12th Oct 1941
Dear Angela
Your letter arrived over a week ago but I simply have not had time to answer it. You will have been back at school about six weeks by now - I have been at college for just over one week, this is the reason why I have had so little time to answer your letter. I will start at my first day at college and give my experiences in order. I began on Oct 1st at 9.15, an address from the principal of the college was about all we got that morning. We were supposed to have the afternoon free - but we had to put in three hours squad drill under a terrible sergeant - you have seen pictures of “raw recruits” well I was one, the next “parade” was on Oct 4th when we got drill and lectures - this means that I am “in the army” for 6 hours each week, however I think it is grand. The rest of the week (except Sunday) is spent in lectures and lab. work, and piles of work to do at home; out of the 37½ hours I spend at college about 26 hours are spent with maths - they call it various names, but it still boils down to maths. You can imagine the amount of work I have to do now. As I am taking a degree I will have to become a member of Durham University - this will mean going through a ceremony adorned in a mortar-board and gown - I will look great.
I hope you got your dress and skirt made in time - you should be over here; mam is always making something out of something else, as you are only allowed so many clothes coupons a year. Most of the girls have finished their coupons, and are about half way through their brother’s or dad’s coupons.
We have had a busy night or two, when the moon was out, bombs were dropped near a friend of mine - the houses on each side of his were down to the ground and yet not one of the windows in his house was broken. When you walk around the streets you often hear snatches of conversation such as these:-
“I keep all the valuables in a case in the shelter - just to make sure if anything happens”
“The two men managed to get some sleep in the shelter, but I stayed awake because the guns were so noisy”
Or “Such and such a shop has got chocolate and cigarettes”
You asked why the July 4th ceremony was held in a school. The Elementary Schools don’t close until the second or third week in July and open about a month afterwards. The colleges close about the last week in June and open about Oct 1st.
The only topic left is the war and I don’t want to mention it, so I will close.
Yours sincerely
Harold
12 October 1941 - Starting college
24 August 1941 - Holiday in Lake District
Dear Angela
I received your letter a few days ago and I was very sorry that you have not had any letters. I wrote about May 20th and I think the next letter was July 5th, let me know if you get these letters.
Your description of the wharf at San Francisco reminds me of some of the small fishing villages on our coast. Just above the Tyne there are some of the most quaint and beautiful villages I have seen, Cullercoats, Tynemouth, North Shields and Whitley Bay. Most of the people are fisher folk and they sit on the stone walls mending their nets, or hanging the nets out to dry; at present most of the fishing vessels are on patrol work, mine sweeping and other dangerous jobs, but I hope the quiet of these places will return with the end of the war.
I had one week holiday this year, a friend and I had hoped to ride to the Lake District on his motor bike, but we couldn’t get enough petrol - so we had to travel by train. It was a grand to go to a place which hardly knew there was a war on and to be able to get up in a morning and not have to spend the day among the noise of machines and hammers. We stayed the week at a farm out on the fells, three miles from the nearest village. We had hoped for a quiet week - but we found three girls from Newcastle were staying at the farm - a quiet week was turned into a hectic one. Hay-making, milking, mountain climbing, rowing on the lake and making ourselves general nuisances around the farm, took up most of the week. I had a grand time and did not feel like starting work again; enclosed are two photos of Derwentwater and one of me on the farm gate (the snapshot is not very clear because the printing paper is very hard to obtain now).
Congratulations on your results at school, you seem to have done very well even in Chemistry which you have not studied long. Congratulations on winning your letter for athletics, I am afraid we have very little sport over here now as most of the tracks and playing fields have “suffered” in the “dig for victory” campaign. I think I said I was waiting for my results, they came out about a fortnight ago, I managed to win a prize and also a free studentship at College. The asterisks on the cutting are just for free studentships at evening classes, I will not need this with my studentship at College. I was quite pleased with the results as I will not have to don a boiler-suit, and get covered in grease and oil anymore. My subjects will be Chemistry, Physics, Maths, Engineering and Engineering Drawing which I will have to take in my Intermediate B.Sc. next summer.
I am sorry to disagree with you, but I do on the question of the Russians, if the Russians had not resisted I am certain we would have had twice as many air-raids and twice as many civilians killed. From another point of view, they are keeping him occupied on a very long front and giving heart to the countries under him. However it would not be freedom if we could not have our own views.
I saw the meeting of The President and The Premier on the screen, and every one in the cinema was moved by it.
I have found a correspondent for Diane, so she can expect a letter soon. A pal of mine who was in Coventry during the “blitz” described it in a letter to his correspondent, it was published in an American paper shortly afterwards. However as my descriptions are never very grand, you will get a better idea of the war from the papers than an engineer can give you.
Yours sincerely
Harold
6 July 1941 - Local July 4th Celebrations - John Bull shakes hands with Uncle Sam
Having thought, for fully five minutes for a new opening, I am afraid I must resort to the usual: - “received your letter about three days ago and have just found time to answer it”.
Perhaps if it had been a little cooler lately I would have been able to think better. We have had a heat wave for over a fortnight now and it is much too hot to do anything. I have only had one bathe during the heat because the beaches are closed except for a few hours during the day. This means that full days on the beach will be out of the question during the war.
I am expecting a weeks vacation but it will have to be spent at home as none of the country places near have any room for visitors, because of soldiers and evacuees. I would have liked a change during the week, but it would mean travelling a good distance and that is not fair during war time, as the railways have more valuable things to carry than me.
There is quite a deal of celebration here on July 4th, we heard the President’s speech at 11.00 o’clock p.m. The cutting is taken from our local paper and is at one of the schools near Washington - which is a small village about four miles from here.
A miracle happened last week - I had half an orange - the first for months. I had forgotten that apples and oranges existed until I saw some oranges last week. Mam is always making rhubarb jam to “make ends meet”, but she is expecting some English apples soon. Dad and I are always in trouble because we eat “twice as much as anyone else” - as mam says - I suppose we will do without when we can’t get it, but up to the present we haven’t suffered much.
You will be on your vacation when you read this, I hope you are having a good time, and not much “liquid sunshine”. I am finding a great difference in the holidays - I used to have eight weeks at school - I may get one at work.
You mentioned the zoo at San Francisco, I suppose you will have heard that most of the dangerous animals are being killed in our zoos because of air-raids, when they might escape.
I seem to be springing from one topic to another, but the only spring left brings me to the war, and, I don’t want to mention it during such fine weather.
Hoping you will excuse all mistakes - I remain yours sincerely
Harold
13 March 1941
13.3.41
Dear Angela
I received your letter of Jan 23rd about a week ago, before I had time to answer your letter of Feb 15th arrived. Without any more ado or excuses I will answer both.
May I congratulate you on your exam results, they seem quite good considering you did very little work. I think I prefer Art and Chemistry from your three subjects. My English is very poor even if I do read quite a deal; I would have done better in English but I never could understand analysis – and I got it in the exam. However I don’t think I will ever have to take English again.
I will explain the whole system of English education – which I think could be greatly improved. Children sometimes go to a nursery school and when they are five they begin the Elementary School, at eleven or twelve they sit an exam, the top one’s are chosen to attend a Secondary or Grammar School. If you do not pass for a Secondary School you will leave school when fourteen years old. Some leave the Secondary School at sixteen and begin work, others stay on until they are eighteen or nineteen and then they go to College to take a degree, before going to College however you must reach a certain standard in your exams. If you are lucky you can win scholarships and have all your fees paid, I have been lucky so far, but if I am not near the top in my next exams, then I am afraid I shall have to pay my fees for College. I had to depart from the general scheme as I could not study Engineering at a Secondary School, so I have to work a year in an engineering works. Well - that is the usual education in England - I have left out private and public schools as it would have taken a book. I don’t think it is a very good system because it depends on an exam set to children of eleven, whether they will go to college or not, of course a few manage by studying at home. I will leave that before you become bored stiff.
I agree with your neighbour to a certain extent about the bridges - but they have to be built and I think they are made to harmonize with the surroundings as much as possible. I went to a water-colour exhibition the other week and about 30% of the paintings were of bridges, of all shapes and sizes. Perhaps British artists cannot find nature, because of the abundance of bridges and buildings, and have been able to find beauty in them. One of our most famous paintings is “Old Battersea Bridge” by Whistler, so I remain neutral half artist and half engineer.
It seems funny you having to go to an ice rink when we were “up to the eyes” in snow and ice. I suppose you will have heard all about it by now, but I will tell you from what I saw. There was a little snow one day and when I got up for work the next day, it was about two feet six inches deep, and about six to seven feet in the drifts. All the traffic was stopped for the whole day, men had to walk as far as twelve miles from work during the night, the nearby villages were snowed up and cut off from the town, and the telephone wires hung like white ropes from the leaning poles. The thaw was quite gradual and the expected flood did not mature. It is said to have been the worst winter for over sixty years.
About four of your letters have been censored but nothing has been cut out at all.
I must close now as I have run out of news.
Yours Sincerely
Harold
13 February 1941
13.2.41
Dear Angela
Your letter of December 30th arrived about a week ago and as I am not at work, because of influenza, I am taking this chance to answer it. Mam is not feeling too good either and I think dad will get his turn soon. I certainly hope that you are feeling better than we are.
We have had the ice for skating here, but I have not had the time this year, like last. I enjoyed ice-skating very much in Northallerton, but I would have to go to Durham for the nearest Ice Rink. We have a Roller Skating Rink here, it is about three years ago since I was there.
I have managed to find time to visit the Cinema lately, I thought “Waterloo Bridge” with Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh was very good; I enjoyed Errol Flynn in “Sea Hawk”. I heard an English version of Verdi’s opera “La Traviata” on the radio and I don’t mind admitting that I was nearly crying at the end. It is not very often that I listen to opera, but I did enjoy that. Six of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operas are on at the theatre this week, and mam and dad would like to have gone - but not with the influenza.
We usually hear President Roosevelt’s speeches, if the reception is poor an account of it is given in the news. I always listen to Mr. Churchill’s speeches, they are quite funny at times when he compares modern Italy with the classics. Mr. Wilkie seems to have had a busy time when he was over here, his photos were in the papers and on the screen. I can’t say much about North Africa as our troops may be miles farther on when you get this. So much for the war - I may be under suspicion if I get any more cut out.
I hope you did work hard and got good grades in your finals, or better still got good grades without working hard. I will be glad when May is here, and my exams are over.
I have managed to hold my post as Sunday School Teacher for a few weeks now, I think this is because I often do illustrations of the story to keep them quiet.
It seems as if the 18 year olds will have to register for military service, I am not sure whether I will be called up or not, as some of the engineering students are exempt until they get their degrees. If I am exempt I think I will feel queer when nearly all the others are doing military service, but it can’t be helped.
I must close now hoping that all in the family are in much better health than we are.
Yours sincerely
Harold
