Reference
AU10/102/1/165
Title
Typewritten letter
Date free text
12 June 1967
Production date
From: 1967 To: 1967
Scope and Content
"I was very pleased to hear from you again, and I spent a happy hour with the magazines and cuttings, reviving memories of Ampthill. I must congratulate Andrew on the magazine, which I gather he edits, and for the guides he writes. Also the pictures on the magazine cover of the churches in the Deanery. He must be a tremendous help to the Rector. I only wish he had been 20 years older when I was Rector! Like everywhere else, Ampthill and Steppingley and Millbrook seem to be in need of money! York Minster (on my native heath) has a desperate appeal out, and , as you will have seen form the cutting about the Castle you sent me, we are in trouble here. The estimated cost of repairs is £25,000. which works out at about £700. per flat. We applied to the Minister for a grant, but the local Council take the view that part of the trouble is due to faulty drainage from the terrace, and therefore to "Negligence". This has undoubtedly been exaggerated. The real trouble is erosion of the chalk face of the cliffs, which is happening all along the coast here. Things seem to have come to a standstill; but the owners of the two flats on the corner most affected are still using them. They are not permanent residents. They come down occasionally. I suppose it will all sort itself out in time.
Of the people you mention, I remember some, but not others. I have a vague recollection of David Grooms - a fair boy with a red face! The Saunders in Grange Road I remember calling on - and of course I remember Billy Chapman. I remember Ralph Stokes at Postern Place ... a very striking looking young man with a brilliant complexion, and a mass of fair hair. I notice there is no mention of Victor Gillett in the magazine. Is he still a postman? I notice his brother Jim is still in evidence. And as you seem to visit the streets near Saunders Piece, do you ever see my first housekeeper Miss Adams? I think you told me some time ago that the family of the old man she was housekeeper to (butchers) let her have a cottage in Saunders Piece. She was a great friend of Mrs.Kent (Percy Gill's aunt) who must be dead now. What is S.George's now? No, I had not heard that Clifford Thomson died. And I was very amused by Tottie climbing four flights of stairs in Dynevor House. Didn't a Miss Dumbleby (?) succeed Miss Wingfield there? What happened to her? I remember she had some trouble with the Professor about a fence in her garden or something. Have the Houfes taken over Avenue House? They must own most of Church Street. And what has happened to the old Church Schools, and the house attached to it? (What a lot of questions for you to answer!)
Mrs.Stavert came over to lunch from Folkestone one day last week. Her son, Captain Adam Stavert, is at a big training camp near by in married quarters, and his wife gave birth to a daughter recently. She (Mrs.Stavert senior) came down from Hoscote to see the baby, but was able to stay only a day or two, as she was due to pay a visit to Bath last weekend. I shall not be able to get up to Hoscote until I return from Italy at the end of September: but I hope to run up for a few days then, and also to my cousins in Yorkshire. I have visitors arriving from USA sometime next week, and then my young relative from Normandy arrives at Dover on the 28th. and he will be here for the next two or three weeks. Then I go off to Gargnano on Lake Garda for August; then up into the mountains to Val Bresimo: after that no definite programme, but I want to visit Bergamo and Vicenza and Cremona - all three places I have not seen. Italy is full of wonders. They are well described in H.V.Morton's book "A Traveller in Italy."
We are having plenty of sunshine here ... but definitely chilly winds - impossible to sit outside. I shall enjoy feeling warm again at Gargnano! I have to turn on my gas fire in the evening, and my electric blanket before going to bed. June, indeed! I am studying Italian assiduously in what spare time I can find. My piano playing has quite receded into the background. These winter voyages are mainly responsible. Though I play quite a lot when I am in Normandy, as my relations there are very musical, and there is a magnificent full size Grand piano in an enormous room with a wonderful view of river and woods which seems to inspire me.
I enclose two snaps taken somewhere off the East coast of Africa which people seem to think are good. One of them they call "a study in brown"! My hair is getting thin on top ... otherwise I am the same weight (10 1/2 stone) as I was 20 years ago, have all my own teeth, and wear glasses only for reading. Which I suppose is not bad for 68!
The Castle is looking very well just now ... the bluebells are over, but the borders on the edges of the lawn are full of colour. We extended the lawn over one of the hard tennis courts two or three years ago: so there is quite a stretch of grass. Our Porter takes a great pride in keeping them smooth. Laburnum trees flourish here ... they like the salt air. And we have a nice little rose garden in a sheltered spot behind the flint wall ... i don't expect you remember it. The years fly past so quickly nowadays. The 13 years I have been here have certainly been the quickest in passing of my life!
Yours sincerely,"
operas
Level of description
item