A letter written in 1948 - just sharing

[ashjoma]

I have been sorting through Mum's papers and found this letter and I thought it was worthy of sharing. I find it happy, sweet and sad looking back through all the years and the person who wrote it is of course long deceased. This was written almost 20 years before I was born.

It was written in 1948, so not long after WW2 finished and the person who wrote it lived outside London

Was written to my mother when she was coming out to NZ and then Australia, and Mum met my Dad on the ship.

October 1948

Dear Anne,

I was so pleased to get your nice letter and to know that you are well and happy. I'm glad you had a very nice trip out and that you met a nice young man (my father). It must be very nice for you to have someone you can get about with.

Fancy Jean (mum's sister) going to have a baby. When does she expect ?

It will be wonderful for me to be a great great grandmother again.

I went to see my brother the other week. Your father took me in the little van. It was quite a nice day and I enjoyed the ride .......

We have not seen Jean or her husband but they say he is a very nice chap.

In fact, Uncle James thinks he is far nicer than Freda's  young man, in spite of him being a German.

I have heard it is a beautiful country and I suppose you are getting used to it by now although it is a long way from home but as long as you are happy that it the main thing.......

Well my dear, I must say goodbye and Godbless you and keep you safe always.

Your loving Granny

[yellowmazda323]

I have a few dozen postcards written by a great aunt, who lived in England, to her brother and his children (one of whom was my mother) in Tasmania.  They start in about 1905 and go through until about 1922.  They are fascinating as she writes about the hardships of WWI and the bombers flying overhead and the hospital trains rumbling past.  She writes to tell them how delighted she was when a neighbour bought her a couple of rabbits and that it had been a good season for apples.  Some of the postcards are patriotic with pictures of Lord Kitchener etc.  She was so glad when the war was over and hoped there would never be another one.  She would also send gifts (usually small amounts of money) to her niece and nephews and used to often wonder how much of her mail ended up at the bottom of the ocean.

I had a second set that ran into the 1930's that I lost - I was devistated!!!  Her writing and spelling deteriorated as the years went on and I found out much later that she died in January 1939, so thankfully she didn't have to struggle through another war.

On the two occasions I've visited the UK I have made a point of visiting some of the places she lived and taking pics of the house and spending time in the area.

[katymatey*]

Off topic but, one of my favourite books is called Nella Last's War. A housewife in England during the war, writing for a govt. thing called Mass Observation. A very very read if you are interested in what the population had to deal with during ww11.

She was a wonderful diarist.

[matega3]

Love reading old letters , they can tell us so much about the times and you can feel the emotions.  I have all the letters by my deceased uncle to and from his fiance (he kept duplicates of his letters:carbon paper) over a period of five years.  It is so interesting being able to read both the original and the reply.

[punch*drunk]

My sister bought an old run down house that used to be owned by a hoarder. In amongst the rubbish left behind, she found the handwritten life story of a woman who was born in 1813 and died in 1892. It details her life growing up in England then moving to Australia and how difficult things were here for her. Her mother was a persian pincess.

My sister deciphered the whole thing, the writing back then wasnt the easiest to read, but she eventually got most of it. A couple of years ago she joined Ancestry and managed to track down the womans descendants and pass the story on to them.

[matega3]

I bet that was an interesting read punch, and how great she took the trouble to pass it on.