Southend U3A

Spring Cleaning - Peter Rogers

May 2011

Sally had decided that the time was right to spring clean her parents' house. She had finished the main part of the house and all that remained now was the loft. Both parents were now dead, her father having passed on a few weeks ago, but it was only now that she felt she could give the house a thorough cleaning without the memories associated with their cherished objects causing her intense emotional pain. She left the loft 'til last, because she knew it would take longer to clean and sort out than the rest of the house put together. She put what she could into cardboard boxes and gingerly carried them down the unsteady old step ladder. When she had emptied the entire loft and threw away the stuff that seemed to serve no purpose, including empty suitcases and old carpets stored away for personal re-use, which never came about, she was left with just three or four cardboard boxes.

In the event, two of them yielded nothing of any worth and their contents were swiftly disposed of. Two others, however, held unexpected 'treasure trove.'

One contained about one hundred very thin and very old magazines. Most seemed to have a single picture on the front with a rather plump schoolboy in Etons, whom Sally instantly recognised. It was Billy Bunter and indeed the magazine was the famous 'Magnet'. The one on top of the pile was no. 110, dated 1910 and, eagerly working her way to the bottom, she found the no. 1 issue.

On making a more thorough search, Sally found she had every one of the first 110 issues of the 'Magnet' in near perfect condition! What wouldn't a collector pay to get his hands on them? As she was the only child, naturally they were hers to dispose of as she saw fit.

But it was the third box that Sally examined that contained the ultimate treasure, for her at least. Inside were two piles of letters tied up with blue ribbons.

She began to read these letters, now yellowed with age, but still legible. They were written during the war by her father to her mother from many different countries: Italy, South Africa, Egypt; countries which otherwise he would in all probability never have visited were it not for the war.

But it wasn't the variety of locations where the letters had been written that surprised Sally so much as the tenderness of feeling her dad poured into his letters, even allowing for the military censorship they must have undergone.

She'd always thought of her parents as being a rather prosaic old married couple, certainly by no means a love-less twosome, but at the same time, not a particularly demonstrative pair either.

However, these letters from dad showed an unexpected side to their relationship, as a young married couple. The way dad expressed his heartache (reading between the lines) at being away from mum and 'little Sally' affected her a great deal. It began to dawn on her as she sat there quietly remembering the years after the war, that that affection still remained, but, as a young girl, she'd been too blind to see it.

Finding these letters had brought it home to her what a strong bond there was between these two young lovers caught up in the upheaval of war.

So it was that Sally sold off the 'Magnets' at auction for quite a good price, but the letters she hung onto for the rest of her life.