Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula
Title
Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula
Description
Writes about daughter Frances being 18 months old, has no sign of measles and her putting squash ball in the oven where it melted. Continues with family news and description of her recent activities. Mentions that Red Cross is sending medicines and she has reconciled accounts. Concludes with family news.
Creator
Date
1942-10-15
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Two sides handwritten letter card
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.
Contributor
Identifier
EValentineUMValentineJRM421015
Transcription
WRITE VERY CLEARLY ON LINES TO AVOID DELAY IN CENSORSHIP
No 29.
[inserted] R & 11[?] 11/11/42 [/inserted]
Johnnie my dearest,
As Frances is now 18 months old, I have measured her height up against the door post & find it to be 3’ 2 1/2 “, which seems fair enough. She shows no signs of measles yet & is as full of mischief as ever. On Monday when I came to cook the supper after she was in bed, using the little tin over I told you of before, I was nearly overpowered by a terrible stench of burning rubber, & found Frances had thoughtfully put a squash-ball in the bottom of the oven, & of course it had melted! When Ann was here the other day we had quite a long & earnest discussion on her future career & on life in general. She has sound & surprisingly tolerant ideas, I was glad to find. She is taking maths[?] next summer & can’t decide at all what to do afterwards, but is anxious that her career shall be one of service to the community, which is very right & proper. She said the concert we went to made her think how music & the arts draw people of all nationalities together in [one indecipherable word] enjoyment & regret that politics divide – so I feel we didn’t go in vain! This afternoon Barbara & I have been to see a Sydney Howard farce up at the Strand – “Night of the Garter.” Ba was given 2 12/65 stalls, so we did it in style. The Popes took charge of Frances. Frances & I went to tea with Betty Mulligan[?] & her mother on Tuesday, & tomorrow we are to go to tea with Bish. I actually
[page break]
[inserted] [underlined] P.S. [/underlined] Medicines being sent airmail by Red Cross Medical Dept. [/inserted]
managed to balance our “wee bookies” yesterday – a great feat for me. I’ve been sending in returns for the street savings group too – our grand total for just over a year is £399.0.6! had a lovely & most welcome parcel from mother, but there’s still no news about her homecoming. Hope the fiddle is going on satisfactorily & that you are enjoying playing now. All my love to you, darling. Ursula.
[Address on reverse of letter]
Sergeant John R.M. VALENTINE
Prisoner War No. 450
STALAG LUFT III
GERMANY
From:
Mrs J.R.M. Valentine
Lido,
Tenterden Grove,
Hendon, London. [/address on reverse of letter]
[page break]
No 29.
[inserted] R & 11[?] 11/11/42 [/inserted]
Johnnie my dearest,
As Frances is now 18 months old, I have measured her height up against the door post & find it to be 3’ 2 1/2 “, which seems fair enough. She shows no signs of measles yet & is as full of mischief as ever. On Monday when I came to cook the supper after she was in bed, using the little tin over I told you of before, I was nearly overpowered by a terrible stench of burning rubber, & found Frances had thoughtfully put a squash-ball in the bottom of the oven, & of course it had melted! When Ann was here the other day we had quite a long & earnest discussion on her future career & on life in general. She has sound & surprisingly tolerant ideas, I was glad to find. She is taking maths[?] next summer & can’t decide at all what to do afterwards, but is anxious that her career shall be one of service to the community, which is very right & proper. She said the concert we went to made her think how music & the arts draw people of all nationalities together in [one indecipherable word] enjoyment & regret that politics divide – so I feel we didn’t go in vain! This afternoon Barbara & I have been to see a Sydney Howard farce up at the Strand – “Night of the Garter.” Ba was given 2 12/65 stalls, so we did it in style. The Popes took charge of Frances. Frances & I went to tea with Betty Mulligan[?] & her mother on Tuesday, & tomorrow we are to go to tea with Bish. I actually
[page break]
[inserted] [underlined] P.S. [/underlined] Medicines being sent airmail by Red Cross Medical Dept. [/inserted]
managed to balance our “wee bookies” yesterday – a great feat for me. I’ve been sending in returns for the street savings group too – our grand total for just over a year is £399.0.6! had a lovely & most welcome parcel from mother, but there’s still no news about her homecoming. Hope the fiddle is going on satisfactorily & that you are enjoying playing now. All my love to you, darling. Ursula.
[Address on reverse of letter]
Sergeant John R.M. VALENTINE
Prisoner War No. 450
STALAG LUFT III
GERMANY
From:
Mrs J.R.M. Valentine
Lido,
Tenterden Grove,
Hendon, London. [/address on reverse of letter]
[page break]
Collection
Citation
Ursula Valentine, “Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed July 22, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/19983.
Item Relations
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