BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)

Subject: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 05:44 AM

My mother, (suffering with Demantia) has been sharing our home for two years. Her condition is gradually becoming more and more difficalt, short term memory almost gone, finds moving round the house confusing and recently thinks she is living in her childhood home. I have information about her childhood that I have gleaned from her cousin( they will both be 90 this year) I can read my father's autobiography, published in 2000 so know where he was during the WW2 years.I knew that mum joined the Womens Royal Airforce in 1943 but have no knowledge about where she was stationed or what happened to her at that time. One of her carers sugested a memory book to help mum recall the past and I explained that we have this big gap!
However when my father died I found a box containing letters that mum had sent to him during the war. They were ,to my mind, private and I put them away in mum's dressing table. When I told the carer she was delighted" you have the key to her past!! Read them, use them for the memory book!!"
I have over 200 letters, sorted into dated order , I am gradually typing them onto my laptop,yesterday I went onto google and showed mum the house where she was billeted in the North of England, she at once told me the name of the landlady, and remembered " square bashing" ( learning to March) on Morecombe seafront!! Together we can start to relive this beautiful nineteen year old leaving home for the first time, waiting for my father to return from malta to get married in December 1943 and then he was posted back to Corsica and Italy till the end of the war. It also opens up the history of her brothers and sisters much to the delight of my cousins who were equally in the dark about this part of our family history.
Just wondered if anyone else has found a similar archive and what your thoughts are?
Being selfish, we have had rather a difficalt year healthwise Billy and I, I am really finding this an exiting project and an escape from the present into a very fasinating past.

Wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: gnu
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 05:50 AM

sniff

How wonderful. Thanks for sharing such a touching and heartwarming story.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: catspaw49
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 05:56 AM

Wow.....That IS exciting Wendy and something to enjoy as well. My parents were always pretty open about their past and I never found out much of anything else after they were gone. Both died comparatively young but each had exciting backgrounds and WW2 experiences.

The only thing like that even close for me was finding my Dad's Army knapsack still packed with items from that time. It was just about 6 months before he died and we both enjoyed going through it together and sharing him some of those times again with me.


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 06:04 AM

1943 was a very good year.

RtS

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Ron Davies
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 07:38 AM

Wow, what a wonderful find!   It brings history to life as nothing else ever could.

Anything you want to share on Mudcat, I'm sure we'd all be fascinated to hear--though obviously this is deeply private and you may want to keep it so, which we'd also understand.

We'll be waiting for your decision on this, hoping of course that you can reveal something from the letters.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 07:49 AM

Fantastic. Two birds with one stone: help for your mum and a family archive. Scan or photograph the letters have them made into a book (Blurb or something similar) if you can.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 08:02 AM

Ron and Pete,

thank you!
I have thought that I will scan all mums old photos and put them together with the letters as a book form. All the menfolk in the family were in the RAF, two as pilots, one uncle died in France and was awarded the DFC and bar.His father, my aunt's father in law was Churchills bodyguard, there is a book published about him and my father had his autobiograohy published in 2,000. Made me think that a young woman's account of the story may be of interest. However at the moment it is lovely to remind mum of past memories with a gentle prompt!Certainly will share any interesting or funny moments I find.

Wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Janie
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 08:54 AM

How wonderful, Wendy, for your whole family!

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: ranger1
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 09:48 AM

Wendy, thanks for sharing this. A good friend is going through the same thing with her mum at the moment. Do you mind if I send her the link to this thread?

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 11:55 AM

Ranger 1, please do share with your friend,

Wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Bettynh
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 12:50 PM

How wonderful that you've found these while your mother is here to explain them! I've scanned the letters to and from my Dad during the war as well as his photos. I'm sorry we never got to go over them before he died. Some of the offhand remarks are as fascinating as the actual news ("Don't worry about us, we have plenty of beans and your father is making $7 a week mowing.")

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 06:04 PM

What a wonderful thing to have! And it's wonderful tht you kept them!

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 07:36 PM

Although mum has been living here for two years, I only started to read the letters this week, it has been a wonderful experience to suddenly "hear " the words of this lively nineteen year old, who had been living a normal sheltered life in London with her parents and then was suddenly sent off two hundred miles from home to live with 20 or so other young girls from probably less restricted lives, she met my father at the age of fifteen , they married when she was 20, although in the letters she says her parents would not give permission at first. After my father returned from the seige of Malta they married in December 1943, they were married for 67 years!The letters have helped me to remember the vibrant witty young woman who was to become my mother in 1946! ( oops that gave my age away)It is a strange feeling, reading the thoughts that she had 70 years ago, my daughter says I should feel happy for the life she had, knowing the happy ending of a life that could have been curtailed so quickly in war but went on in such a very fullfilling way.But I have felt very sad that I am trying to share the memories, but she is not in the moment now and I am perhaps discovering this happy life a little too late to share with my mother completly? Maybe in the twilight of my mothers life I can help her to remember the joys and love and ,as she says in her letters " the wizard" times she shared with her friends in the WAAF and my lovely father?
But thank you my mudcat friends for letting me share this with you,
Wendy x

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: ranger1
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 09:34 PM

Wendy, my friend read the thread and is going to start a memory book for her mum. She's been feeling pretty down lately, so I'm glad you posted this when you did.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 04:51 AM

Ranger, I wonder where your friend lives? In England we have Admiral Nurses who are there to support the carer. I had an admiral nurse for a year but her funding has been axed ( I am actively trying to raise awareness to try to get her back)however she was a fantastic help for my being able to cope. There is a national helpline that I can phone but it is not quite the same as chatting over a cup of coffee!

Please tell your friend to feel free to pm me and I will give her my e mail address if she thinks I can help, I am sure we will have a lot of problems in comman.

Wendy x

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 05:43 AM

That's the spirit.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: ranger1
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 06:18 AM

Wendy, Regina lives in upstate New York and isn't a member of Mudcat, unfortunately. She does have Hospice coming in daily to help, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 06:22 AM

Ranger, I will pm my e mail adress to you. Please give it too her if she would like it.

Wendy x

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 08:24 AM

From the personal experience of living with a wannabe genealogist, I would suggest that if you decide to archive what you have digitally, you will - now or later - want to get a bigger hard drive.

Internal drives are problematic since they generally go away if the computer dies. Internal HDs in "USB Enclosures" have had exceedingly poor durability in my experience. PORTABLE external USB HDs are about as "archival" as you're likely to find if you handle and store them respectfully.

In our (pronounced "her") case, what appeared to be a simple project for a week or two now pretty much fills a 1TB drive, and I'm thinking I may need to go to 2TB soon. Figure about $0.10(US) per GB (~$100/TB). "Moving up" as the stuff accumulates gets to be a pain, since transferring a half TB (500 GB) from an old drive to a bigger new one takes most of a day - or more, and in Windows if you leave the "index for faster searching" turned on it may take a couple of weeks each time before you can "safely remove hardware" to unplug the drive.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 09:51 AM

My poor ma in law has dementia too. We had to move her out of her house up North and into a home, and later into another nearer to us. We collared most of the paper stuff before the house was sold, and we have found the usual stuff but also some treasures.

She led quite a peripatetic life as her then husband was a surveyor/architect who always had itchy feet. So she found herself in Newcastle on Tyne, in Aden with two small girls, in Oxfordshire with USAF friends who owned big GM iron, and in various parts of Herts and Cambridgeshire.

I have been scanning PILES of old photos including some amazing colour prints from Aden, lots of shots from a marathon trip to the South of France via Lausanne (!) and holidays in Spain before mass tourism. They are absolutely fascinating. And they drive me mad, as dad in law was a serial purchaser and borrower of rubbish cameras using weird and wonderful film sizes. Needless to say it's an enormous job just scanning 'em never mind identifying them.

Ma in law did some O levels in the late Seventies so we also have some excellent little English pieces which fill in the gaps in the photos. A story about the aforementioned marathon to Frejus via Lausanne in a Volkswagen Beetle is totally hair raising. She spent hours at night in the Alps pinching her husband's arm to keep him awake and on the correct side of the road!

Anyway it's all worth it. We did manage to jog her memory with some of the stuff in the early stages but I'm afraid it's pointless now. However it shines a bright light on family history, particularly the dominant and pig headed Great North Eastern English Male!

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 09:54 AM

Incidentally I second JohninKansas's remarks about big hard drives. AND you need good backup eg RAID really.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 11:16 AM

Thanks both, I am a bit of a luddite when in comes to computers....... maybe I will ask my son to sort me out?

Sounds like you have a great collection of photos and history Ed and fasinating in laws!
Wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 12:01 PM

If you're really concerned about having it for your descendants, a backup isn't a backup unless you have a backup of it. (i.e. get at least TWO big HDs that you can store safely - in separate places when possible.)

Relative to the fascinating information you have, the message is that it's very likely to get you interested enough to look for more, and you can't even guess now how big your "stuff" can get.

Think in terms of larger than it ever could be.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Rumncoke
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 07:01 PM

Mu mother in law has dementia and is in a care home, but when we went to clear the house as it was sold in order to finance her care (I know, but that is how it is) we found that she had thrown away all the family photographs.

She was already in such a state that she was a danger to herself even with people going in regularly throughout the day, but we never thought to preserve things whilst we had the chance, and then they were gone.

So - if there are things in the family home you value, make some excuse to take a scanner and spend whatever time it take to make copies of it all - it is simple enough and could mean that things of value are not lost.

We have no idea why the photos were thrown away, but it means that we have just a few fairly recent photos of my father in law, a couple I took of my mother in law in later life, but nothing of the family, no photos of grandparents, aunts, nor my husband and his sister growing up.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 04 Mar 13 - 05:07 AM

Oh so sorry that all the photos were lost Rumncoke, are there any siblings of your mother in law who might have photos you can copy. I am so lucky that my father kept so many documents,( even all his train season tickets in an elastic band!!) we have many photo albumns but also I found a big cardboard box in dad's study when he died that was full of photos dating back to before the first world war, we have found out who most of them are by sending copies to my mother's cousin, who is as sharp as a tack at 90, and we have written beside them in the album any notes she made. We also idendified some of the men in uniform by the regimental badges on their caps! Your advice is so important, photo or scan any documents, sit with relatives and go through photo albums and write on the back of photos who is in the picturem where they were and a date if possible!

I am lucky that mum was able to come and live with Billy and I when dad died, I packed up all her treasures , photos, "nick nacks"and she has her bedroom furnished just as it was for 67 years of marriage but in my house. She has paintings, framed photos on the walls and we often go through the photo albums to remind her of the past. Music and poetry are a joy to her and visitors better like Bing or Frank because they are singing everyday around here!

I have a brilliant support system in place, private carers come in during the day so I can continue running my business, but it is hard, last night for instance I was up 3 times in the night to undress her and put her back to bed, she thought it was morning each time! Billy and I really would like a weekend away, we managed three last year but it is difficalt to get the right sort of person for three days that mum would be contented with.

Just wonder what that lovely nineteen year old would think if she got a letter from me 70 years in the future " Dear mum, guess what happens next?"

Wendy xxxx

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Rumncoke
Date: 04 Mar 13 - 01:44 PM

Good idea about making notes to identify the people, my sister found some really old photos amongst those from my old home, and rather than asking who they were just threw them away.

My mother in law has also lost the memory of the latter part of her life completely, but she too remembers her early years, and thinks that 'home' is the house where her parents lived.

That does make the emptying and selling of the home she lived in for most of her married life somewhat less difficult, as it is entirely forgotten.

The care home staff see that she has several of her music cds played during the day, as she too likes to hear the familiar songs.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Ebbie
Date: 04 Mar 13 - 04:21 PM

Wendy, I agree enthusiastically that you have the makings of a fine book there, one that I would certainly buy and read.

I wonder whether playing recordings of songs that were popular during the war years would help keep your mum 'in the moment' when you are going through the letters?

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 05 Mar 13 - 04:07 AM

Thanks Ebbie,
not sure about a book, but of course the words would be mum's and not mine.... so maybe!!It is a love story for sure. They met in a London museum ,either side of a butterfly cabinet and my father said she was the most beautiful butterfly he ever saw!!
Married for67 years and I honestly NEVER heard them have a row!!
Wonderful parents, both.
How lucky was I ?

Wendy x

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: banjoman
Date: 05 Mar 13 - 05:12 AM

Great story - 1943 mwas a good year as I was born in December of that year so share something with your parents. I also have lots of photos and bits of memorabilia from my parents

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 06 Mar 13 - 03:56 AM

Have got to July 1943 in the letters, My father is in Malta and mum has just had letters from him written in June.Mean while mum has been posted to Stoney Cross, a small RAF station in the New Forest in Hampshire,Her first posting had been RAF Hurn and she was a telephonist in the Officers Mess .The station was USAAF as well as RAF base, all those American pilots!! Bet dad was pleased she got posted?
She says it is very lonely at Stoney Cross but they have " the flicks" once a week and she has seen " Random Harvest" twice and cried buckets!! But says she loved the film, so ....... have ordered it on Amazon and that will be her gift on Sunday for Mothers Day !
Wendy x

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: banjoman
Date: 06 Mar 13 - 05:12 AM

I visited the New Forest Airfields memorial near Holmsley last year and Sstoney Cross is on it. Well worth a visit if you ever are down that way.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 06 Mar 13 - 06:01 AM

Oh thank you for that information, I looked the memorial up on the internet, maybe we could take mum away for a weekend to see it when the weather gets better,I am learning so much about my mother . We always knew about my father's wartime story but somehow mum's was not talked about so it is wonderful to be putting this jigsaw together!

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 06 Mar 13 - 12:11 PM

Billybob, good cures for the curses induced by trying to identify places in photos are Google Earth/Street View, also Google Image Search. No, I don't work for Google.

I've scanned nearly 2000 of my slides (Kodachrome etc) so far. Yes, I am mad. I thought I'd noted locations down on the slides but sometimes, especially after holidays, I just got fed up. I've been able to ID lots of shots to within 10 feet using Street View. Obviously you have to know roughly where you were....

Beware though as you find yourself a bit punch drunk after "driving" Street View through virtual Hartlepool or somewhere - you actually start trying to avoid virtual white vans coming the other way!

Since I started on ma in law's ahem, "heterogenous" collection I've found these search tools invaluable. Even the Aden prints yield up info - as my missus was only 8 at the time she can't always help. But between us we've identified places like Steamer Point, the Gold Mohur Club with its anti-shark nets, Sira Fortress, even the Muhammad Ali Mosque in Cairo and the P&O liner on which they travelled out. The Pyramids were easy though.

My pièce de résistance is identifying a 1962 shot of dad in law's Renault Floride outside the new South Arabian Federation Secretariat building at Al-Ittihad, Aden. That little picture has lasted nearly 50 years longer than the ill fated Federation.

You don't half learn some history and geography!

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 02:22 PM

An up date on the letters, still 1943, my father is on a troopship, coming back to England from the siege of Malta, mum is at Stoney Cross RAF camp writing to him in Malta as she has no idea he is on his way home! In the letters they refer to Dad being badly burnt in 1941 and being treated by Sir Archie Macindoe the famous plastic surgeon. The family back in London are getting through the bombing raids with humour and wit!

The latest film at the camp flicks was " Ten gentlemen from West Point" might have to visit Amazon again!!
Wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 23 Mar 13 - 12:21 PM

Still working on the letters, Number 149 at the moment! Mother and my father got married in December 1943 at short notice, dad was due back to be posted abroad to Corsica, a few weeks later his mothers house is blasted by a V1 ( Derby House,I found photos on the Sydenham Forum)luckily my grandmother escaped in a homemade shelter under the stairs! All my parents wedding presents were lost in the blast. Mother was posted to RAF Brize Norton, she tells of films she has seen and the song of the moment " I'm sending my blessings " which I found on the internet and played to mum yesterday, she remembered all the words and sang along( amazing as she cannot remember a conversation ten minutes later)
The whole project is helping me to discover my family history but more important is really stimulating my mother in a wonderful way. Back to letter 150!!

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 23 Mar 13 - 01:04 PM

Only 50+ to go! Keep at it.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Bobert
Date: 23 Mar 13 - 01:23 PM

I also am in possession of a box of old letters... They were written by my mother's brother, who has since passed, to her mother and were written from various places (undisclosed locations for obvious reasons) from areas in the South Pacific where my uncle was serving in the US Marines in WW II...

I am not too sure what to do with them but they are in good condition (envelopes and all), dry and safe...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: GUEST,pete from seven stars link
Date: 23 Mar 13 - 03:03 PM

must have been a moving moment as your mum sang along.blessings pete.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: akenaton
Date: 24 Mar 13 - 11:32 AM

Great story....Great people.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 26 Mar 13 - 07:58 AM

Bobert, sounds wonderful that you have those letters, do find a way of saving them for your family, it is taking me many hours to type mothers letters onto my laptop, but I can now share them with my family. Some of my cousins remember the events and I now have a clear picture of the "two up and two down" cottage that was hit by the V1 rocket as two of the cousins remember it. The bedrooms upstairs had no gas or electricity so candles lit them to bed!! They have described the scullery with a huge copper boiler, the outside " loo" and Grandad sitting by the range in the kitchen in a Captains chair with a blanket over him and a quart pot of brown ale warming by the fire!
He had a great sense of humour and if the grandchildren made too much noise in the front parlour would stick his head round the door and threaten them with" I'll send for old Ted!) No one ever found out who old Ted was!!
Mum ,in her letters says she is a worrier, somethings dont change, she woke me up at 2 in the morning last night asking me to ring the police, something was very wrong! Took me an hour to get her back to bed! Bless!!
Wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Mo the caller
Date: 27 Mar 13 - 08:15 AM

Ten years ago we were caring for my Mother-in-law.
She had 'all her marbles' but with Arthritis and parkinsons was stuck in a chair, very frustrating for her.
A lot of her time was spent reliving the past, and as we took turns to stay with her I used the time away from home to go through her photo albums and make notes on who they all were, while the information was available.
I'm glad I did, some of the photos of my side of the family have to be guessed at (which curly blonde cousin was that?).

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: nickp
Date: 28 Mar 13 - 05:10 AM

Wonderful and moving thread.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Ron Davies
Date: 28 Mar 13 - 07:40 AM

Amen.    As I noted earlier, it brings history to life as nothing else could--in addition to being emotionally involving and uplifting.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: gnu
Date: 29 Mar 13 - 06:52 AM

Well said, Ron and others.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 29 Mar 13 - 07:03 AM

Update on the letters, January 1945, Dad is in sick bay in Italy, near Naples The skin on his face, treated in 1941 by Sir Archie MacIndoe, has been troubling him and he has spent Xmas in bed with his face covered in bandages with a straw the only way of drinking! Mum spent xmas at home, she returned to camp and received a telegram in January telling her her mothers house has been blasted quote"I had a telegram from home as mum has been visited by Jerry!, but dont worry dear, she is quite alright" Actually she was in the front bedroom and dug out by the heavy rescue all in fine fettle!! The back of the cottage had been compltely destoyed! However the next week mum writes "The first thing that Bunny( mum's sister) looked for up at no 24 was my tin with my undies that you sent me from Italy, so now they are stored away in her flat" Always one for priorities my mother!!

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 03 Apr 13 - 07:11 AM

Earls Colne was an Airfield where mum was staioned in,1944/45 not far from where we live in Essex UK so BB and I took a drive yesterday to take some photographs for mum's memory book.On arrival I asked the lady selling tickets how far to the war memorial , oooooh about a mile she said. Mind you she did not say it was through woodland, boggy ground, bracken,and bushes.Those of you who know me will know I dont do rambling, hence high heels, best coat, no water only a packet of extra strong mints!! Two and a half hours of hiking though the woods we found the memorial, golly did we laugh, best afternoon out we have had in ages. Mum was delighted with the photos and remembered working in the Officers Mess ( Marks Hall manor house) If I knew how to do blue clicky I would post photos but you can go to www.markshall.org.uk and see where we were. The letter I was working on yesterday was dated March 24th 1945 and mum was telling dad that she had walked through the woods and picked primroses, and yes, yesterday there were primroses!!

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 06 Apr 13 - 04:55 AM

After a month of typing ,I have all the letters on my laptop! Now I can start on the memory book for my mother. I am scaning in old family photos and thought I would make it like a family tree but with lots of information to remind mum of her grandparents, parents, siblings etc.

This project has sent me off on different quests, my father was a contributer on "The Sydenham Forum" so when I typed in V2 rocket hit Sydenham , up popped my fathers account of his family home Derby House being blasted, complete with photos!!

When My granfather had the house rebuilt after the war, he furnished the house with pieces bought at the Auction of the contents of Sir Ernest Shackleton's house, also in Sydenham, so off I went reading everything about that house and the explorer!

Having great fun, but where will I go next??

Wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: gnu
Date: 06 Apr 13 - 07:34 AM

I got the "watery eyes", me. Thanks for sharing!

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 18 Apr 13 - 05:45 AM

Working on the memory book for mother, I have found out so many new things that I was unaware of, including the news that she was Head Girl at her school!

One little funny to treasure, yesterday in a lucid momemt mum said" I think it is Margaret Thatcher's Funeral this morning?" I said it was so recorded it and in the evening we sat and watched, as the gun carriage was stopping outside the Cathederal mum suddenly looked very worried " but who will be on the throne now?" Thank goodness the cameras shortly afterwards showed the Queen in her seat!

Wendy x

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 18 Apr 13 - 07:19 AM

Congratulations Wendy on typing them all up! You are obviously pretty organised. I am not - my mum and dad both did little memoirs and I haven't done anything with them yet although I am progressing with ma in law's stuff.

I despaired last week when a very old friend lent me a large typed report on a trip he did in 1965. Our old school had a good relationship with a local brewery (!!) and for several years the school organised trips to Europe in a Foden beer lorry. Said trucks were always brand new although pretty well run in after the trips. Around 20 lads travelled, plus schoolmasters who drove. The boys slept in a big tent, cooked, washed up, SMOKED, sang rude songs and wrote diaries of the trip.

The 1965 trip visited France, Germany, Chechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Trieste, Italy, Switzerland (and Ealing) in 3 weeks - and the weather was mostly awful. So naturally the report is mind boggling and in parts hilarious. Under the influence of strong drink I said "blimey, this is really good, I'll copy it, bet the school's lost their copy" then realised what I'd taken on - it's tightly bound, it's bigger than A4, it's a bit faint, etc etc. Oh dear.

But after a lot of swearing I found that Epson scanner software would save me. One of the included widgets is an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) app which I've ignored since 2002. but amazingly it works like a charm, even using Windows 7 64 bit. Obviously it misses odd characters, especially in the left margin, and one has to line up each page very carefully - but it works. The result is a Word document to which one can add pictures etc.

So I'd recommend anybody else with old docs, particularly typed ones, to try using a scanner and either the bundled OCR program or some freeware. It could save you a lot of headaches.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 26 Apr 13 - 03:56 AM

I read Chapter 1 of the memory book with mum, it was a joy to watch her face, she remembered lots of details and addded quite a few extra "little gems". The photos were examined and commented on.So far we have gone from 1923 to 1940.Chapter 2 calls!!

Wendy x

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: gnu
Date: 26 Apr 13 - 05:48 AM

I do hope you are recording these sessions... video if possible. My mum won't even let me take a pic of her.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 26 Apr 13 - 08:25 AM

Thats a lovely idea, I hadnt thought of recording! I also want to get a photo of mum, me, my daughter and two grandaughters, four generations!!
Wendy x

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Bettynh
Date: 26 Apr 13 - 03:34 PM

Oh, do get that photo, Wendy, and pass around copies! I have a photo of my mother with her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother that I treasure. LOL, I'm not sure where the men were, or even if they were alive at the time of that picture.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Ebbie
Date: 26 Apr 13 - 05:16 PM

What a great thread, Wendy!

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: GUEST,pete from seven stars link
Date: 27 Apr 13 - 04:50 AM

loverly wendy.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 27 Apr 13 - 04:52 AM

I have some lovely photos of my great granny, grandmother and mum from 1930 but dont know how to blue clicky ;-(
Wendy x

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 14 May 13 - 06:09 AM

The memory book is progressing quite well,with lots of help from my cousins to fill the gaps.

On Sunday Billy and I took mum to Marks Hall to visit where she was from 1944 to the end of the war in the WAAF. We booked a "buggy" with a driver as mum would not be able to walk all round the estate and also after my experience at Easter in high heels a buggy sounded like a good option! The driver, Sandra, was brilliant .She didn't mind how many times mum told her " I used to March though these woods" and knew all about the war days and the Squadron that mum served with. We saw the memorial to the Glider Pilots and were amazed that mum could point out where her hut had been and the Officer's Mess where she worked.We picked a primrose ( naughty) to put in her memory book and marvelled at the beautiful bluebells that were in full bloom.

After a lovely lunch in a Tudor Barn we drove into Coggleshall the nearby village to look for the pub that mum and her pals visited on VE day and celebrated the end of the war dancing "Knees up mother brown" round a huge bonfire!!

Without mum's letters I would never have know where she had been or what she had been doing and it was lovely to see her remembering a distant youth after nearly 70 years!

Wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: GUEST,pete from seven stars link
Date: 14 May 13 - 07:31 AM

lovely account of your 2nd[?] visit to that area with your mum,wendy.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 14 May 13 - 08:13 AM

Wendy,

This is an amazing thread and an amazing journey you are on. Thanks you so much for sharing!

Best wishes,

Peter

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 14 May 13 - 02:55 PM

Wonderful story Wendy

Some places in Essex (with blessings and funding from the Council) have been providing reminisence work including creating memory books for a couple of years. Heritage Outrach, Adult Social Care, Arts Development and Age Concern all work together to create this package and go out to nursing homes, shelterd housing, etc.

I remember hearing about the first session as the artist leading a memory book workshop used library books desitned for the skip. Participants were encourged to glue photographs, pictures, pressed flowers, ticket stubs from shows and concerts, (any memorabilia the possessed) into the pages of the book. Many of the women were very uncomfortable about defacing the books in this way.

There is also reminisence training which teaches carers to bring out memories using oral history collection techniques.

Mum in law is always, pulling out old photos and moving them around in different albums. She was big on writing until about a year ago. I used to get something (from little note to full blown 4 page letter) in the post every week.

She met and married Dad after the war so no writing there, I wouldn't think.

She has cousins she was very close to in childhood, who moved to New Zealand while they were all still young. There has been some letter writing between them. In fact lately has been talking of them more than ever.

I wonder if we could get hold of some of those letters. I am on it. TSO says he has an email address somewhere for those cousins.

Thank you for this Wendy. I now feel I can really do something to make this situation easier for everyone. I have been sitting the sidelines biting my nails too long because I felt it was not my place to interfere.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Max Johnson
Date: 15 May 13 - 01:10 PM

It's absolutely amazing what's out there. I've been trying to find information on my granfather, who was a Captain with P&O and Holts before and during the war. All I knew was that he died when he was torpedoed off Durban in 1945.
So, I started digging and found that he actually died in 1941, that he joined P&O at the age of 15, was torpedoed 3 times in WW1 and twice in WW2. I've found pictures of his ships, and details of his voyages and two newspaper articles announcing his death. Neither named the ship, which was the RMS Nova Scotia. My late mum hadn't known any of that. I'm trying to find out about her now. When my Grandad died she joined the Fleet Air Arm (at 17) and became an Air Mechanic at RNAS Stretton. I've found on the internet a great photo of her sitting on the wing of a Sea Hurricane with thirteen other Wrens. I'll keep looking. You wouldn't believe what's there until you start looking.

Good luck with all your searches folks.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 15 May 13 - 03:16 PM

Well done Max,
keep digging, it is such fun!
Wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 17 Nov 13 - 11:36 AM

Have finished the memory book, it starts in 1923 when mum was born and finishes with photos of her enjoying her 90th Birthday in August, when I put 90 candles on the cake and nearly set fire to the garden!!

I am sending a copy to each of my cousins as a Christmas gift, mum's story is theirs too and many of the memories about her siblings were unknown by their children so this has become quite a family history project.

Mum's letters have given me so much comfort, when I have a bad day I sit and read them and remember the girl full of spirit who left home for the first time to join the Womens Royal Airforce in 1943. She was just 19!
That girl is still there in her eyes, when she reads the book her lovely smile lights up the room. Dementia is a cruel decease, but all the time her memories of youth can be in front of her in photos and text, it really doesn't matter if she cannot remember what she had for lunch!

Her carers all read the book too, it helps them know who mum is, not the little old lady sitting in the chair but the loving daughter, wonderful wife and mother, doting grandmother and great grandmother. Margie, the 19 year old bride who danced round the bonfire on V E night, did the jitterbug on the airbase, sang along with Vera Lynn, rode a bike into a hedge because she didn't know how to use the brakes, married her only boyfriend who she met at 14 and enjoyed 67 years of a wonderful happy marriage. My mum xxxxx

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 17 Nov 13 - 11:46 AM

Fantastic. Well done Wendy.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: GUEST,laptopgnu
Date: 17 Nov 13 - 01:09 PM

WONDERFUL! Heartening to hear of such love leading to a truly worthwhile project which means and does so much for many, including people outside of your family who may be inspired to do the same or simply to read your, her, book.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: GUEST,pete from seven stars link
Date: 17 Nov 13 - 04:09 PM

lovely, heartwarming stuff, wendy. very worthwhile project. pete.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 01 Jul 14 - 08:36 AM

Having a very stressful time at the moment, although "The Rainbow Crew" are keeping me going.

So I am reading mum's letters again slowly, from the beginning.
Her memory book is a great comfort to her still and a great way for my cousins to engage with their Aunty when they visit.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 01 Jul 14 - 03:33 PM

I'd encourage anyone who has elderly relatives (not just folks with dementia etc) to try to bring their memories out. It's incredibly illuminating, good for them, and good for you.   

My mother died at 95 a few years ago - she was born just up the road from the National Shell Filling Factory at Chilwell. Mum was 5 when the place exploded, causing many deaths and injuries. It was one of her first memories - she and her mother rushed out and found all sorts of horse and motor traffic taking the wounded to any hospital that was available. 1st July 1918. Mum was 5. If she hadn't told this to my sister and me, nobody would have known.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: GUEST,pete from seven stars link
Date: 01 Jul 14 - 05:23 PM

the elderly seem to have better distance memory than what they did recently, but often a deep treasure of interesting and significant events to draw from.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 01 Jul 14 - 09:02 PM

Wendy, I am very glad that you have those letters.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: bbc
Date: 02 Jul 14 - 07:37 AM

What a wonderful story! Blessings on you, for loving & caring for your mom in such a special way!

Barbara

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: gnu
Date: 02 Jul 14 - 07:48 AM

Indeed. This thread is a treasure for a number of reasons. Thanks again, Wendy. UP!

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: GUEST,Raggytash
Date: 02 Jul 14 - 02:05 PM

I read a book recently by Bill Lamin named Letters from the Trenchs (I think) he had done a tome line blog putting the letters on the web 90 years after they were written by his Grandfather. One at a time, by date, so nobody would know if the man had survived the war. Fascinating reading. Perhaps after your Mother has passed you may consider doing the same.

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: billybob
Date: 03 Jul 14 - 06:17 AM

I may well think of doing something with the letters one day, they are full of poems mum cut from the newspapers ( Patience Strong) notes on the films she had seen,songs that were of the time, which we play on CD all the time for her now.

Her memories of joining the Womens Royal Airforce are very interesting as are her thoughts writing to my father while in the air raid shelter during the blitz of London.

My cousin, who is ten years younger than mother recently came for a visit and brought some photos of the family going on a camping holiday at Littlestone, he was 5 and mother 15. I had not seen the photos before.So mum's memory book is still expanding !

Subject: RE: BS: Letters from 1943! ( Billybob)
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 03 Jul 14 - 07:49 PM

Photos are a nice addition to your mum's life story. It's wonderful that your cousin kept them.