Friday September 26 8.30 pm [1941]
# BLACKBERRYING NEAR MINEFIELDS
# VISITORS FROM LONDON AND NOTTINGHAM
# HARVEST FESTIVAL CELEBRATED
# RABBIT SUPPLEMENTS RATION

Ron said they had a nice service at Binbrook Chapel on Sun. night tho’ they did not mention the R.A.F. (it was R.A.F. Sunday Sep 21). They sang one of his favourite hymns “Lord of all being throned afar”. He learned it at Ingoldmells school and used to sing it all out of tune when his voice broke. Haven’t heard any planes lately so will knit and read a bit and then to bed. Jean is asleep in Father’s chair with her feet on another. Am “stilting” Ron a pair of socks, can’t waste wool these days. Rene vows the army laundry boils the socks, they are so shrunken before they are half worn out. She is knitting him a helmet to wear when on guard.

Louie and George Berry owned (but were not living in) a house near the village centre. Ray and Ethel, here, were their children.

Tom Harness, nephew, married to Mavis, managed a shop in Nottingham. He was Harriet’s youngest of three sons. (His six sisters, including Betty, were all younger.)

‘Affairs’ refers to Grandma Hill’s business (distribution of eggs etc.). Mr Richardson, in Spilsby, may have been an accountant.

Ron’s elementary school was in nearby Ingoldmells, rather than Chapel St Leonards School attended by his parents and sisters.

‘Stilting’ was part of the knitting process for socks – turning a heel or toe to prevent a thick seam.

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