Park House

Parkside Road

Reading, Berks.

Aug 5 1918.

Dearest Mother: -

Here I have been in Reading since Friday, but haven’t had a minute to get you off a line, and do you know I can’t remember when I wrote you last from London.

Last Wednesday I had lunch at Prince’s with Fraser-Campbell and had such a nice time and that night Crocket & I had dinner at the Piccadilly with Keiller Mackay & a Capt. Nickle A.D.C. to Gen. Turner. Thursday night about 6 of us went to the theatre & saw a Revue called “Going Up.” Friday at 2.30 we left for here. The Matron is very nice but the worst of it is we are all in different hospitals. Crocket is in No.1 Reading War Hospital. I am in No.2 and Mary is in No.3. We all live at the same house though and the hospital buildings aren’t very far apart. No.2 where I am used to be an old school. The work is pretty hard and of course the place can’t come up to old Beckett’s Park. Just when I got this far last night the lights went out. At 10.30 the electricity is all turned off in the house and you are supposed to be in bed. I have about a 5 minute walk to the hospital. It doesn’t have more than 500 patients, but they are all pretty bad cases. There is one ward that has sick German prisoners. They aren’t a bad looking lot of men still I’m glad I don’t have to look after them. Crocket is in the operating theatre at No.1. It is very interesting, but rather hard by what she says.

I got word through the Canadian Red Cross just the day before I had to come here, that Atwood is in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley down near Southampton. I haven’t had a letter from him yet although I have written him twice.

No Canadian mail yet and it is 4 weeks to-night since I left home.

We have seen quite a bit of Eva & Daphne. We generally run down to their boarding place every time we are off duty. Ronald has been moved to Lincoln so Eva will only be here about 10 more days.

Aug. 7. 1918

Well I hope this letter will get finished this time. A Canadian mail came in to-day and I was so glad to get your letter also the ones you remailed, so you went up to Sheffield after all. I hope the change has done you all good.

I didn’t tell you where the other girls went. Jean Daniel & Alice McKeen went to Southampton. Lucile Hawkins, Grace Thompson, Alice Rowan, Doris Driveker, & Miss Gilchrist went to Leicester. Personally, I would rather have gone back to Leeds but the girls wanted to be near London.

I have about 5 minutes to walk to No.2 hospital. It is very pretty here at Park House & Mary & I are writing in the garden now.

There are 3 girls to each bed-room as yet we are all in different ones but we hope to all be together soon.  

The meals are very good better than in Leeds I should say. Of course you get one ration of sugar & butter to last you all week & have to bring it to the table for each meal.  To-morrow I am having a half day so II will probably go and see Eva & Daphne & we may take a jaunt to the river. I haven’t seen it yet but hear it is rather pretty. It is still pretty warm here, to-day in fact was awfully hot.

The sisters all live in the same house with us, so we have to be rather subdued.

Sunday afternoon we all have a half day and Adams Bruce, Capt. Ollie Mowatt & a Major Hyde are coming from Witley to see us.

Marjorie Mowatt who used to live in St. John is working in a bank here & I saw her down at Eva’s the other afternoon.

Mrs. Keeling is back by this time I suppose & has told you about seeing us etc. It doesn’t seem to me I have told you half the things I wanted to but if you don’t jot things right down you forget them.

Had a letter from Ken to-day too & Mary heard from her mother. I expect you got all the news from her when she got back from Halifax. That was a strenuous day all right. I didn’t cable home as Ken gave me a letter to mail as soon as I landed to Mackay’s Liverpool office and they were to cable over so hope you heard all right.

Hope you have written me all the news from Sheffield. You didn’t have very long there did you? Give my love to Gladys Barker, I should have written her from London as I had more time then than I have now, still we always seemed to be on the go.

Want to write to Stan & Art so will say good-bye. Do hope you are feeling well & that Sheffield wasn’t too much for you. Love to Hazel & Freddie. Tell Father I hope to get up to Oxford someday. Heaps of love to you all from Net.