Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents

Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents

Three weeks to Christmas, so sending greetings and hopes message gets to him in time. No letters from him for ten weeks but she keeps sending theirs in the hope that he will get some of them. Describes some activities and comments on weather. Passes on sad news about an acquaintance who had died.

1941-12-03

Two page handwritten letter

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EHudsonP-HEHudsonJD411203

[inserted] 92 [/inserted]
[inserted] 7-1-42 [/inserted]
191 Halifax Road
Nelson Lancs.
England.
Wed. 3rd Dec. 1941.
My dear Douglas.
Three weeks tomorrow will be Christmas so once again I am sending you Christmas greetings from Dad & myself in the hope that you may receive the wishes in time. All my recent letters to you have contained greetings so I do hope you will have got them all right. We are still waiting for letters (ten weeks last Saturday since we had the last one.) & I just keep on writing two & three letters each week in the hope that some will reach you safely. I [deleted] had [/deleted] [inserted] have [/inserted] also mailed a calendar, a book mark calendar, (one to Tony at the same time) & a greetings card. Today I listened in to Greetings to the forces from relatives in Canada & how I did wish I could speak a cheery message to you too. Afterwards I went on my little shopping expedition. It is really most pleasant. I love the park & today I had it to myself except for the gardeners. Many of them were engaged sweeping up the great drifts of leaves. The trees stand tall & bare now & I shall look forward with so much pleasure to the appearance of the new green buds. When I arrived home this afternoon the apple tree had been left in the front garden & as it was
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a nice mild day (we had fog early this morning) I set to work to plant the said tree. It was rather a hurried business owing to the culinary duties waiting for me but I got the roots covered with soil & trod it well down (in my Wellingtons, they [underlined] are [/underlined] useful in the garden) & if it doesn’t look very professional at the weekend perhaps Dad will complete the job. He only sees the garden at the weekends at present. It is black-dark when Dad leaves home in the morning & I am very thankful his bus stop is just across the road & he uses a dimmed torch to signal the driver.
Well, love, I have some sad news to tell you. A letter from Mrs Clayton [inserted] yesterday Tuesday [/inserted] told that Mr Clayton was in hospital about to undergo an operation. I wrote straight away expressing our sympathy & hoping soon to have better news. My neighbour Miss Chester rang up for me today & learned that Mr Clayton died during Monday night & I am now awaiting more news. We learn from the Guardian which Dad brought in tonight that the funeral is on Friday at 2 p.m. I shall go see Mrs Clayton either tomorrow or Friday. It is a pity it takes so long to do the journey. The days are so short. Well love Dad is just having his usual “winks” so I will put the kettle on for a cup of tea. It is a lovely night. I wonder if you are warm enough. All our love & thoughts & prayers come in every letter to you & once again “Happy Christmas” from Mother & Dad.
755052 Hudson
Camp Militaire
Laghouat
Algerie N. Africa.