Aunt Pamela's War

Diary Date: 26th November [1945]

Diary Entry: Spent evening billet. Sandwiches.

Diary notes: A quiet evening, it seems.

Diary Date: 25th November [1945]

Diary Entry: Alfred, Cecily, Sheila & Peter over.

Diary notes: Who exactly KPD is talking about here remains unclear.

Diary Date: 24th November [1945]

Diary Entry: Moved belongings to Ruislip c/o Mr & Mrs Berry. Went Abbots Langley for night.

Diary notes: KPD often mentions going to stay at Abbots Langley, so clearly had friends there, but although a number of them are mentioned by Christian name only, their full identity hasn’t been given. Abbots Langley is only 10 miles from Berkhamsted, where KPD had lived for 12 years as a child, so that is probably the link.

Diary Date: 23rd November [1945]

Diary Entry: Denise & I went to canteen pm.

Diary notes: ‘Denise’ is presumably a colleague from the A.T.S.

Diary Date: 21st November [1945]

Diary Entry: To Ruislip, but back to bed.

Diary notes: Anthony, KPD’s closest brother had been living at Ruislip during the war, but it seems more likely that KPD was going there for her work (as the entry for 24^th November shows).

Diary Date: 20th November [1945]

Diary Entry: Bad fog. Met Eind (sic) [‘Enid’] Wyatt & had supper Salad Bowl. Sick.

Diary notes: Who ‘Enid Wyatt’ was is not clear – perhaps a colleague from the A.T.S.

Diary Date: 19th November [1945]

Diary entry: Went round Y.M.C.A. But V. not there. Saw Betty. Christopher started job at “Savings Centre”.

Diary notes: ‘V’ may refer to one of KPD’s friends called ‘Valerie’ (most probably ‘Valerie Evans’) or her only sister ‘Veronica’.

‘Betty’ was probably one of the ‘Smallwoods’, who were friends from Berkhamsted, where KPD had grown up.

‘Christopher’ was probably KPD’s younger brother, Christopher Dell (1915-85) who had spent the war in Chile with his elder brother and had only returned to the UK after the end of the war in Europe when travel was safer.