Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife

Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife

He writes of the arrangements for his 48 hour leave and the weather.

1943-08-17

Five handwritten sheets

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EGortonHGortonLCM430817

OFFICERS’ MESS,
ROYAL AIR FORCE,
CARK,
NORTH LANCASHIRE.
TELEPHONE GRANGE 390.
17/8/43
Dearest,
I got your welcome letter at lunch time today, & like you, can hardly wait until next Monday.
I’m very interested to learn about Kendal. Frankly, I don’t know what to say, because I’d like to have you near me up here, but I’m a bit dubious about this P.T. racket. I don’t think you need worry about not getting the job. Mr. Wilson said that nowadays adverts might not get a single reply, or at most, one or two. The only question is whether you want to take it. Whatever you think will suit you best will suit
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me, & of course, if it means an extra visit to this part of the world, well and good.
Alice is going to send the bike to Grace, so she should have it in a day or two. I hope it proves useful.
I’m glad you like “The Man who was Thursday.” It’s very good, isn’t it, and a refreshing change from the ordinary novel. If you finish “Passed to You, Please”, perhaps you could bring it up to Farnsworth with you, but it doesn’t matter, as it’s more important for you to have a book to read than for me.
I’m sorry I was so cryptic about “I see Ice”, but we looked through the paper to see the film that would be
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most suitable for Mary, & decided on George Formby.
I’ve been looking at the Manchester Guardian this week. There’ll be a play on, “The Wind & the Rain”, & also, I think, Leslie Howard’s film “The Gentle Sex,” but I’ll have a look on Monday morning at the week’s programmes.
I think I shall probably wangle the extra day. The only snag is that officially we’re supposed to notify the Adjutant if we’re away from camp for a night, & if he finds that [deleted] O [/deleted] I shall be taking three days instead of two, he’ll put his
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foot down. Anyway, I’m not due in until Thursday morning, so I shall tell him that I’m going on a 48 & not turn up until Thursday evening.
You seem to have had some good weather. It has been lousy here until the last two days when there has been a little improvement. Even so, it was too windy last night for us to taxy. My pupil just gave up at one point, and it was as much as I could do to control the aircraft on the ground.
I’m sending the ring with this letter. I’m not very satisfied with it, especially as it’s too big, so chuck it
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away if it’s no good. Anyway, all my love went into the making of it, even if the results aren’t good.
Only five more days now, darling.
All my love,
Harold.
P.S. I’ve deliberately made the ring thicker than the other one, so that it won’t break so easily.