Evacuee Boys (4 page)

5
November 1939 – written in Hungarian

Dear Mummy and Daddy,

I hope you are not too cross that I have not written for so long since Daddy’s visit and I hope that you did not worry. I told Daddy that there is no need to worry if there is no post for a day or two, particularly if a Sunday falls in between.

I was very pleased with Daddy’s visit but it is a pity it was so short. I am also very pleased that Mummy will come down in the week and I think that Thursday would be the most convenient day.

The Beigli is so good, that hardly any of it remains.
9
Naturally we offered it to the Kellys too and they liked it very much. Next time Mummy, bring some Noi Szeszély
10
cake and another loaf of Beigli, so that it should last a little longer.

Yesterday we went to the cinema in Trowbridge. We saw Charles Laughton in ‘Jamaica Inn’. A very good film. Next week we shall also see a good film and I see that the following few weeks, lots of such films are coming, which ran for weeks in London.

Yesterday, I allowed myself a small luxury as besides the cinema, I bought chocolate for 2
d
in Trowbridge and 3
d
worth of chips and with Johnny and Rosemary, we ate them.

We got up late today and it was nearly 11 o’clock before we finished breakfast. It was nice weather and I went out cycling. I went from Melksham to Devizes and from there back via Chippenham. It was about 25 miles and took about 2½ hours. On the way, I bought some chocolate for 3
d
as I was hungry and to put new life into me. So now 10
d
remains. Isn’t it terrible that money goes so fast? Yet tomorrow, I have to buy a ticket.

I was unable to cash the cheque at Barclays in Trowbridge. They said that one can only get cash at a Covent Garden Branch, so Mr. Kelly will put it into his own account probably tomorrow, so there should still be 10/- in the bank, in case he deposits it later. I would not like such a mistake next time, with the cheque coming back again. It will be best if Mummy will bring cash, because a cheque always caused difficulties.

I have no more to write today, so many kisses till we see you.

Andrew

… continued by John

Excuse me writing in English, but it is much easier. When Mummy comes on Friday please bring some ‘Feminine Spirit’ cake. Today Andrew went to Divizes [sic] on the bicycle and from Devizes to Chippenham and back to Melksham. It was all together about twenty-five miles. Yesterday Andrew and I cycled down to Trowbridge Andrew on our bicycle and I on Mr. Kelly’s. It only took us about half an hour to get there. When we got to Trowbridge we wend to the ‘New Kinema’ and saw the picture called ‘Jamaica Inn’. I[t] was a very good and exiting film. Andrew has finished the cardigan, and he has started on the front of the pullover. The pullover that mummy knitted for Granddaddy does not fit me but it fits Andrew quite well it is beautifully knitted. I am writing a little letter to Raymond
11
will you please give it to Mr. or Mrs. Newnham and ask them to send it to Raymond.

Yours dearly loving son,

John

16
November
1939
– written in Hungarian

Dear Mummy and Daddy,

Firstly there has been no important change in the position. I got your letter today and was very pleased that you will be visiting us on Sunday after all. I think that I made a little mistake in my letter, that Mrs. Kelly cannot receive you. I should have written that she cannot receive you on Sunday, since she works a lot all week; she gets up a little later on Sunday and the house is not ready till much later. So she would have much more work, if she gave you lunch, she would not get her Sunday rest. That is why she does not want it to be Sunday when you come.

I therefore told her that I don’t want her to make lunch for you especially, just that you should be able to go up to my room and that we could talk. To this she said, if you come, you come and she cannot do anything against it.

I asked her whether she has spoken with the billeting officer and she said that she spoke and they told her that she must make application in writing and this must be done quickly. I don’t care any more, since I am tired of the whole family, especially the little girl; the most hateful, and besides, badly behaved. She does not obey anybody and she does what she wants.

Bring more pastries, some ‘feminine spirit’ cake and a small Beigli.
12
I think that we could come to London for the weekend of Johnny’s birthday. But where shall we sleep if the McDougalls and the Figgins are living there?

What is Tiggy doing? Are the kittens there yet? Write before you come.

Today I think that we will take all of our things up to our room and pack everything that is not in everyday use, so that we may be able to move at any moment.

Many, many kisses till we see each other,

Andrew

… continued by John – also written in Hungarian

Dear Mum and Dad,

I cannot write much today because Andrew wrote about everything. I am very pleased that you are coming down on Sunday and I think that we can come down for my birthday and stay for the weekend. But I don’t know where we will sleep if McDougals and Figgins are there.

Many kisses from your loving John

Andrew and I got to hear of a cheap way to get to London, using a local trucking company, Crooks, that made overnight journeys to London and then similar journeys back. We made more than one such visit home, riding in the cab with the lorry driver. While mother in London never ceased to worry, the driver was always very nice and very proper throughout these journeys, even stopping at dawn so that we could see the sunrise. Eventually we would arrive in Kensington, where mother would be waiting anxiously in the street. In those days nobody thought about, let alone experienced, any problems with paedophiles or other reasons to doubt the integrity of such a route.

6
December
1939
– written in Hungarian

Dear Mummy,

I am writing to you separately on the occasion of your birthday tomorrow. I wish you a long and happy life, health – and money. If this happens, then surely we will all be happy together.

We shall arrive late for your birthday, so I’ll say my little verse personally, which I say every year. (I am small still).

We shall probably arrive at a similar time as before, but maybe later. I shall not send a telegram, so don’t be worried. I cannot write you the exact time of my arrival. It could be a lot later, because I don’t know for sure when we shall be starting out.

A boy told me today that he spoke with Mr. Redfearn,
13
who told him that we shall have two weeks Christmas holidays. I think this would be wonderful. We will discuss everything at home. I gave the money to Mrs. Kelly today, but we must take the value of the stamp out of savings. (We borrowed 1½
d
for the stamp from Mrs. Kelly instead of taking it out of savings). So I won’t write any more this week. It won’t be worth while.

Once again, I wish you the most beautiful future and send you man[y] kisses,

Andrew

… continued by John

Dear Mum and Dad,

I wish you Mummie many happy returns, and the best of luck, and I wish you to live very long in happiness and health. Why didn’t you send us any money: We are penniless. And we shall have to take some money out of the savings to post this letter.

We shall see you on Friday. And Mr. Crook said that we could come every fortnight. Andrew tells me that a friend said that a master said that we might have a fortnights holiday for Christmas.

Many kisses from your loving son,

John

Quite a prudish lady, Mrs Kelly called hiccups ‘hic coughs’, to be ever so ‘correct’. For me, this blissful environment only lasted a few weeks until with insatiable curiosity for the unknown: I disgraced myself by peeping into the bathroom while their 7-year-old daughter was being bathed. Mrs Kelly saw this and
was not amused
. Shortly afterwards, I was kicked out and relegated to Widow Trimnell in her seventeenth-century cottage without heating, one cold tap in the outhouse and an outside toilet down the garden.

The bitter 1939/40 winter blew past the blackout blinds through the cracks around the doors and frosted up windows. To maintain a semblance of warmth, I went to my shared bed with another evacuee, fully dressed under my pyjamas. The lodger in the other bed added some warmth to the little room and the chamber pot steamed visibly after every use. The partition wall to Mrs Trimnell’s bedroom nearly broke through whenever Harold, my bed companion, and I rolled into it as we fought and wrestled – leading to much Wiltshire yelling coming back through the wall.

Morning wash was a one-finger affair in the freezing outhouse, while the holes in my socks – worn through during the wintry ‘nice long walks’ on which I was sent – were hardly noticeable by virtue of the accumulated dirt on my heels. Andrew rectified this on occasion, dragging me to the public baths and scrubbing me off with carbolic soap.

18
December
1939

Dear Mum & Dad,

To-day’s news may be a bit of a surprise and a shock for you, but take it calmly as it is not as bad as it sounds. The billeting officer has suddenly found a place for John, and he was moved last Saturday. The reason for my silence up to now was that I wanted to find something out about the new billet.

Before I go any further, however I should like to point out that the
sudden
removal was just as much a surprise to Mrs. Kelly as it was to me or John.

I am afraid that the place is by no means suitable for a long stay. It is a fairly small house, which is as old as its owner (actually the house must be a few hundred years old, and the landlady nearly as old). There is another boy living with John, who is quite a decent chap. But coming back to the house itself – John has a nice big bed, which he shares with his friend. There is no bathroom (there are very few houses in Melksham that have) and it has a nice and warm sitting-dining room. He was cold in his bed for the first two nights, so I gave him my brown blanket & told him to put his dressing-gown and his two coats over him & if he is still cold, that he should ask the woman to get him some Army blankets from the Town Hall, which are issued free. Of course you cannot expect to be warm this weather.

He gets decent plain food and plenty of it. The people seem to be very poor – the whole place is a poor dump – so that he cannot get any dainties or luxuries, but he gets quite good cheap food. The chief complaint from both boys seems to be that.

Turning to other subjects after such an enthusiastic page, I must inform you that our cash now amounts to 2
d
which will just suffice for a 1½
d
stamp on my next letter in which I shall say when we are coming.