JN77/40

Copy letter from Joan Smith [secretary] 183 High Town Road, Luton to Sir Herbert and Lady Hilda Janes, Hotel Trans Tasman, Auckand, New Zealand. Reply to two letters.

13 January 1958

From: 1958 To: 1958

Dear Sir Herbert and Lady Janes, Thank you for your letters, one from Hanmer Springs and the other from Greymouth. I am glad to know that you are both well. It is a pity the weather has been so unsettled in New Zealand. The weather here is very changeable, last week we had lots of drizzle and rain and today the sun is shining but it is very cold with quite hard frosts at night. We have not had any snow here, though I think in the north of England there is snow about. The next meeting of the Janes Housing Society is on Wednesday 29th January when I will bring up the matters raised in your letter regarding the television sets and washing machine. The building work is going on very well and Bill Lathwell is getting on with the hedges and gardens. The arrangements for the distribution of prizes in your Apprenticeship Scheme have now been completed and this takes place on Wednesday 15th January. Mr Stevenson has arranged for Sir John Burgoyne to make the presentations before the College Governors Meeting and invitations have been sent to the Builders and also to Mr Lewis & [sic] Mr Frary, representing the Janes Trust. Mr Souster is one of the College Governors so he too will be present. Two of the apprentices are employed by T. & E. Neville Ltd, one by J.T. Garrett and the other by Carter & Simpson. I hope that this will be a better and more suitable occasion than last year. I am enclosing a letter from Mrs Perry which I thought you would like sent on. An Air Mail letter has come today from the Rev. E.H. Greaves, Mount Carey, Jamaica, appealing for funds to rebuild their Church which was destroyed in the earthquake last March. I have acknowledged the letter telling him you are in Australia and will not be home until the end of March. The Town Clerk has sent a letter asking if you would like bound copies of the Council Minutes for the years 1948, 1949, 1950. I have accepted these on your behalf. In the Luton News on the 2nd January it was reported that they had received a letter from you at Christchurch in which you mentioned various people whom you had met, including Mr Sidney Cherry, who was my mother's Sunday School Teacher. You also mentioned that someone from a Christchurch Hospital was anxious to learn what had become of Mr Sydney Ralph Norris of Edlesborough who went to the hospital after release from a Japanese prisoner camp. One of the girls who used to work in our office at High Town Road, and who is now in the office on Poynters Road Site, Betty Norris (now Mrs Mead) rang me to say that this person was her cousin and he died in August 1952. She told me that he had T.B. [Tuberculosis] in both his lungs. I thought you might be interested to have this piece of information. On the House Sales report to the 31st December 1957 the total number houses sold since 1st January 1957 was 925. Completions since the beginning of the financial year (39 weeks) = 658. A letter has come from Mr H.F.G Southey who has taken over from Colonel Mott as Appeals Secretary of the Empire Rheumatism Council. He asks if he could see you regarding an appeal in Luton. I have written to him telling him that you will not be home until the end of March but we will go into the matter when your return. Mr Southey thinks that you will have already returned from your visit to Australia. When you receive this letter you will have arrived back in Auckland and no doubt will the parcel containing your Presidential Address booklets will have arrived. The Notice of Assessment relating to Surtax for 1956/57 has come to hand and I have passed it on to Mr Frary. This amounts to £3,590.17.6d. Well I think this is all for today, with best wishes and kindest regards to you and Lady Janes. Yours sincerely

2 pages

item

Janes Housing Society,
Janes Trust Ltd,
T & E Neville,
J.T. Garrett,
Carter & Simpson,
Luton Borough Council,
Janes, Herbert,
Janes, Hilda,
Smith, Joan,
Greaves, E H,
Sir John Burgoyne,
Stevenson,
Lathwell, Bill,
Frary,
Lewis,
Norris, Sydney Ralph,
Norris, Betty,
Southey, H.F.G,
Colonel Mott

CORRESPONDENCE, holidays, Empire Rheumatism Council, weather, apprenticeship, Baptist Church, prisoners of war, New Zealand hotels etc., Hotel Trans Tasman, tuberculosis, Luton High Town Road, LUTON, Australia, New Zealand, New Zealand Hanmer Springs, New Zealand Greymouth, New Zealand Christchurch, Jamaica Mount Carey