisting with violin averaging four hours a day of practise but handicapped by lack of strings.

1943-11-15

Two page handwritten letter

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EValentineJRMValentineUM431115

15th November 1943.

Darling Ursula: I’ve no fresh letter of yours – yours up to [one word obliterated by ink mark] are here except No. [one word obliterated by ink mark] Had a letter from Heath yesterday – it was kind of him to write sorry I can’t acknowledge personally life here continues to be unpleasant – the climate is awful & very little suffice to convert our crowded compound into a quagmire which is constantly churned by thousands of pairs of feet. In one respect I prefer it to Luft III though. I’m living with an excellent crowd of fellows (Frank Pepper’s crowd) all of them POWs since 1940. The company is a great improvement on the Dutchmen only. Mike Loos[?] is no longer in my billet, thank goodness but Hans & Louis are. Hans is not bad company but very colourless & neutral which gets on ones nerves in time. Louis has changed a lot since we moved . At Luft III he was good company because, as I see now, conditions were good. Here where its constantly unpleasant he is a miserable blighter – always grumbling but not in a good humoured way. The Dutchmen don’t seem to have the “share & share alike” attitude which we do. I persist in my fiddle study by the grim exercise of that quality of mine which you term “mulishness”. It is only recently that I have felt any real wish to desist – chiefly because conditions for practice are so absolutely & undeniably [censored word] I manage nowadays to average 4 hrs a day – 7 days a week but these hours are spent usually in the most acutely uncomfortable conditions with all sorts of noises going on around or in painfully cramped, damp space. In addition I have been handicapped by lack of strings a wretched bow & finally, to [one indecipherable word], my fiddle came to pieces – through constant dampness the glue holding it together gave way; we have attempted to re-assemble it but so far without success & I’m using an awful old thing which no one else wants. However I do get a little fun out of it – particularly with those pieces you sent – “Old Masters[?] etc.” I’ve finished these now and am about to start on the stuff kindly sent by Miss Hoare. The Kayser studies you sent are a boon & have improved me a lot since they came. I long to be good enough to play with you & work all the time with only that end in view. You are a constant source of inspiration to me in every way here – a very very real inspiration too. I assure you I long to see you & Frances again I think of you both constantly. Keep well & cheerful. Fondest love, Love.

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[reverse of letter]
GEPRUFT 25

MRS U M VALENTINE
[deleted] c/o LITTLE CLOSE
DEVON ROAD, SALCOMBE, DEVON [/deleted]
[inserted] FELMERSHAM
BOTTRELL’S LANE
CHALFONT ST GILES
BUCKS
ENGLAND [/inserted]

[/reverse of letter]

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