Scope and Content
"Very many thanks for your letter and the cornucopia of cuttings received this morning. Also for your birthday greeting earlier. No, I did not get up to Yorkshire as planned. It had been arranged that I should go up to London on the afternoon of the 14th., and that Nicky (Anne's stepson studying at King's College Hospital) should meet me at his great-uncle Lord Uvedale's place at Regent's Park, and from there drive me to Yorkshire. The party, to which Anne had invited 50 people, was to take place on the Sunday. However, on the night of the 12th., Anne rang me up and said conditions in Yorkshire were as bad as they were here, and the forecast said more snow on the way. So we decided to cancel it while there was still time to issue cancellations! It was just as well: since the snow did come on the evening on the 14th. and we should have been driving straight into it on the M1. So I had a very quiet celebration here. My friend, Frank Eaton, who lives near by, came over to dinner with me on the Saturday evening. I remember that on my 60th. birthday I had a party here, and got 20 people into my quarters - I can't think how! And how the years have flown! I have a great deal to be thankful for, especially my health, which continues excellent. So far as I know, I have nothing wrong with me physically ... not even rheumatic twinges! But at 70 anything may happen.
Meanwhile for six weeks I was in a state of upheaval. I called in an architect to supervise the work downstairs. The woodwork in the bathroom and guest room had deteriorated. I was afraid of dry rot: but they said it was wet rot ... not so serious, as it affects only wood. However, some of the woodwork had to be cut out and replaced in both rooms. Then the bathroom walls had to be stripped down to the brick: then lined with Newtonlath, then rough plaster, and then smooth plaster: then it all had to be left for two weeks to dry out. I went up to London for a few days to get away from it all. Last week the paperer arrived, and on Wednesday the heaters were re-connected, and Mrs.MacLeod cleaned up ... just in time for welcoming Anne and her husband for dinner on Thursday evening. They had motored down from Yorkshire, with skis strapped on the top of their car, ready to cross from Dover on Friday morning, en route for Austria. They will be back here for a night on the 15th. on their return.
Mrs.Olley finally got off to Tasmania on February 5th. after one postponement after another - due to trouble at the Docks. I think I told you she is visiting her daughter, who married a lawyer (a bachelor of 60), last year. He is a very keen churchman, and June had never been confirmed - so she was - and now goes to Mass with him! I doubt if she had darkened the doors of a church since her schooldays. Mrs.Olley - who is also no churchwoman - wonders how she will hit it off with her son-in-law. We heard from Cape Town last week, and she is apparently having a happy voyage. It is a cargo ship, with 12 passengers, like those I travel on.
So Mrs.Perton has gone at last! She was really amazing, since when they were in the Rectory Cottage she had a severe operation (I believe one of her breasts was removed) for what was believed to be cancer. That was more than 25 years ago. They were an odd couple, and sometimes a nuisance. But after I got him confirmed, and made verger, I must say he improved greatly. He was always an excellent verger. It was a great pity he lost the job. I think he had a row with Waddy over some trivial thing. It was a great pity too that they lost their baby ... that was before my time. I have written a line of sympathy to him. He was certainly a devoted husband.
Parmiter does not look a day older than when I last saw him in 1947!
I remember Mrs.Simpson when she was at the old Institution. Did I marry her to Simpson? I really forget. I expect Simpson is dead now. I never liked him after he played that horrible trick on poor Diana Eagles, reporting her to the Food Council because she had muddled her grocery order (after giving him notice that she was changing to another grocer).
Mrs.McCorq. continues her vital round. And Lady Dartmouth has had pictures of herself and new baby in the Daily Telegraph several times recently. I think she must be a friend of the Editor! I really had to laugh when you wrote (in your letter of January 15th) anent Madge's wedding (of which I have no recollection) that I sat waiting in the vestry, "reading (I think) a Barbara Cartland novel". NEVER! The only time I have looked at her novels has been in bookshops when I have happened to spot one. I have opened them out of curiosity ... but I could never possibly read one beyond a page: absolute trash! And there are so many of them. But someone must read them. She says they have been translated into several languages.
How nice of Reggie Hull to turn up with flowers for you! Of course, I remember him and his mother very well. It was a great moment when I taught him to serve at the altar, and he love doing it. It gave him a sense of achievement and importance ... the same applied to that poor soul - was his name Albert? - at the Institution who used to come and serve at the 10.15. It would be really interesting to see what sort of a man Reggie has grown into. He had a great sense of humour, and I liked him very much.
I am really very sorry indeed about Mr. Colls. It looks as if you will soon be getting another Rector ... the fourth since me. It would be a good thing if Mr. Botting succeeded! He looks a very attractive man - he reminds me of the Sheppard (the cricketer) who has just been made Bishop of Woolwich in succession to Robinson of HONEST TO GOD (did you read it? I couldn't make head nor tail of it). I think I have remarked more than once that it was a great mistake to combine both Millbrook and Steppingley parishes with Ampthill. Millbrook, yes: but surely Steppingley should have been attached to Flitwick!
Who is the architect who has created Dynevor Mews "for his own use"?? It looks very attractive. And who lives in the house where Mrs.Seabrook lived? I used to remark on the long row of stables (Tudor, I believe) at the bottom of her garden, and say what an interesting house could be made out of them. They were full of rubbish, and overgrown with creepers. Has anyone tackled it?
It has just come into my head to remember Mrs.Seabrook's 70th birthday. She gave a teaparty for the Mothers' Union in the parish hall. Dear, dear ... I thought of her as very old: and here I am 70 myself!
How exciting about your (possible) trip to Canada! I do hope it comes off ... after all those years of nursing your mother, and being tied to the house, it will be a tremendous experience to spread your wings and fly to the other side of the world.
How very sad about Grace Manton! A strange business, losing the use of her limbs ... was it arthritis? Does anyone see or hear anything of her brothers ... Jim and I forget the other's name ... both very keen churchmen throughout my years in Ampthill.
And do you ever see Mrs.Foster (Park Street)? I prepared her for confirmation, and she used to come and clean at the Rectory for one of my housekeepers. Her brother Ronald was a very striking young man - do you remember him? I imagine he lapsed. He went to live at Brickhill, or Bletchley - he was a lorry driver, and I remember I once went out with him on his lorry disguised as a brickworker, and helped him load the lorry with bricks at Stewartby! We then drove to a housing estate somewhere in London, and called at the clergy house at S.John the Divine, Kennington, for tea on the way home. I remember how Mary (the housemaid ... there were such things in those days) gasped when she opened the door and saw me covered in brick dust!
I think that has dealt with all the comments and cuttings.
The cliff protection work is completed, and they are putting the terrace balustrade back and generally tidying up. Now we can sit back and admire the thirty thousand pound's worth of work! The result is now of course that the value of our flats has risen considerably. Nervous prospective buyers of a flat can be reassured that the castle is sound and safe for many years. The next job will be to do the drive, which is in a very shabby state.
My own arrangements for this year are pretty fluid.
Jeffrey Todd - the son of the Los Angeles brain specialist who is a Fettes - will be coming for his Easter holidays, or at any rate part of them. As this is his last year at Fettes, unless he gets into an English university next autumn (which is very doubtful as he is not a brainy type), it will be a long time before I see him again, if ever.
Then I shall be going over to Normandy in the spring for an indefinite period. The Hovercraft service starts in April from Ramsgate to Calais ... so the continent will be on our doorstep, so to speak.
My Japanese friends will be arriving in July. I have offered to put them up until they find their feet and get fixed up in the quarters they will want at whatever University he goes to. It will be a bit of a strain if they are here for long. This is not a suitable place for a child, really, with that steep staircase down to the bathroom and bedroom. But of course it is very young, and may not be in the toddling stage.
The awful thought occurred to me the other day: shall I have to get a potty? They have them in Woolworth's - red and yellow ones.
For August, I am booked to go to the Wagner Festival at Bayreuth with an English friend and an American. But there is a doubt about getting seats. So it may be Yorkshire and Hoscote again.
Next winter I shall, all being well, take the voyage I had planned for this winter ... on a British cargo ship from Liverpool, to Curacao, through the Panama and so to Peru and Chile.
Certainly I shall not spend another winter in England if I can help it!
Yours sincerely,"