Stan and Grace

  The Nurses Home General Hospital Notts. 28.9.42        My Darling, I suppose I ought to start my letter by apologising for this “good linen note-paper”.   I happen to be writing this in the lecture room whilst Sister-Tutor is chittering away about blood grouping.   As I want to catch this evenings post I have no alternative but to write this now; not that I mind missing any of the lecture as we had the same subject at least six times before.   It was kind of you to write Saturday night after you had worked so late and I do appreciate your special effort. I was so thankful to hear that you are staying with your unit and I am not going to pry for “official secrets”. Rather unusual for you to be working Sunday, it is such a lazy day for you normally. You certainly made me feel envious, reading about your dinner.   I am so glad that you enjoyed yourself though.   Jean is sitting near me and just before we came into the le...

The Nurses Home General Hospital Nottingham Thursday      My Darling, Winter is certainly near in this part of the world.   It is terribly cold today.   I was sitting in lecture for an hour this morning and got frozen.   The windows were wide open and as yet the heat is not on. I then made my way to my bedroom, sat for an hour and a half writing up a lecture and then my fingers could hardly hold my pen, so I decided I would go to first dinner.   That warmed me up a bit so I decided that I had now enough energy left to write to you.   Not that I require much energy when writing you letters, I don’t they just come naturally and without any mental fag. I received a letter from your Mother, Tuesday morning, which thrilled me very much.   I suppose you cannot understand my being thrilled by a letter from one of my own sex but it is not the same sort of thrill as when I receive a letter from you. She told me how John and Janet were ...

G. H. N. Sunday evening     My Darling, As I write this I wonder where you are and I am hoping that you might be on the staff of this mobile unit and be posted at Leeds. I am eagerly looking forward to a letter from you to-morrow letting me know where you are. I received your last letter about 10 a.m. Thursday.   It was quite a shock to hear that you were being moved again.   I thought that you were out in the wilds for a definite period.   Of course, nothing is really definite in the army is it? As I was not off until Thursday afternoon I knew that it would be impossible for me to write you a letter that would arrive before Friday lunch time. Now for news about the home front.   There is not much.   I had a letter from home Saturday morning.   My mother said that she had seen your mother and your mother had mentioned to mine that you were being moved. All my family wish to be remembered to you. I received a letter from John a fe...

  From time to time Grace mentions her colleagues in her letters to Stan, so who are these people? On the wards, all the staff refer to each other by their surnames only, and some of these become shortened into nicknames.  "Goodie" and "Bunny" both trained with Grace at the King Eward VII Hospital for Sick Children in Rivelin Valley, north of Sheffield.  It would seem that the three of them then came to train in Nottingham together. "Goodie" is Jean Gooderson, who came from Thorne near Doncaster.  "Bunny" is another Jean - Jean Warren.  'Laughton' is also mentioned, but so far I have not found a first name for her. Grace's closest friend at Nottingham, constantly mentioned in the letters, is Kit.  It seems that Kit did not train at Rivelin, as in the 1939 Register (a 'census' taken at the beginning of the war for the purpose of producing ID and ration cards) Kit, listed by her full name Kathleen Gwillym, is at home with her fa...

The Nurses Home G. H. N. Sunday night     My Darling, I did not receive your letter until to-night.   I thought that there might be a letter for me last Friday but one did not arrive.   I was sure that there would be one Saturday and when there wasn’t one for me I can tell you I felt very disappointed.   Your letters play an important part in my life. I think that it must have arrived yesterday afternoon and was not brought across to the home till to-night.   I was getting rather worried and wondered why you had not written.   I entered my bedroom to-night and there, reposing on my pillow was your photograph*, I picked it up, knowing that it was one of Kit’s tricks, and there underneath was your letter.   I felt so very relieved and pleased that you had written and that the fault was here. I expect I shall hear from you in the morning so will finish this letter to-morrow. Monday   10 a.m. I have just received your second let...

G. H. N. Thursday morning   My Darling, Having been thoroughly frightened by your last letter and by your threat to run me round the corridors if I do not write longer letters – well, I think that I had better make this letter a bit longer. Really, I do not know what to write about – nothing of interest has happened here since I last wrote to you.   Life goes on just the same – work and lectures with a few hours to write to your and various other friends in between.   Yesterday was my day off for this month.   I could not go home as I had a lecture at 6 p.m., Tuesday evening.   I had a morning in bed though, so I did not worry, or at least I was in bed even though I did not sleep.   I was awake at 7 a.m. and spent a couple of hours reading. It was a very different day off to the one I spent a fortnight ago. We are having glorious weather here at present.   I am dreading the thoughts of night duty again.   I expect to be on night duty...

G. H. N. 8.9.42        My Darling, Pleased that my letter arrived when you were feeling down in the dumps and that it cheered you up a little.   Your letters do just the same kind of thing to me. I am glad that you are settling down alright in your new office.   I guess you will soon have things running to your liking, even though they were not so when you arrived there. So you sent out the reporter to collect the news about Eric.   I might have known.   I bet you got a laugh when you read my last letter and read about   “the piece in the Times”. So you do get a bit of entertainment, even out in the “wilds”.   How often do you have these concerts? It was a bit of a shock to hear about your travelling being curtailed.   Never mind darling, we will have to make the best of it and think that it might be helping the “war effort” a little bit.   Please do not cause any trouble trying to get leave.   If we only do...