AU34/21/7/16/30

Letter from R P S Waddy

November 1985

From: 1985 To: 1985

A typewritten letter from R P S Waddy (former Rector of St Andrew's, Ampthill) to Honora Grimmer, from Maiden Newton, Dorchester, Dorset: "My dear Nora, Now that our Prayer Book provides nine weeks instead of four before Christmas - to keep up with shopping days? - this allows us to send good wishes in good time, so here you are. The card is nostalgic. This is just how I recall Rugby when I arrived from sunny Sydney for my first English winter in 1919: all sniffs and chilblains. The school outline is a little longer than it used to be, and a snowy tree trunk in the picture hides the commemoration of William Webb Ellis (who invented open rugger and is now regarded as an edifying midrash.) So, alas, by many are the Wise Men who would have had every reason for setting out on their journey to Bethlehem if they had seen Halley's Comet as I saw it in the early morning sky in Australia in 1910: sparkling like Princess Diana's tiara, a jewelled kite with its string dangling below it. That is my first childhood memory, a beauty too good to be true: I am proud to be a Twice-Born Viewer. But I have no plans to fly back to Sydney for another eyeful; what we enjoyed once is ours forever. It will have to be by courtesy of the BBC this time. But the dates won't fit the Epiphany story - well, what does that matter? The best of my Christmas presents came early in November, when I passed the eye test which my sceptical insurance company demand, and was licenced to drive for another year. Since we average some 40 miles a week nowdays, the price is absurd but the value infinite. Without a car, Margaret would not be able to come down to the village: she has had a hard year with increasing arthritis, and a medicine which affected her memory and her confidence. Now she is taking only pain-killers when she needs them, and we can go shopping in Vanity Fair - Dorchester (pop. 14,000) with an excellent library. And I am still able to celebrate and preach in one of the village churches around Beaminster every Sunday - providing pearls for Toller Porcorum and bait for Hooke, and going on a wider safari in the summer. Our family continue to take good care of us, and our grandchildren are a credit to their forebears. Havana Marking is now at Bryanston in her first term, as lively and lovely as ever: Stacy and Giles her parents are as busy as ever. Drusilla Waddy has just started life at Benenden: Daniel and Jocelyn her brothers, aged 8 and 5, have been replaying the chess games in the world championship with their father Christopher in Kent - as a recreation. But if you are not up to that standard at 5 you'll never be a champion! Anita Leslie the biographer has provided me with a motto for 1986. She was a wartime ambulance driver; and when she set off from Cairo on a particularly tricky mission, General Alexander (an Irish neighbour) wished her well and added: 'Don't Falter!' She didn't; and nor, I hope, shall I, nor will you. Yours affectionately, Pat Stacy Waddy p.s. We have not yet caught you up, but 81 is enough! I hope the 'new' rector is in good form - how long does one go on being 'new'? Greetings to Andrew"

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Grimmer, Honora Patricia Annie,
Waddy, Richard Patteson Stacy,
Waddy, Margaret,
Marking, Havana,
Marking, Stacy,
Marking, Giles,
Stacy Waddy, Drusilla,
Stacy Waddy, Daniel,
Stacy Waddy, Jocelyn,
Waddy, Christopher,
Leslie, Anita

CORRESPONDENCE, Christmas, greeting cards, Rugby School, driving, driving licence, church services, preaching, Rector, illness, School, chess, AMPTHILL, Maiden Newton, Dorchester, Dorset