in
Art
Thus with three distinctions & four credits I am exempt from taking Matriculation so long as I pay the fee. The failure in Art does not matter because it is my spare subject.
I am afraid I shall not come home till Sunday, because Saturday’s bus is full up. I shall arrive at Victoria at the usual time i.e. 4.25 p.m. if I remember right. I am sending the bulk of my luggage by Crooks, the rest I shall carry. The bicycle will go by Crook’s too. We can give the driver a tip when we meet the lorry at Olympia.
There is very little else to say. Mr. Redfearn will give me a nice testimonial, but you will see that yourselves. I shall leave about 1/- for John before I go, I cannot spare more. I shall not write any more now, & I am posting this right now so that you can get the results soon.
Lots of love from
Andrew
Moving On
This final letter from Andrew in Melksham marks his return to London, to pursue a career along lines discussed in his letters. I was now left in Melksham alone – for what was an unknown duration. My letters are more sporadic than Andrew’s were, misspelled and much less erudite, if, perhaps, laced with more humour.
Notes from Father
The business began to do well and I was holding my breath waiting to see if I would get the job with the BBC. Early in 1941, Andrew came home from Melksham for good. He matriculated at 16, and a friend, an elderly stockbroker, got him a job in a firm of stockbrokers. He was paid around 30 shillings a week and proud to be a wage earner. He was first in his class at matriculation and his teachers gave him an exceptionally good letter of recommendation. Poor Johnny had to stay in Melksham alone.
Andrew was a big, tall and lanky boy, modest and sensible. He was very active with the Scouts, where they liked him and he became a Patrol Leader. He joined the group of firewatchers in the apartment block and he had to go to the roof of the house twice a week. Sometimes it was impossible to get home at night because the air raid was so heavy. Those times, we slept in the Pop Inn. Sometimes English friends came in for dinner and played bridge because they could not go out either. One night a tremendous explosion shook us all. The house opposite the Pop Inn was hit, the windows in the Pop Inn were broken and one of the counters fell over. We worked till the morning to get some semblance of order, so as not to have to close the restaurant. Next morning we heard that the owner of the restaurant opposite us, had gone home with his wife, thinking they would be safer there. Indeed, the windows of his restaurant were broken, but the house where they lived got a direct hit and they were dragged out of the rubble dead. My sweetheart wife, your Mum, how often she said that she would be very frightened if I were not at her side, but when we were together, she knew no fear.
24 January 1941
Dear Mum & Dad,
I hope Andrew has arrived safely I am very sorry I could not see Andrew off. I got his hat and gas-mask but by the time I got back Andrew was gone with the wind. I will send it back as soon as I can. How are air-raids? I hope everything is O.K.
John’s original letter of 3 February 1941. (Author’s collection)
I am not getting on too badly and I hope I will soon get used to being alone. Have you heard from the B.B.C.
I am very proud that Andrew has passed the Cambridge so magnificently it was a wonderful effort, and I shouldn’t be surprised the by the time he gets a firm of his own, he will earn about 10 pounds a week. I am sending the ‘Hotspur’ for Andrew. I could not get ‘The Scout on Saterday’ so I de-ordered it. Please write and send me some money and as soon as possible.
Lots of love from
John
P.S. Dear Sir (Mr. Oscar Forbat 23 )
You were a silly twerp to forget your hat and gas-mask but I’ll send it as soon as I get some money.
John
3 February 1941
Dear Mum and Dad,
I took my shoes (the ones Helen bought last year) down to the cobblers to have
Art
Thus with three distinctions & four credits I am exempt from taking Matriculation so long as I pay the fee. The failure in Art does not matter because it is my spare subject.
I am afraid I shall not come home till Sunday, because Saturday’s bus is full up. I shall arrive at Victoria at the usual time i.e. 4.25 p.m. if I remember right. I am sending the bulk of my luggage by Crooks, the rest I shall carry. The bicycle will go by Crook’s too. We can give the driver a tip when we meet the lorry at Olympia.
There is very little else to say. Mr. Redfearn will give me a nice testimonial, but you will see that yourselves. I shall leave about 1/- for John before I go, I cannot spare more. I shall not write any more now, & I am posting this right now so that you can get the results soon.
Lots of love from
Andrew
Moving On
This final letter from Andrew in Melksham marks his return to London, to pursue a career along lines discussed in his letters. I was now left in Melksham alone – for what was an unknown duration. My letters are more sporadic than Andrew’s were, misspelled and much less erudite, if, perhaps, laced with more humour.
Notes from Father
The business began to do well and I was holding my breath waiting to see if I would get the job with the BBC. Early in 1941, Andrew came home from Melksham for good. He matriculated at 16, and a friend, an elderly stockbroker, got him a job in a firm of stockbrokers. He was paid around 30 shillings a week and proud to be a wage earner. He was first in his class at matriculation and his teachers gave him an exceptionally good letter of recommendation. Poor Johnny had to stay in Melksham alone.
Andrew was a big, tall and lanky boy, modest and sensible. He was very active with the Scouts, where they liked him and he became a Patrol Leader. He joined the group of firewatchers in the apartment block and he had to go to the roof of the house twice a week. Sometimes it was impossible to get home at night because the air raid was so heavy. Those times, we slept in the Pop Inn. Sometimes English friends came in for dinner and played bridge because they could not go out either. One night a tremendous explosion shook us all. The house opposite the Pop Inn was hit, the windows in the Pop Inn were broken and one of the counters fell over. We worked till the morning to get some semblance of order, so as not to have to close the restaurant. Next morning we heard that the owner of the restaurant opposite us, had gone home with his wife, thinking they would be safer there. Indeed, the windows of his restaurant were broken, but the house where they lived got a direct hit and they were dragged out of the rubble dead. My sweetheart wife, your Mum, how often she said that she would be very frightened if I were not at her side, but when we were together, she knew no fear.
24 January 1941
Dear Mum & Dad,
I hope Andrew has arrived safely I am very sorry I could not see Andrew off. I got his hat and gas-mask but by the time I got back Andrew was gone with the wind. I will send it back as soon as I can. How are air-raids? I hope everything is O.K.
John’s original letter of 3 February 1941. (Author’s collection)
I am not getting on too badly and I hope I will soon get used to being alone. Have you heard from the B.B.C.
I am very proud that Andrew has passed the Cambridge so magnificently it was a wonderful effort, and I shouldn’t be surprised the by the time he gets a firm of his own, he will earn about 10 pounds a week. I am sending the ‘Hotspur’ for Andrew. I could not get ‘The Scout on Saterday’ so I de-ordered it. Please write and send me some money and as soon as possible.
Lots of love from
John
P.S. Dear Sir (Mr. Oscar Forbat 23 )
You were a silly twerp to forget your hat and gas-mask but I’ll send it as soon as I get some money.
John
3 February 1941
Dear Mum and Dad,
I took my shoes (the ones Helen bought last year) down to the cobblers to have
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