Letter to John Valentine from his wife Ursula
Title
Letter to John Valentine from his wife Ursula
Description
Writes of local historic group lecture and going to bank. Continues with domestic chat mentions gardening. Thanks him for his letter and mentions neighbour news. Adds postscript with plans for the weekend and announces she is off to hairdresser.
Creator
Date
1945-09-27
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
EValentineUMValentineJRM450927
Transcription
Thursday 27th Felmersham
Darling Johnnie Do you remember that we saw an advert when you were here for the new series of WEA lectures, on the 19th Century at the Rectory here? The first one took place last night, and I organised Miss McLeod to listen for Frances while I went. It was very enjoyable indeed. The lecturer was a woman. Dr. Baker, by name, who spoke very well and informally. There were about 30 people there, I should think and every now & then we broke into discussion encouraged by the lecturer & altogether it was most interesting. The first lecture was more or less a survey of the state of the world in the 18th Century. There are to be 12 lectures in all, And I very much hope I shall be able to attend most of them. Miss McLeod declares herself quite willing to “listen” for Frances, so it all seems alright.
I went in Gerrards Cross this morning & banked £6 (£4 from last week, as I survived without spending anything except our fares home from Marston) So I shall easily be in a position to finance you this weekend. By the way I have designs on an old woolley vest of yours. I was going through your stock this morning & find you have 3 or 4 summer vests & pants & the same of winter ones, apart from what you have with you (or will you have to give any back?) Anyway the one I'm after is badly gone under both arms & between the shoulders, but the lower part will make a grand pair of winter pants for Frances which she urgently needs, so it looks as tho' you've had it as far as the vest is concerned! I dug up nearly all the potatoes yesterday & hope to finish them off this afternoon & I had a brainwave & stored them temporarily in the end rabbit hutches till they have dried off completely & can be put in sacks. There's quite a good crop, I think, & they look pretty sound to me.
Thanks for your letter of Tuesday. Pity the old oak fender was the wrong size, it sounds rather nice. By the way, don't forget to bring the plug for the bathroom bowl when you come. No sign from Mr Hatchett yet. Have told Mrs Evans we can't manage this weekend, so she said just let her know when you get your leave & she'll fix it up then. I hope she does, I like both of them very much & should like to cultivate their friendship. She was at the WEA meeting last night, so was Mrs Groom, the village schoolmaster's wife, Miss Pewley the District Nurse, the Plumbs, Joan Noye in the distance (I didn't see her to speak to) &sundry others I knew. Quite a party!
All my love to you darling, when you get this you should soon be on your way home to me, hurrah! Yours always, Ursula.
P.S. Dearest Johnnie, re meeting you this weekend: There is a fair on at St Peter's which Frances would love to go to if the weather is fine. I thought we could go early in the afternoon & meet you at the Pheasant instead of coming right out to the station (Amersham or Little Ch.) if you wouldn't mind just this once. That is, of course, if the weather is propitious, if not we'd come to the station. So would you come, in any case, to Little Chalfont. If the weather's bad, we'll meet you there, but if its not actually raining cats & dogs, or we don't show up, you catch the 335 at 4.33 pm (I don't expect you'd make the 3.33 would you?) & wait for us at the Pheasant in the bus shelter. We'll be there by 4.15 when you're due & then we can go home together or what you will. So if we're not at the station, wait for us at the Pheasant – OK?
Must dash off to the hairdresser now, & make myself beautiful (?) for your lordship. Thanks for your letter & one to small. All my love Ursula
PS The thing from Gamages has arrived
Darling Johnnie Do you remember that we saw an advert when you were here for the new series of WEA lectures, on the 19th Century at the Rectory here? The first one took place last night, and I organised Miss McLeod to listen for Frances while I went. It was very enjoyable indeed. The lecturer was a woman. Dr. Baker, by name, who spoke very well and informally. There were about 30 people there, I should think and every now & then we broke into discussion encouraged by the lecturer & altogether it was most interesting. The first lecture was more or less a survey of the state of the world in the 18th Century. There are to be 12 lectures in all, And I very much hope I shall be able to attend most of them. Miss McLeod declares herself quite willing to “listen” for Frances, so it all seems alright.
I went in Gerrards Cross this morning & banked £6 (£4 from last week, as I survived without spending anything except our fares home from Marston) So I shall easily be in a position to finance you this weekend. By the way I have designs on an old woolley vest of yours. I was going through your stock this morning & find you have 3 or 4 summer vests & pants & the same of winter ones, apart from what you have with you (or will you have to give any back?) Anyway the one I'm after is badly gone under both arms & between the shoulders, but the lower part will make a grand pair of winter pants for Frances which she urgently needs, so it looks as tho' you've had it as far as the vest is concerned! I dug up nearly all the potatoes yesterday & hope to finish them off this afternoon & I had a brainwave & stored them temporarily in the end rabbit hutches till they have dried off completely & can be put in sacks. There's quite a good crop, I think, & they look pretty sound to me.
Thanks for your letter of Tuesday. Pity the old oak fender was the wrong size, it sounds rather nice. By the way, don't forget to bring the plug for the bathroom bowl when you come. No sign from Mr Hatchett yet. Have told Mrs Evans we can't manage this weekend, so she said just let her know when you get your leave & she'll fix it up then. I hope she does, I like both of them very much & should like to cultivate their friendship. She was at the WEA meeting last night, so was Mrs Groom, the village schoolmaster's wife, Miss Pewley the District Nurse, the Plumbs, Joan Noye in the distance (I didn't see her to speak to) &sundry others I knew. Quite a party!
All my love to you darling, when you get this you should soon be on your way home to me, hurrah! Yours always, Ursula.
P.S. Dearest Johnnie, re meeting you this weekend: There is a fair on at St Peter's which Frances would love to go to if the weather is fine. I thought we could go early in the afternoon & meet you at the Pheasant instead of coming right out to the station (Amersham or Little Ch.) if you wouldn't mind just this once. That is, of course, if the weather is propitious, if not we'd come to the station. So would you come, in any case, to Little Chalfont. If the weather's bad, we'll meet you there, but if its not actually raining cats & dogs, or we don't show up, you catch the 335 at 4.33 pm (I don't expect you'd make the 3.33 would you?) & wait for us at the Pheasant in the bus shelter. We'll be there by 4.15 when you're due & then we can go home together or what you will. So if we're not at the station, wait for us at the Pheasant – OK?
Must dash off to the hairdresser now, & make myself beautiful (?) for your lordship. Thanks for your letter & one to small. All my love Ursula
PS The thing from Gamages has arrived
Collection
Citation
Ursula Valentine, “Letter to John Valentine from his wife Ursula,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed November 5, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/20506.
Item Relations
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