June 18th/14
My dear Kathleen
It is 10.40 pm but I must scribble a few lines. I am beginning to be infected with the bazaar – no sale of work fever and Ethel and I have both been fairly hard at it for the last day or two, Ethel of course has had a good deal to see about for some time, but my participation dates from Friday evening when I found Ethel rather sad because Mrs Chivis, who had promised to make a big cake if Ethel sent the ingredients, had just returned the said ingredients saying she couldn’t make it after all. So we set to work and made it ourselves that evening together with several others, the big cake was not done when we went to bed, so I set my alarm at 1.30 and came down then and took it out of the oven, a dreadful time to have to get up, but the cake was done to a T. Today I made four more cakes between 6.30 and 7.30 and we have now 13. I hope the gooseberries will be the quantity you need, I think they will make at least 5 bottles. I did some on Saturday, but they got left too long in the over, so I’m afraid they won’t be very successful. It doesn’t do to try and bottle fruit, and make pastry and blancmange and show a young and not too brilliant cook how to do things – all at the same time!
I hope you and George had a nice time at Eastbourne. I heard from Marian this afternoon, she said she was going round to tea at Eynsford. By the way, have you got those books of plays of the Village Children’s Historical Play Society? I believe we sent them to you to lend to someone, and I wonder if you had them back. Marian would rather like to look at them. Father had a very excited and cheerful letter from Betty today all about her work and plans for the future, and above all in praise of teaching. I went to play tennis at Mrs Ashwin’s on Saturday. Mary New was there and Mr Reakes, the locum. We all played badly nearly all the time, but on Wednesday when the Horsfields and May Openshaw and Mr Reakes and Muriel were here we had some quite good sets. Why does one “differ so”? Marjory’s brother has been awfully good in putting up our school net and marking out the court. I met him on Friday for the first time, he has a pleasant face and manner. I want Marjory to bring him over to tennis the first day we can fix. I have put your ball of “mending” in a corner of the box of gooseberries. I hope Mother or Mary may remember the thimble.
With much love from
May
