Diary Entry: ‘Minty & I went Y.M.C.A. A walk & to church’. Diary notes: ‘Minty’ was presumably a colleague in the A.T.S. (She is only mentioned in one other diary entry). KPD always enjoyed walking, and was a regular churchgoer, so it is not surprising that both featured on this Sunday).
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Diary Date: 11th March [1944]
Diary Entry: ‘Hitched back Witham – lorry & jeep’. Diary notes: After a brief, one night, visit to her sister-in-law and nephew, KPD hitched back. I think this shows the value she awarded to both friendship and family ties during the war, and indeed throughout her life.
Diary Date: 10th March [1944]
Diary Entry: ‘Took Hingston & S. [Sutton] Vane Brentwood & Warley Went Peggy for night. Hitched via Chelmsford’. Diary notes: A drive of about 50 miles followed by a hitch of a similar length to Peggy Dell, her sister-in-law’s home near Ipswich (Peggy was married to Anthony, KPD’s brother). As Anthony was usually away serving …
Diary Date: 9th March [1944]
Diary Entry: ‘Capt Oldham to Westcliff. Saw “Destroyers” pm.’ Diary notes: The drive to Westcliff was only a little over 30 miles. If ‘Destoyers’ refers to a film, it was probably actually ‘Destroyer’, an American war film released the previous autumn which starred Glenn Ford, Edward G. Robinson and an uncredited Lloyd Bridges. By Derived …
Diary Date: 8th March [1944]
Diary Entry: ‘Luton Hoo. Took Sutton Vane & Hingston. Shopped & had lunch in Luton with other drivers’. Diary notes: A drive of some 50 miles; if KPD was using a Ford 10 it may have been quite cramped (see the photo in the diary entry for 1st March. Luton Hoo, the wonderful Stately Home …
Diary Date: 6th March [1944]
Diary Entry: ‘Lunch Lewis’. Left 4.48.’ Diary notes: The Lewis family were friends of KPD, and also former employers (when she was working as a children’s nanny). The detail in this entry as regards her departure suggests a train, perhaps?
Diary Date: 4th March [1944]
Diary Note: ‘Went home. Hitched from B. [Bishop’s] Stortford to Mottingham, through Blackwall Tunnel Mary Bird staying’. Diary notes: This Saturday KPD clearly had a ‘weekend pass’ and used her hitch-hiking experience to get home (Bishop’s Stortford to Mottingham is about 40 miles). Mary Bird was probably the sister-in-law of KPD’s maternal Uncle, Claude Evershed …
Diary Date: 3rd March [1944]
Diary Entry: ‘Went Purfleet. Tea there. Saw Acton (Acey) & Blakesley’. Diary notes: Purfleet would have been a reasonable drive (about 33 miles) in a car like the Ford 10 (see the previous diary entry for a photograph). The references to ‘Acton (Acey)’ and ‘Blakesley’ are less easier to interpret – places or people?
Diary Date: 1st March [1944]
Diary Entry: ‘Took over Ford 10. Drove S/C Hingston to Clacton & Dovercourt’. Diary notes: ‘S/C’ might be ‘Staff Captain’; in any case this was a trip of around 100 miles. The identity of the ‘Ford 10’ is not exactly clear, but the ‘Ford C Model 10’, was built in Britain from 1936 and seems …
Diary Date: 29th February [1944]
Diary Entry: ‘Took Humber to Braintree W/S Stayed there all day. Lunch café with Minty & Ira. Returned to Felsted’ Diary notes: Presumably KPD had driven to her friends Dulcie and Ian Leggett at Gerrards Cross, and now went to Braintree for it to be repaired, and took advantage of the waiting time to meet …
Aunt Pamela's War 