AU10/102/1/185

Typewritten letter

3 December 1969

From: 1969 To: 1969

"I have to thank you for two magazines and a Bedfordshire magazine, as well as your letter of October 9th. I expected to be sailing from Liverpool on Friday, but there has been a delay ... this often happens with cargo ships ... and now I am informed the PIZARRO will not be leaving until Dec.16th. I do hope there is not another postponement, as I want to get away before the Christmas traffic builds up, and in any case I am anxious to leave this cold climate and get to warmer places! Our first stop is Curacao in the Dutch West Indies - then through the Panama Canal, and down the west coast of South America. I expect to be back sometime in March. I had looked forward to staying with Laurie Brown, the Bishop of Warrington, on my return to Liverpool: but he will have taken up his duties in Birmingham by then. I think he is going to a tough job. I believe the largest concentration of immigrants is in that area. I had a stream of visitors throughout September and October and November. On September 15th. my Japanese friend Sutsuki Eda and his wife and baby arrived for a week. He had been very fortunate in getting a furnished flat in Oxford through the influence of a Japanese Fellow of All Souls. I rather dreaded the arrival of a baby guest: but I borrowed a cot and a little pushcart and prepared to face the worst! However, I need not have worried. They were most considerate guests, and I had an ally in the weather, which was perfect. After breakfast I put rugs and chairs out on the lawn and they spent the day there with trips down to the beach. And my Mrs.MacLeod gave valuable help indoors. Satsuki's wife is a charming and beautiful girl. She taught English in Tokyo, and has a really wide knowledge of English literarature. She enjoyed borrowing among my shelves. I was amazed to find she had read all the great English classics ... even Conrad. And the baby, Mariko, was and enchanting little creature and caused great amusement and interest in the castle. I have promised to visit them in Oxford in the spring: which will give me an opportunity to see my old friend Ida Huckings who is now 78, again. What is my right hand doing?, you ask, in the colour print [AU10/102/1/185a] I sent. It is holding a cigar! I smoke a great many, I'm afraid. But they say they are not dangerous, like cigarettes, which I gave up smoking 10 years ago. Mrs.Stavert came for a week last month. I asked her about Barbara Molland. But she said she hardly knows anyone in Hawick apart from the shopkeepers. Hoscote is 8 miles from Hawick. Years ago - before the war - when the Staverts had a butler and three resident maids, and three gardeners - whe took a great part in local affairs and was chairman of various organisations. But since the war, with no resident staff, and one and a half gardeners of advanced age, and a vast house to run, and now in her 60s, she has her hands more than fully occupied. At Christmas, and in August and September, she gets outside help, when the house is filled with visitors ... but of course, like all these great houses, their day is over. But they are hanging on to Hoscote, since the Staverts have been there for 400 years, and Adam (their son) wants to take over the place when he comes out of the Army eventually. Fortunately his wife is a country girl, a Scot, and does not shrink from the idea of living at the end of a remote valley. There are one or two other big houses, of course, in the neighbourhood, and coming and going between them, so they do have some social life. They are very friendly with the Humes ... another old Border family, and there are many Scotts around ... descendents of Sir Walter. And now Mr.Sturman is in charge, and another name is added to the list of Rectors of Ampthill. They don't stay as long as they did in the old days. I remember I used to look at that list - it was in the porch in my day but I think it is now inside the church - and note that some Rectors remianed for 40 years or more. But nowadays everyone seems to be on the move! People come and go in the Castle. I am now the "oldest inhabitant" ... I shall have been here 15 years next Tuesday. Some people sell their flats because there will be no end to the expenses of keeping the place up. We all had to fork out £1000 each last year to prop up the cliff: now we have to pay out £140. each for urgent repairs to the stonework on the seaward side. And our quarterly maintenance charge, which used to be £7. per flat, is now £15; with the threat that it may have to go up to £20. ere long. However, new people come along to buy, so the flats do not keep empty for long. So far as I'm concerned, I am quite content to spend the rest of my life here. If I had to get out, I should go over to Normandy. But now that we have the Hovercraft running from Ramsgate to Calais several times a day, crossing the channel is as easy as going to Canterbury. I will send a postcard - perhaps two - if possible from the other side of the world, and look forward to hearing from you on my return. Yours sincerely,"

operas

item

Hillam, John George,
Grimmer, Honora,
Brown, Laurie,
Eda, Kyoko,
Eda, Mariko,
Eda, Satsuki,
MacLeod,
Huckings, Ida,
Stavert, Pearl,
Stavert, Adam,
Molland, Barbara,
Sturman, Leslie George

letters, typescript, parish magazines, Bedfordshire Magazine, ships, Bishop, weather, books, English, cigars, smoking, Rector, AMPTHILL, Broadstairs, Liverpool, Curacao, Panama Canal, Warrington, Oxford, Hawick