Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula

Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula

Writes of much progress on house purchase and her plans to move in. Writes their new address in Chalfont St Giles. Mentions repairs to their piano and of financial matters. Continues with gossip and news of their daughter activities.

1943-10-23

Two page handwritten letter

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EValentineUMValentineJRM431023

Start of transcription
To Sgt JRM Valentine
British P/W 482
Stalag Luft VI Germany
[stamp GEPRUFT 25]
[inserted] R. 14/12 A 20/12 [/inserted]
From Mrs Valentine
Little Close, Devon Road
Salcombe, Devon.
Tele. Salcombe 229.
October 23rd 1943
My darling Johnnie,
Things have begun to move at last as regards our house. Mr Burgis, the solicitor has sent me the engrossment of the contract to sign & it is all due to be completed by 30th October. So I am arranging for the furniture to be moved on the 4th or 5th of November & I am going up a day or two before to do the painting & staining of floors. I do hope everything works out to schedule, there have been so many odd bits of furniture stored in various shops in London which all have to be rounded up & delivered. I am also having a spot of bother about the piano. The Blind School have given an estimate for the repair amounting to £9.10 & now of course Mr Herne is jibbing at paying it. I have given him a time limit & shall then get Mr Burgis to write him a solicitor’s letter, though I have grave doubts as to whether we shall be able to force him to pay in the end. I should hate to have to pay it myself just now, but I [underlined] should [/underlined] like to have the piano in working order ready to accompany you!Tthe thought of having our own establishment at last is very exciting. I do hope you will make some of our joint funds available to me as soon as poss. I won’t spend
[page break]
a bean unnecessarily, but by the time I’ve paid for the moving in & essential black-outs etc I shall probably be down to rock-bottom & it would be nice to have some reserve for emergencies. If you receive all my letters you may think I harp on the subject, but I’m reckoning you don’t get them all so I mention the subject from time to time. Our address is:- FELMERSHAM, BOTTRELL’S LANE, CHALFONT ST. GILES, BUCKS. There is no telephone. Can you suggest a better name for the house? I have been doing a fearful lot of letter writing over the whole business & miss our typewriter. I’ve had a very nice letter from Herbert G. By the way, I must confess that I have been wearing your wrist-watch a bit lately, I haven’t damaged it but if I did Touche’s might stand you another one. However I’ll take great care of it, and you must too. I do love you so much, darling, and I’m just longing to have you home safe & sound. Do look after yourself, I’m afraid the winter will be pretty bitter in your part of the world. Frances is as full of beans as ever I took her to church last Sunday but it wasn’t a great success & we came out quite soon. She stared solemnly at the stained glass windows & then said in a loud voice “Oh, look at those dollies.” Her other comments were equally inopportune & penetrating I’m afraid its Sunday school or nothing for her, tho’ cousin Robert is reputed to sit through church very placidly. How I wish you could see her at this age, she’s a wee monkey but a very charming one. All my love to you darling, take great care of yourself, you’re the most precious thing of all to me. Ursula.