Stan and Grace

  G.H.N. 16-10-43    My Very Own Darling, This morning I received an air-letter from you dated Oct. 3 rd .    Yesterday the other pair of silk stockings arrived safely.    Darling, those stockings are so marvellous I hardly dare put them on, not having had the pleasure of handling really fine stockings for about three years.    I am so pleased that you thought of sending them Darling and thank you so much for them.    All my friends look at them with envy.    Nice stockings are such treasures these days. This morning I had a telegram from home telling me that Grandad had died*. I shall be going home Tuesday as the burial will be on Wednesday.    Poor Mother, she always seems to catch any extra work that is going around.    I feel that I would like to go home but I went to Matron the other day and she said that she could not possibly spare me (I bet that they would if it were for their convenience though...

  2364226    Sergt. S. Bristow, Headquarters, 15 L of C Signals, CMF 69.                                                                                       15 OCT 43 MY VERY OWN DARLING, I AM EXCELLING MYSELF THIS WEEK, THIS IS THE THIRD LETTER IN THREE DAYS!    I WAS SO PLEASED TO GET YOUR AIR LETTER DATED 5 OCT 43 THIS EVENING, HOWEVER, THAT I THOUGHT I REALLY MUST SIT DOWN AND REPLY TO IT STRAIGHT AWAY. I AM SORRY TO HEAR THAT THERE IS A LACK OF MAIL FROM THIS END AT THE TIME OF WRITING.    YOU WILL JUST BE GETTING THE RESULTS OF...

  2364226 Sergt. S. Bristow                                                                                                  68 . Headquarters 15 L of C Signals Cen Med Forces 14 Oct 43        My Very Own Darling, I wrote quite a long ordinary letter to you last night, Dear, in answer to a letter from you which had been on the way for exactly two months, and so exhausted most of my news.    I thought this air letter would be welcome as well, however, & so here goes. Not having much ...

  Nurses Home, General Hospital Nottingham 13-10-43       My Own Darling, I wrote you an air letter this morning so I suppose it will arrive long before this one.    An air letter is not very big though is it when one has a lot to say?    However, I suppose we are lucky that there are such things as air letters. I have just finished writing to your Mother telling her bout these lovely stockings which you sent me.    I was thrilled with them. Kit had a surprise this morning too.    When we went to Wales on the 5 th  of July (Gosh, it does seem a long time ago) she left a small case on the train at Abertillery.    We made all enquiries about it but it had completely disappeared.    This morning she received a letter from the lost property office at Paddington Station saying that the case was there.    As one of her Aunts lives in London she will be able to collect it for her.    There ...

G.H.N.                                                                                          (63) 12-10-43     My Very Own Darling, I received two ordinary letters from you yesterday dated Sept. 15 th and 20 th .   They were such long letters too Darling and so interesting. I am pleased that there were several letters waiting for you when you arrived back from your trip.   You know Darling, you have certainly got around since you left England.   At times I feel really jealous!   There will be such a lot for y...

 In her letter of 3rd and 4th October, Grace mentioned that her ward had admitted a small boy.  She said:  "This afternoon we admitted a little boy aged six who had been knocked down by a van.  Poor little chap.  We have done everything possible for him but I am afraid he is not going to live."  The press cutting below is from the Nottingham Journal of 9 October, reporting the inquest into the death of a six year-old boy who was knocked down by a van, having been chased by two older boys.  The badly edited report below says that the accident occurred on 5 September, but as will be seen from recent posts, Grace seemed to get her dates in a muddle at this time (I suspect not helped by her working long shifts) and it is perfectly possible that she was continuing her letter on the 5th. It seems Grace was right and the little boy did not survive. #1940snursinghistory  #1940snurse   #nursing1940s  #Nottinghamnursinghistory   #No...

Grace seems to have got into a bit of a tangle with her letters to Stan.  On 3rd October she started an air letter that she finished on the 4th.  She also started a sea letter, which she didn't manage to finish until the 7th.  On the 7th, she at last received two letters from Stan, after a month of no mail at all.  She just had to reply straight away!  However, in this letter she says that she posted the sea letter "yesterday", which would have been the 6th .... G.H.N. 7-10-43                                                                                                         (62) My Very Own Darling, I was so very thrilled to receive two air letter...