Letters to America

Saturday, April 17th, 1943

We are having a really wonderful spring and the weather is so fine that I am able to write this letter to you sitting out in the garden. I have been on the allotment(1) all the afternoon planting potatoes, and Mummy came up later to help. The twins spent the afternoon on their cycles in the Recreation Ground.

It has been so fine that everything is very early. The apple trees are smothered with blossom, and if we don’t get a late frost, it promises to be a bumper year for apples. We have loads of gooseberries too, and the seed is coming through well. So everything in the garden is lovely. All this week we have been loaning our rabbits to Mrs. Laws next door to cut their grass for them. This helps us to feed them, and saves them the trouble of cutting their lawn, so every day we have the fun of handing seven rabbits over the garden wall. Sometimes one gets away and has to be chased around the garden. There are so many nice things for them to stop and nibble at that it isn’t difficult to catch them again.

Next Thursday Mr. and Mrs. Kemp are going to Broadcasting House(2) to record a message which will be sent over to Janet and John in one of the regular broadcasts. We all hope that it will be received clearly at your end.

We are trying to make the house look a little brighter for the summer by doing some of the ceilings. Of course it is very difficult to get the materials and to find the time, but we must try and do some of the jobs that are mounting up.

Every evening now I am worried into playing cricket, if I am home before the twins go to bed. There is usually time for one or two innings. The game is usually stopped by the ball going over the garden wall into Mrs. Laws.

I was sent a copy of the Rochester Democrat, and in it there was some pictures of the visit of Lord Halifax to Rochester. I wasn’t able to recognise any one of the children in the photos.

Both of the twins have managed to write a note of sorts to you this week. I do hope you can make something of them.

Well cheerio(3) for the time being, Joan, I must go and give John his game of cricket. There won’t be any peace for me until he has had it.

Lots and lots of love from
Your Daddy
xxxxxxxxxx

Anne’s letter is very dirty, because she would lie down in the garden and write it. Please excuse.

  1. An allotment is a small area of land in a town which a person rents to grow plants and vegetables on.
  2. Broadcasting House is the headquarters of BBC radio.
  3. People sometimes say 'cheerio' as a way of saying goodbye, especially in British English.