AU10/102/1/207

Typewritten letter

15 March 1972

From: 1972 To: 1972

"I note it is your birthday on Friday, so I am writing to wish you Many Happy Returns. I am sending you a little box of French "tutti-frutti" which I hope will arrive in time. I find that one must allow two days now - even with a 3d. stamp - for letters farther afield than London. I must thank you for your constant kindness in sending me the parish magazines and news of Ampthill. I do appreciate it. If it were not for you, Ampthill would slip away in my memory and become just a part of my past, as my years at S.John the Divine, Kennington are now. There is no one there now to write to me. But I am really very fortunate to have one remaining link with my Royal Flying Corps days, when I was a young Flight-Lieutenant of 19 at Cranwell. He is Gordon Campbell - now retired of course - living at Croydon. he spent most of his working life with a shipping firm in China, Hong Kong and India. He and his wife Mary - they never had any children - came here for a weekend some years ago, and I have always intended inviting them again. I sometimes go out to lunch with them when I am staying at my club in London. My old friend Ida Huckings - now 80! - also dates from my war days. She had a slight stroke last year, but seems to be much better. She is lucky to have her sister and brother-in-law (they were at Kempston for some years - he is an Indian and was ordained when he retired from the India Office) living near by at Wantage. He is retired, of course. And I still have several of my old Oxford friends in touch with me - one values these old friendships more and more in one's declining years! I have very little news. Since my return I have been busy catching up on my correspondence - writing letters to all parts of the world. Do you read the SUNDAY TIMES? There was a bit in a column called ALBANY last wekk about Eiffel, who built the famous tower in Paris. Albany wanted to know if there was anyone who knew of any other building by Eiffel. It so happened that when I was in South America two years ago I entered a church in a Chilean port with iron pillars which was built by Eiffel. So I have written to inform him. My letter will probably appear next Sunday in Letters to the Editor. There have been so many changes in the Castle recently that I seem to know scarcely anyone. Most of the flats have been acquired by people from London who want a seaside residence: so they appear only at weekends or holidays. It was much better when we had more permanent residents. The Castle Keep Hotel next door has built on an enormous addition with has successfully blocked out my view of the sea on that side. But this sort of thing seems to be going on everywhere. Thank heaven we have the golf course on the other side of the road ... they won't build on that! And thank goodness the spring seems to be on the way. Last week we had icy winds blowing in from the sea - but this morning there is a blue sky and sunshine, and the crocuses are out, and daffodils showing signs of life. I am walking over the cliffs this afternoon to Margate to see the controversial film STRAW DOGS - I doubt if I shall enjoy it! I am good at remembering dates - and it will be 25 years in September since I left Ampthill! I am delighted to see that church life is flourishing. Fifty district visitors under your command! In my day there were about a dozen. I used to get them all into the Vestry! There are many names in the magazine I do not know. But now and again I spot someone I remember. How extraordinary about the Holder family! I remember the boys as choirboys. And of course I remember Kathleen and her brothers, the Mantons. Does Fred Harris keep up with the church? And how are the Hetleys? Who lives in the house where Miss Crouch and her brother lived?? There are lots of questions I could ask if I thought about them. And I notice that Ampthill seems to be more united than it was in my day. There was a distinct division between the church and the chapel then. But now they seem to have got together, which is a good thing. Even the Roman Catholics join in! Yours sincerely,"

item

Hillam, John George,
Grimmer, Honora,
Campbell, Gordon,
Campbell, Mary,
Huckings, Ida,
Menon, Kyrion Thotekat Nicholas,
Menon, Gwen,
Holder,
Manton,
Manton, Kathleen,
Harris, Fred,
Hetley,
Crouch

letters, typescript, birthdays, Gift, postal service, postage stamp, parish magazines, Royal Flying Corps, stroke, Oxford University, Sunday Times, castles, hotels, building work, weather, cinema, films, walking, Church of England, Roman Catholic Church, AMPTHILL, Broadstairs, Cranwell, Croydon, China, Hong Kong, India, KEMPSTON, Wantage