Saturday 18th September 1915

Front line trenches near Bois Grenier.

A quiet day, with the weather remaining fine and clear. The War Diary stated simply, “Situation normal; no casualties”.

Gilbert Tunstill took advantage of the quiet to write a letter of thanks to three eleven year-old girls from Hellifield, Misses Connie Bayley, Esther Laxton and Madge Barton, for the ‘comforts’ which they had sent to his Company:

“B.E.F., France, 18^th September 1915.

Very many thanks indeed for your kind thought in sending us such a good parcel of cigarettes and tobacco. Both are very much appreciated by the Company, especially so now that we are in the trenches, and all send their hearty thanks. All the Hellifield lads are fit and well”.

Signed.

H.G. Tunstill”

(Madge Barton’s older brother, Percy, would be killed in action in May 1918).

Meanwhile, back home in Craven, fund-raising for the Company was continuing, as reported in The Craven Herald:

Comforts for Captain Tunstill’s Men.

Mrs R. and Miss Winnie Procter, of Otterburn, gave a tea and dance at Otterburn on Saturday, September 18^th. The event, along with donations collected by Miss Winnie and other willing helpers realised £2 4s 6d, which will be handed to Mrs. Tunstill to provide tobacco and cigarettes for Capt. Tunstill’s men.

 

The relative quiet also provided J.B. Priestley with the opportunity to write home to his family:

“Since I wrote to you last, many things have happened. We have marched till we dropped, slept in fields, marched again and so forth. This is our third day in the Fire-trench, or first line trench. My home, at the moment, is just off Watson Avenue, which branches off Shaftesbury Avenue. I have seen a few Germans, but only through the periscope.

Every now and then, bullets and shells come whizzing over our heads. At night, it is very weird; we are all on the alert, and star shells – like rockets – are sent up now and again, making the place look as light as day. The nights seem to stretch out to eternity. Rats and mice, wasps and gigantic bluebottles abound in the dugouts. Taking it all round, we are in good spirits, but dreadfully filthy.”