Phil has got all his Mum’s wartime correspondence, a great treasure. His Mum Ethel, her sisters Maureen and Betty, went off to Aldershot to work in the N.A.A.F.I and later Ethel did her nurse training and became a Sister in the Queen Alexander Royal Army Nursing Corps. Betty met her husband Walter, a Canadian, while working in Aldershot, and they got married and ended up in Canada after the war. In 1944 Walter was on his way to Italy, and sent Sister Ethel a Christmas Airmail, which Phil still has. 🙂
Fraggle's Other Place 
Oh thats so cool!My dad was at Aldershot for his training but that was the ’50s. It must give a whole other aspect to people who youve known your whole ife, to read their thoughts from before you were even born.
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Yes, Phil has read them, but I haven’t as yet, feel s wrong as I never knew them.
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I get that…but again it would give you a great insight. I guess follow your own gut on it…
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Well funny as tonight Phil’s asked me to help him transcribe them at some point and put them in order, so I’ll be getting to know them now.!
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Once you have Phil’s blessing I figure youre OK!
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Such treasures indeed. It makes me think how nobody will ever have anything like that in the future. It’s not as if anyone is ever going to save emails or text messages. The new generation is missing out on something they are not even aware of.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I know, I can’t remember the last time I wrote a letter. I will leave my grandkids the password to my blog 🤣
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I think that depends on perspective. I’m from the Caribbean and a good chunk of my DNA is West African, which means some of my ancestors were bought and sold and traded like livestock. The slave traders kept the only records they thought pertinent to their trade; the numbers and purchase prices of the people sold. I have no way of tracing that side of the family tree. I think email archives will have a lot more information than those receipts of sale.
The other side of my family, the maternal side, traces its roots back to the coasts of Scotland.
https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/history-of-slavery/scotland-and-slavery/
Sometimes you just don’t want to know.
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Thanks for your very different perspective, Khurt.
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And Benenden Hospital still exists, but it’s Private now.
https://www.benendenhospital.org.uk/
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Cheers Pete, it looks very swish now!
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also https://benendenheritageproject.wordpress.com/2016/06/02/1940s-surgery/
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So interesting to learn about other peoples families. Interesting to learn generations going back centuries (had a friend who could trace his family back to the French and Indians in eastern Canada in 1590s, my husband’s family has traces in England to the 1500s as well as Massachusetts with important places in American history, I am vaguely aware that someone came over in 1630 from Scotland). What makes them more valuable than just a genealogy are the things left behind, such as these bits and bobs. I wish we had photos in our family. My mother’s family vanished during WW2 and my father left his huge family behind when he moved north It’s rather sad not to see behind, but in some ways there is an odd freedom that comes with not having a past, if that makes sense. Anyway, just some ruminations. The fact these are here is something to be enjoyed and passed down. Merry merry!
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Yes I imagine it is kinda freeing not to know your history. Cheers Naomi 😊
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Great family treasure indeed!
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Cheers Kim!
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It wasn’t until the next sentence “In 1944 Walter was on his way to Italy” that I understood what the end of the previous sentence, “..they got married and ended up in Canada after the war. ” meant.
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They had a good life there.
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What a wonderful and fun collection to have, Fraggle. Merry Christmas to you and Phil. Hugs.
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Thanks Teagan!
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