The Signalman and the Land Girl

From March 1943 to February 1946 Irene Fred nee  Jayes, my late mother in law, was in the Womens Land Army and stationed in Hertfordshire. In the picture above she is sixth from the right. During that time my father in law, Will Fred was in the Royal Signals and stationed in India,Burma and after the war in Yorkshire.

I have recently been going through  a big box of photos and papers that were left after they died in more recent years.

There were two shoe boxes full of letters from Will to Irene, and it looks like he wrote every day. Some letters are addressed to Irene's home address in Bethnal Green , but many are addressed to the WLA Hostel, Verulam Golf House, London Road, St Albans where she was based. The early letters are addressed to Irene Jayes, her maiden name, but at one point when Will was on leave Irene proposed to Will and they got married. There is one letter that I would like to reproduce in full, as ironically it speculates what people will think of an enclosed photo "in 50 years time". Well it has taken 67 years, but it seems very apt

The letter is dated 29/1/46 so it is the last letter Irene received while in the Land Army.

2377367 Signalman Fred,W.H.
M.T Section
"Stoneybrough"
Royal Signals
Thirsk,Yorks

My Dearest Irene

I'm a little later than usual, with usual daily letter darling, I was rather busy this afternoon sorting the pieces of my motor-cycle out so had to leave this job until this evening. I've missed the 6.30pm post so the letter won't go until tomorrow morning at 8.30. It means you will receive it a little later than usual. Anyway my darling I know you will understand. Had two very welcome letters from you today darling, one dated the 25th which has obviously been touring round somewhere and the other which had the photograph enclosed. I didn't know you were going to send it Irene, so I'm sincerely glad it has arrived safely. I think it's extremely nice darling, we all seem to have come out rather well, especially you, yes, I like it very much. It rather pleases me because I didn't expect them to turn out so well. When we are old and grey Rene we will have something to look back on, although in about 50 years time I expect the photograph will look old fashioned, at least our clothes will. I'll keep the photograph here until I come home on my next weekend leave, you may rest assured that I will look after it it in the meantime.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the pantomime, it certainly made a change for you to have a few hours out. I havn't seen one for donkey's years. I'm not sure whether they would appeal to me now although I really used to enjoy them when I was young. So you're one of five chosen for exhibition work, they must certainly think you are an excellent worker to favour you so, what with having your photo taken for the farmer's magazine you will be a celebrity before long, you know Rene. "I always use Lux soap" or something like that. I'll have to watch my step or you will be running off to Hollywood.

Sorry to hear that Peg hasn't been keeping too well lately. John has certainly had a rough time of it since being married. I'm inclined to agree with you Rene in saying that Peg likes a great deal of fuss made of her, but still she has been really queer in the past, I wouldn't doubt that in the least.

Went to the flicks last night Rene, and saw Lana Turner in "Keep Your Powder Dry" *, quite a good film. I didn't intend going last night as a matter of  fact. I intended having an evening in and was going to retire to bed early, but my Scotch friend paid me a visit and pestered me to go, so I gave in to him. He wanted me to go to a dance tonight, but I firmly refused. So I'm having my restful evening after all. I'm sure you wouldn't have liked me going to the dance, would you Rene? and besides I can't dance anyway.

Well Sweetheart will bring these few lines to a close now, sincerely trusting that you are keepng OK and well, likewise myself at present. So for the present Rene I'll say cheerio, back again tomorrow.

I love you more than ever sweet.

your Loving Husband

Will

xxxxxxxxxxxx


* and if you were wondering about that film? Click the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTWDjIGC9D4

I don't think you could get all that in email these days.

Will Fred in jungle uniform


Presumably the photo of the Land Girls above is one of those taken for the farmers's magazine.

After completing her spell in the WLA Irene (or Rene as most of us knew her) received this certificate from the Queen

This final picture of Will and Irene probably isn't the one mentioned in the letter, but far from looking old fashioned, I think they look rather stylish!

Holiday Knitting

In the late 40's and early 50's we were pretty much only taking photos in black and white. However looking through old family photographs I have noticed that some had been artificially coloured by hand. The picture of my mother on the beach was in black and white, but I have added the hand colouring effect digitally, and this is pretty much how they looked. When I was a child we didn't go far for our holidays. On one occasion we stayed in a caravan at Shoeburyness, which was only about 20-25 miles from where we lived at West Horndon. If we were feeling really adventurous we would go to Clacton or Walton on the Naze. These days we would regard these as day trip destinations. I suspect from the look of the sand that the picture was taken at Walton.

We didn't take much in the way of entertainment, and as you can see my mother was spending her time knitting. I am not sure what the jug was for, but guess that in the days before paper and plastic cups, that if you went to a beach side cafe you were provided with a tray proper china cups and presumably a jug of milk. How very civilized!

My mother was a keen knitter, as were most women after the war. My mother , however, took it one step further and bought a Rapidex knitting machine. She made knitted items for many people in our village, and I remember that woollen bobble hats were very popular. There was a drawback however! Normal knitting was nice and quiet, but a knitting machine was very noisy. They were manual, not electric, and when trying to watch TV in the early 50's my father and I had to endure the constant racket coming from my mother's machine. My sister and I both wore the woolly bobble hats and like half the village walked around looking like "Where's Wally"!