Letter from David Boldy to his father
Title
Letter from David Boldy to his father
Description
Letter from David Boldy to his father about working on a farm in Ipswich with Ronnie, but sacking themselves over a labour dispute/strike; now they have moved to another farm near Colchester instead. They visited Felixstowe on a number of occasions.
Creator
Spatial Coverage
Coverage
Language
Format
Four page handwritten letter
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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
EBoldyDABoldyAD41XXXX-01
Transcription
[underlined] 1 [/underlined]
Mum will forward your letters to me
Dave.
Will send address later or write to mum.
My own darling Dad,
I have lots to tell you. Sorry I did not write before but I just did not have the time. Ronnie and I came down to Ipswich on a Thursday. We went to the farms about 3 ½ miles out then found digs in Ipswich for 25s a week all found. The house we are staying in (our digs) and we are leaving in the morning, is the house of two [indecipherable word] Lancashire people and they have treated us royally. We started work on Tuesday morning, getting up at 5.0 a.m. and stopping at 6.0 p.m. – 10 hrs including lunch etc. We were dead beat when we got back. The job is picking fruit and our backs were terrible. It was worse the next day. After five days we got used to it. Lots of fresh air, a good healthy life and we are looking sunburnt and very well. There is one snag. This farmer
[page break]
sweats his labour and in spite of all that work we only made 28/9. Not even enough for our lodgings. The workmen were very discontented and quite rightly, to slog 50 or 60 hrs a week then to get about 30 or 35s is unfair. There was a sort of strike – we kept out – then a second strike in which we took part. The farmers would not let the workmen back but would let us back. We thought this unfair and on principle stood by the labourers and sacked ourselves. That meant looking for another job. We phoned up a farm in Colchester, about 17 miles from Ipswich the one Steve is going to and we have been taken on, starting work there tomorrow, for a month or more. So it has turned out still better. Cecil my tennis partner is coming to the Colchester farm on the 27th so we ought to have some good fun. Regarding the Ipswich farm a lorry picks us up every morning and though the men and [indecipherable word] women workers are
[page break]
very [indecipherable word] poor and coarse they are good fellows. We are enjoying the experience very much, & the life is a fine healthy one. In the new farm we rough it on the farm in a shed or something. It should be good fun.
You will have been very glad to hear from mum’s cable that I had passed. Apparently all our bunch (pals) have passed also. Ronnie and I celebrated when we got the wire from Peter.
We have not had much time for pleasure but I shall just say what we have done. From Tuesday till Friday we had no time on our hands. On Saturday Ronnie and I went to a flick. On Sunday Ron and I went to Felixstowe a seaside resort close by. It is very nice. We had a good time, though we did not swim. On Monday and Tuesday we worked. On Wednesday there was the strike so we went to Felixstowe. Four of us went. We
[page break]
went swimming. [indecipherable word] It is one of the best bathing places in England. We had a very nice day. Now just as a little romance (entirely flippant) has come along we have to leave Ipswich. Still we sacked ourselves firstly on the principle involved and secondly in the little money we were making – though this was Sunday for the farmer was ready to meet us [indecipherable word] but not the labourers. Well we shall probably see them at Felixstowe. We have had no time or energy for tennis or anything like that. We have had very funny weather. Very heavy rain and [deleted] fine & [/deleted] a good bit of sun at intervals. More of the sun though, and we are both looking very sunburned i.e. Ronnie and I. No more today. God bless and keep you and bring you back safely to us. With lots of love and kisses from
Your loving son
[underlined] David. [/underlined]
Mum will forward your letters to me
Dave.
Will send address later or write to mum.
My own darling Dad,
I have lots to tell you. Sorry I did not write before but I just did not have the time. Ronnie and I came down to Ipswich on a Thursday. We went to the farms about 3 ½ miles out then found digs in Ipswich for 25s a week all found. The house we are staying in (our digs) and we are leaving in the morning, is the house of two [indecipherable word] Lancashire people and they have treated us royally. We started work on Tuesday morning, getting up at 5.0 a.m. and stopping at 6.0 p.m. – 10 hrs including lunch etc. We were dead beat when we got back. The job is picking fruit and our backs were terrible. It was worse the next day. After five days we got used to it. Lots of fresh air, a good healthy life and we are looking sunburnt and very well. There is one snag. This farmer
[page break]
sweats his labour and in spite of all that work we only made 28/9. Not even enough for our lodgings. The workmen were very discontented and quite rightly, to slog 50 or 60 hrs a week then to get about 30 or 35s is unfair. There was a sort of strike – we kept out – then a second strike in which we took part. The farmers would not let the workmen back but would let us back. We thought this unfair and on principle stood by the labourers and sacked ourselves. That meant looking for another job. We phoned up a farm in Colchester, about 17 miles from Ipswich the one Steve is going to and we have been taken on, starting work there tomorrow, for a month or more. So it has turned out still better. Cecil my tennis partner is coming to the Colchester farm on the 27th so we ought to have some good fun. Regarding the Ipswich farm a lorry picks us up every morning and though the men and [indecipherable word] women workers are
[page break]
very [indecipherable word] poor and coarse they are good fellows. We are enjoying the experience very much, & the life is a fine healthy one. In the new farm we rough it on the farm in a shed or something. It should be good fun.
You will have been very glad to hear from mum’s cable that I had passed. Apparently all our bunch (pals) have passed also. Ronnie and I celebrated when we got the wire from Peter.
We have not had much time for pleasure but I shall just say what we have done. From Tuesday till Friday we had no time on our hands. On Saturday Ronnie and I went to a flick. On Sunday Ron and I went to Felixstowe a seaside resort close by. It is very nice. We had a good time, though we did not swim. On Monday and Tuesday we worked. On Wednesday there was the strike so we went to Felixstowe. Four of us went. We
[page break]
went swimming. [indecipherable word] It is one of the best bathing places in England. We had a very nice day. Now just as a little romance (entirely flippant) has come along we have to leave Ipswich. Still we sacked ourselves firstly on the principle involved and secondly in the little money we were making – though this was Sunday for the farmer was ready to meet us [indecipherable word] but not the labourers. Well we shall probably see them at Felixstowe. We have had no time or energy for tennis or anything like that. We have had very funny weather. Very heavy rain and [deleted] fine & [/deleted] a good bit of sun at intervals. More of the sun though, and we are both looking very sunburned i.e. Ronnie and I. No more today. God bless and keep you and bring you back safely to us. With lots of love and kisses from
Your loving son
[underlined] David. [/underlined]
Collection
Citation
David Boldy, “Letter from David Boldy to his father,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed July 22, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/418.
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