Reference
AU10/102/1/61
Title
Handwritten letter
Date free text
14 December 1954
Production date
From: 1954 To: 1954
Scope and Content
"I am sending this Christmas card unnaturally early, so that you will know where I am, in order to send yours! I am just about settled in my flat here, and finding it very comfortable. My friend, a retired Naval man about my own age, has the flat next to me: so it looks as if we shall grow into a pair of old cronies together! However, I still seem to have plenty of energy, as I am off to Switzerland (Arosa this time) for my annual bout of ski-ing next month! Miss Florence is comfortable and remarkably well physically at the Priory. But her mind is quite clouded. She lights up when I enter the room on my visits, but I am never sure that she really knows me. She certainly can't put a name to me, and she does not utter a single word of sense. It is a terribly sad way to end one's life. "Lord, let me know mine end" - says the Psalmist: perhaps it is better not to know. I note the Professor has been made President of the R.A., and the press is full of stories of the 18th c. house at Ampthill, and the wigs and periwigs and what not. I am hoping to get down to my music again here. It is very exciting to play within sound of the sea waves. I did take up the study of Bach (in answer to your query), but these past two or three years I have led a very unsettled life, and had not time for systematic two-hours-a-day practice.
I have not heard much news of Ampthill lately, except that a road now runs from the church to Oliver St. through Sir Anthony's grounds. It seems that Ampthill is changing rapidly. What is Reggie Hill doing now? And does Mrs.Pearson ever come to church? I always thought her a nice woman who had been ruined by that wretched B.I. business. Another person who crossed my mind recently was that Mrs.Aldridge in Woburn St. I prepared her for Confirmation. She has a son who was once a policeman, and her daughter married young Stanbridge. When I left Ampthill, Mrs.A. was threatened with blindness. I wonder what happened to her. Some months ago, a London brick lorry drew up outside 113, and Ronald Radwell emerged, very stout and middle-aged! I think he lives near Bletchley: I suppose his sister Mrs.Foster still lives in Woburn St. Ray and John must be grown-up men by now!
The years are passing! Even the war is becoming a memory. There are some interesting people in the Castle, and the usual mixed bag of retired colonels and their wives who all seem to go in for Pekinese dogs! Bishop Howe Browne arrives in England on a visit from S.Africa next week. He is coming here on a short visit. Fortunately there is a nice restaurant attached to the Castle - the large building on the right - so feeding visitors is not a difficult problem.
My best wishes to you and all your family for a Happy Christmas.
Your sincerely"
Level of description
item