Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula

Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula

She writes about attending an ambulance station bazaar which Dame Myra Hess formally opened; going to hear a speech by Sir Walter Monkton about prisoners of war; selling flags on Flag day for London; daily/social activities and her factory work.

1942-12-02

Two page typewritten letter

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EValentineUMValentineJRM421202

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To Sergeant J.R.M. Valentine,
British Prisoner of War No. 450,
Stalag Luft III, Germany.
No. 38
[inserted] A lock of Frances’s hair just to show you the colour. [/inserted]
From Mrs. J R.M. Valentine,
Lido, Tenterden Grove,
London, N.W.4.
Wednesday, December 2nd 1942
[inserted] R & A 8/2/43 [/inserted]
[stamp GEPRUFT 32]
My dearest Johnnie,
Last Friday Frances made her first appearance in the world of celebrities. The bazaar on Ba’s ambulance station was formally opened by Dame Myra Hess, and Frances was asked to present the bouquet afterwards! We arrived a few minutes early, so that Frances and Dame Myra could get acquainted, and they made friends quickly. When Dame Myra had finished her short speech opening the bazaar, Frances tottered forward from the wings under a large bouquet of carnations – luckily she only had a few steps to go – dropped the flowers, recovered them and staggered on, whereupon Myra came to the rescue, relieved her of the carnations and presented her in exchange with a pink pig, which Barbara had already bought for her on behalf of Margery Gunn. Frances was thrilled with the pig, and hugged it to her for the rest of the afternoon. The bazaar was really very good considering all the restrictions imposed by rationing and the rest, and I bought several soft toys for babies of our acquaintance – I am not giving many grown-ups presents this year. Later on we had tea during which time Frances was busy playing with one of the ambulance girls she had made friends with, and eventually we tottered home under a motley collection of wares. A good time was had by all, specially Frances. She enjoys every sort of outing and party, is not the least bit shy with anyone, and always has a thoroughly good time.
On Sunday I went up to the Coliseum to a meeting got up by the Red Cross about Prisoners of War, at which Sir Walter Monkton, of the M.O.I., was the chief speaker. He gave a very lucid factual review of the status and rights of prisoners, mentioning some infringements, and afterwards the lady who is in charge of the correspondence department of the Red Cross gave some idea of the work they do there. It was quite an interesting meeting altogether – and naturally we were urged to do our best to raise funds for the special prisoners of war week which is on now. Most of us didn’t need urging, I should think.
The flag day for London was yesterday, and Frances and I were out bright and early, at 9 a.m., outside Walklings at the Quadrant, with our tin and our tray of emblems. Trade was quite brisk, though I was rather hampered by a 10/- note which got stuck in the top of my tin for a while. It was a fine day, though pretty cold, and Frances was just about getting browned off with sitting in the pram when Barbara arrived, coming off duty, and she took Frances home with her, while I continued selling flags till 11 a.m. I haven’t heard yet how much cash I got in my tin, but anyway when I handed it in I was able to present my cheque for £8, being the proceeds of the raffle of the two Christmas cakes and the Christmas pudding which I have told you so much about.
In the afternoon we had a tea-party to draw for the raffle tickets, at which Mrs. Greenish and Helen, Mary Simmonds and David and Betty Milligan were present. I had asked Helen to do the
[inserted] I had a letter from Olga to say that Jack is homeward bound. Aren’t they lucky dogs! [/inserted]
[page break]
draw for me, as she is at home just now recovering from an operation for appendicitis and I thought it would be useful employment for her. Well, she did the draw alright, but picked all the wrong people for my cakes and pudding. One cake and the pudding went to two ladies up at the Red Cross working party whom I hardly know at all – I went up there one day when they were all at work and sold a heap of tickets, but don’t know most of them from Adam. The other cake went to Phyllis Rosenberg, with whom Betty Hughes lives, over at the flats, and that was the limit because Betty had just won a raffle too, at the Ambulance station bazaar, and had got a beautiful silver fox fur. Some people have all the luck! However, I took the booty round to their owners today and am heartily glad to have got rid of it. Several people had told me gloomily that the cakes wouldn’t keep, being made of national flour and dried egg, but they were perfectly alright when I handed them over, so I don’t care what happens now. I am really rather pleased to have made as much as £8, I shouldn’t have thought it possible.
This afternoon Frances and I went to tea with Mrs. Boyd, and had a very pleasant time as usual. I am sure you will like her, she is so very full of vitality and good spirits, and yet gets through a vast amount of work in a day. Frances played out in the garden, at first alone and then with the boys when they came home, and at one stage we saw her out of the window being pushed round the garden by the twins in a sort of wooden car, looking extremely regal and pleased with herself.
The work at the factory has been proceeding according to to [sic] plan, except that last night the wireless had been removed, nobody knows quite why, and we all missed it tremendously. It makes the time and the work go far more quickly if there is music or something interesting on to keep your mind off fatigue and the clock, specially when it get towards 10.30 p.m. and later. We all are going to make a fuss and try to get another installed. I was able to buy two certificates out of my pay last week, which made me very proud. Talking of pay, I understood that from November onwards our income tax was to be deducted by Touche’s. However, this month’s allowance arrived the same as usual, so I rang up Miss Abel and asked her about it. She was rather vague and said she hadn’t had any definite ruling about what was to happen but if I liked would deduct it from December onwards, so I told her to do that. You said I should then withdraw what we have put aside for income tax and put it into savings, but I am very nervous lest after all they should come down on me for it, so I think I shall put it somewhere more easily available than our joint account which I suppose I couldn’t withdraw from without your signature.
Did I tell you that I had made myself a new hat for Irene’s wedding? I wore it to the bazaar and felt rather gay. In case you didn’t receive my last letter, I had better repeat that she is to be married to F/O William Birnie, M.B., Ch.B., an RAF MO, on December 12th. This is the third man she has been engaged to in a few months. I am looking forward to meeting him at the wedding which is to be at Crown Court with lunch at the Waldorf.
I am getting very keen on fluorescent lighting, such as we have at our little factory, and would like to have it in our future home. The light is much more like daylight than ordinary electric light and much kinder to the eyes. It is more expensive to instal [sic] in the first place, costing about 30/- or so for a unit, but far cheaper to run subsequently. We shall have to go into the question together.
With best wishes for the New Year – may it see us re-united.
All my love to you always. Ursula.