Notes


Note 1
Sanderstead
Then a village outside Croydon, now a part of Croydon
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Note2
Sep.21
September 21st 1940
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Note 3
its'
My Mother invariably wrote its' for it's (it is)
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Note 4
and
My Mother used her own shorthand for and which I have always transcribed in full as and
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Note 5
Barrage
Anti-aircraft guns had been relocated into groups containing many guns: the continuous firing of all the guns in a group made a noise very cheering to civilians.
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Note 6
Gerries
The usual term for Germans
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Note 7
V.
Vivian
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Note 8
shelter
There were many different types of air raid shelter. Ours was a flat-roofed concrete extension to the front of the house, about 2m by 3m and about 1.8m high. It was very cramped. Our next-door neighbours had a much larger underground shelter in their garden, but of course they had to leave the house to get into it.
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Note 9
duty
As an Air Raid Warden
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Note 10
cellar
Peggy's husband Arthur was in the Army (he was captured at the fall of Singapore) and so she and her son Robert were living with Uncle Albert and Auntie Jesse.
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Note 11
office
Vivian had not yet been called up (he was called up in 1941) and worked for Lloyds Bank in the City of London
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Note 12
Hamsey Green
The next village to Sanderstead
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Note 13
suit
Mother was very badly crippled with arthritis and spent most of her time knitting - these were garments she had knitted for Barry
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Note 14
Selsdon Road
A road in Sanderstead, but there was also a Selsdon Road in Selsdon which was another village
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Note 15
maid
Many middle-class families had had a resident maid prior to WW2, and for a time we had also had a nurse for Paul who had had a lot of medical problems for the first two years of his life. We had given up both by this time, but had a Morning Help who came in each day, that is, six days a week.
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Note 16
Bessie
Our current Morning Help - see Note 15
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Note 17
week
Geoffrey had volunteered to join the infantry, but had been put into the Intelligence Corps as an officer because of his fluency in German and French. Olive had been staying in the town where he had been stationed - Intelligence Corps officers had relatively more freedom of movement than members of other Regiments or Services
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Note 18
Leigh
Olive and Geoffrey had a house in Leigh, a small village in Surrey. Olive had in fact returned to Leigh when this letter was written so it had been forwarded - see the envelope.
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Note 19
school
An independent boarding school. She had previously attended a day school several kilometres from their home, and of course at this time there was no petrol for parents to drive their children to school.
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Note 20
Hastings
Miss Lee owned a Flat in Hastings
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Note 21
wedding anniversary
Actually on September 12th
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Note 22
Bren
Brenda used this abbreviation only to her brother, sister and mother
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Note 23
Got through
On the telephone. At this time the telephone was used only for the most urgent matters: the polite way of keeping in touch was by letter. In the next sentence Sybil had almost apologised for having telephoned Vivian at the office, but she had not had a letter for three days so thought something might be wrong!
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Note 24
Alec Whiteman
Alec Whiteman, Mr and Mrs Tilley, Kenneth and Esme Hitch and Ted Priest were all old friends of the family, Mr and Mrs Campbell were our next door neighbours and Mrs Cunis a near neighbour.
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Note 25
Selsdon Court Hotel
The golf course ran along the backs of the houses in Addington Road. It was owned by the Selsdon Park Hotel, a large country house hotel, which was at one end of Addington Road; at the other end of the golf course and Addington Road was another hotel known at this time as Sanderstead Court (not Selsdon Court) which had once been an independent hotel but was at this time owned by Selsdon Park Hotel. At some later stage it changed its name to Selsdon Court but I recollect that during the War it was still known as Sanderstead Court. It had been taken over by the Army at the beginning of the War so was not then being used as a hotel, and was not being well maintained. We walked past it every Sunday on our way to Church and I can remember seeing a very dilapidated notice board saying Sanderstead Court. My Mother, and most local people, always referred to it as Sanderstead Court, so I think my Mother made a simple mistake in her letter: she could hardly have been anticipating the change of name! See also Note 17.

As an aside, during the War the Selsdon Park Hotel, like many other hotels, had become partly residential. It was known locally as Quisling Grange, after the Norwegian traitor, because many of its residents were foreigners believed to be of dubious loyalty to Britain. We were always being told our house was safe from German bombing: we were far too close to Quisling Grange!
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Note 26
Film
Films for cameras were in very short supply throughout the War. My Mother was a very keen photographer and had been a professional portrait photographer in the 1920s and 1930s.
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