Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Title
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Description
He writes of his social life and colleagues and gives his thoughts on the state of the Civil Service.
Creator
Date
1943-08-28
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Four handwritten sheets
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.
Contributor
Identifier
EGortonHGortonLCM430828-02
Transcription
OFFICERS’ MESS,
ROYAL AIR FORCE,
CARK,
NORTH LANCASHIRE.
TELEPHONE GRANGE 390.
28/8/43
Dearest,
My conscience is troubling me, so I am starting another letter. I had intended to post your letter in the village, but it was so wet this morning that I dropped it in the Mess Letter Box. I told the Corporal to make sure the box was cleared, but I’ve been busy this afternoon, helping to decorate the Mess for the dance, & forgot to make sure it was collected. Please forgive me if you don’t get a letter on Monday.
That Anson we saw on Tuesday was from Cark. F/Sgt Evans has a girl or some other friend in
[page break]
2
Breightmet, on the Bury side of Bolton, & so he decided [inserted] to [/inserted] pay a visit while doing a N/F test. Nothing has been heard of it, but I think he’s lucky to get away with it.
I got a phone call from Miss Westwood this afternoon. She is having Mr & Mrs Wilson to tea tomorrow, & has asked me to go.
I’ve been thinking regretfully of the possibility of your coming to the Mess dance. Boddy would probably have put you up for the night & you could have travelled back on Monday. It’s only a pipe dream, but I shouldn’t have thought of it if you hadn’t been comparatively near this week.
[page break]
3
I don’t know if I’ve made myself clear, but I’m trying to say how much I appreciate your difficulties, & admire you for sticking things as you do.
They made up the leave roster while I was away, & I am down for Sept 16 – 27. That’s actually 10 days & a 48, but we don’t want it all at once, do we, so I can have either the 16th – 25th or 18th – 27th, just as you like.
I enjoyed “Passed to You, Please”, but thought he overstated his case. When all is said and done, I think a Civil Service that can expand as it has done during the war, & can control the whole life of the
[page break]
4
country even with the muddle we have today, has no mean achievement to it’s credit. I agree with his criticism of the class aspect of the civil service etc., & think a lot needs to be done to improve it, but there’ll have to be big changes in the life of the country, & few people at the moment seem mentally prepared for them.
Still, that’s enough of that. All my love, darling. Leave in 3 weeks time! I’ll be seeing you
Harold.
ROYAL AIR FORCE,
CARK,
NORTH LANCASHIRE.
TELEPHONE GRANGE 390.
28/8/43
Dearest,
My conscience is troubling me, so I am starting another letter. I had intended to post your letter in the village, but it was so wet this morning that I dropped it in the Mess Letter Box. I told the Corporal to make sure the box was cleared, but I’ve been busy this afternoon, helping to decorate the Mess for the dance, & forgot to make sure it was collected. Please forgive me if you don’t get a letter on Monday.
That Anson we saw on Tuesday was from Cark. F/Sgt Evans has a girl or some other friend in
[page break]
2
Breightmet, on the Bury side of Bolton, & so he decided [inserted] to [/inserted] pay a visit while doing a N/F test. Nothing has been heard of it, but I think he’s lucky to get away with it.
I got a phone call from Miss Westwood this afternoon. She is having Mr & Mrs Wilson to tea tomorrow, & has asked me to go.
I’ve been thinking regretfully of the possibility of your coming to the Mess dance. Boddy would probably have put you up for the night & you could have travelled back on Monday. It’s only a pipe dream, but I shouldn’t have thought of it if you hadn’t been comparatively near this week.
[page break]
3
I don’t know if I’ve made myself clear, but I’m trying to say how much I appreciate your difficulties, & admire you for sticking things as you do.
They made up the leave roster while I was away, & I am down for Sept 16 – 27. That’s actually 10 days & a 48, but we don’t want it all at once, do we, so I can have either the 16th – 25th or 18th – 27th, just as you like.
I enjoyed “Passed to You, Please”, but thought he overstated his case. When all is said and done, I think a Civil Service that can expand as it has done during the war, & can control the whole life of the
[page break]
4
country even with the muddle we have today, has no mean achievement to it’s credit. I agree with his criticism of the class aspect of the civil service etc., & think a lot needs to be done to improve it, but there’ll have to be big changes in the life of the country, & few people at the moment seem mentally prepared for them.
Still, that’s enough of that. All my love, darling. Leave in 3 weeks time! I’ll be seeing you
Harold.
Collection
Citation
Harold Gorton, “Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 19, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/9125.
Item Relations
This item has no relations.