I felt flattered at your references to the success my book is having in Hertford, but tell my readers to be bloody handy, will you? – I want it back quick.
I’ll see you at the Green Man on Easter Saturday, and if you want to bring 2 women it’s okay by me. Don’t think I’ve gone altogether depraved – I’ve started smoking a pipe which is an infallible indication of inherent decency. N’est pas?
AlfW
LETTER 6: TO ERIC WALTER MAUDSLEY, 1941?
The Pendle Club
Chairman: L Wolstenholme, Esq.
Vice Chairman: A. Wainwright, Esq.
Hon Treasurer: R. Alker, Esq.
Hon Secretary: Mrs Dorothy Coleman
Blencathra, West Leigh Road, Blackburn
Sunday,
Dear Eric,
At last I have a letter from you! Every day these past months has dawned with a promise of news from Hertford – and closed with bitter disappointment. No word! I was forgotten, forsaken, I told myself. My heart grew cold and hard towards you.
Then, last week, came a note in familiar writing, and out of the very winter of discontent was born new hope; as I read, the winding tracks amongst the heather seemed to be very near again. Holidays again! How I yearn for a few days release from the bondage!
I have yet no official news of the Easter vacation, and base the following remarks on the assumption that I must return on the Sunday evening. I shall travel south on Friday morning and arrive Derby in the early afternoon and be in Ashbourne at teatime. So please book a room for me at the Green Man, and we will spend the evening visiting the flicks and consuming mineral waters.
You will observe with your customary shrewdness that the Pendle Club has come into being, but alas, far from being a rambling club, it is already developing into an association of Mature Men and Young Ladies Who Have No Dread Of Pregnancy. The idea was originally good and completely moral, but so far the primitive urge to sit in a dark cinema and play with the genital organs of a member of the opposite sex has been paramount in our thoughts, and there has been very little walking done. Hence our practice to date has been to clear off to a strange town (Clitheroe, usually), have tea, and then do a bit of groping on the back row of the local picturedome.
Your Manual of Sexual Methods has not yet arrived, in spite of your assurances; I am anxious to discover whether certain of my own devices have been publicly recognized; if not, I shall be able to affix an allonge for the benefit of subsequent readers.
What I’m much more concerned about is the fate of my Pennine Campaign. WHERE THE HELL IS IT? There are several people here panting to read it; must I forever put them off with feeble excuses? Get it back TODAY and send it on to me TONIGHT. The Hon. Secretary of the Pendle Club has promised that I can so-and-so her when I produce it, but not before, and I should like to get this done on Thursday night before joining you the day after, as it appears from your letter that I must be continent during the weekend.
So you’ll book the Green Man for Friday and get there yourself for teatime if possible. BRING PLENTY OF CIGARETTES; they are unobtainable in Blackburn. I’ll bring some matches.
AW
LETTER 7: TO ERIC WALTER MAUDSLEY, 9 APRIL 1941
90 Shadsworth Road
Blackburn
9th April 1941
Dear Eric,
Your latest letter has caused a quiver of apprehension – it appears we shall have difficulty in getting beds, never mind bedmates.
I shall proceed to Ashbourne as early as possible on Friday, and shall be standing on the pavement outside the Green Man, clothed in rags at one of the following times
2 p.m.
exactly
4 p.m.
do
6 p.m.
do
8 p.m.
do
If possible, I shall be there when the clock strikes two. If I am, and you are not, I shall walk away and return at four. And so on, at two hour intervals until you appear. Do you the same.
I should most urgently counsel you to get an extra gallon of petrol and bring the car into Ashbourne with you, so that if accommodation is unobtainable, we could as a last resort push the car into a woodland glade and sleep in it.
Should we both arrive early we could of course be away from Ashbourne and stuck well into Dovedale by nightfall.
I shall return home on Sunday evening. You’ll have had enough of my coarse humour by then. Bring a camera and plenty of cigarettes.
‘Manual of Sexual Knowledge’ has arrived safely, thanks. Have you dispatched ‘Pennine Campaign’?
See you Friday, son.
I’m looking forward to it.
Alf
LETTER 8: TO ERIC WALTER MAUDSLEY, 17 APRIL 1941
90 Shadsworth Road
Blackburn
17th April 1941.
Dear Eric,
I last saw you, a lonely disgruntled figure, on the Black Rocks at Cromford, and this is what happened to me afterwards: I went down the hill into Cromford and proceeded at a good pace northwards to Matlock, arriving there at 2.15 to discover to my chagrin that there was no train till 5.36. Matlock’s shops were all closed, and the whole place was enveloped in a familiar Sabbath atmosphere, so I retraced my steps to Matlock Bath, where, by comparison, there was lots of life and plenty of opportunities to spend money. I had a 3s 3d tea, and, after passing the shop several times, finally expended a shilling on the current ‘Sun Bathing Review’, this purchase being effected without a blush. A disappointing book, though – no hairs on. Arrived at Manchester at 7 to find there was no train till 9.40, so went across to the bus station and returned by bus, getting home at 9.30. The later stages of the journey were made miserable by an acute shortage of smoking material. I had conserved the five cigs as far as possible, but the last one turned into ashes in Manchester, and as I had already scraped out the corners of my pouch, I was left completely destitute all the evening, and was not able to satisfy the craving until Monday noon.
And now I am back to the familiar life, women fore and aft and right and left, and find myself besieged with invitations. Absence, it seems, had made their joint and several hearts grow even fonder. Dorothy is treasuring her letter, ‘the loveliest I ever received’ she says. Doris thought hers was ‘beautiful’ and has returned it for me to preserve for her out of her hubby’s reach. Both wanted me to take them for a walk last night (after much indecision, I chose Doris). If ever they meet and swop confidences I shall have to flee the town: could you then find me a job? Anyway, I have made them both wonderfully happy: what does it matter that I have sacrificed honour? I told them about your disturbed first night and confided that I must have been dreaming about them, and this pleased them greatly. Are these white lies? I think they are.
What of you? The gloom of Wirksworth was biting deep into your soul when I departed from you: the holiday was a disappointment to you, n’est ce pas? The time at our disposal was too short for a proper expedition to be planned, and the weather was lousy, but I thoroughly enjoyed it: I found your blasé sophistication and naïve innocence stimulating.
Yet I sensed that you are not a happy man, or only superficially so. There’s something missing in your life, Maudsley lad, and it will still be missing when your salary runs into four figures. I told you what it was and I tell you again: go and find a little hole to put your old man in. Remember the snails, and go and do likewise.
I have just written to Wasdale Head for accommodation for Whitsun for Doris and myself and her husband and son. Later in the year Dorothy and I are going hiking in the Lakes; this might develop into an organized holiday of the Pendle Club, and if so, there will be a sincere invitation for you to come: imagine us all strewn in couples along Langstrath after the fashion of the Dovedale snails!
I should be interested to know how you fared on the return journey, and if and when and how the black mood passed, and I should be positively delighted to receive ‘Pennine Campaign’ by return of post. Blessed if I can get that book of your
s back from Billy Ashton yet; I think he must be making a copy of it!
AlfW
LETTER 9: TO ERIC WALTER MAUDSLEY, 28 APRIL 1941
90 Shadsworth road
Blackburn
28th April 1941
URGENT
Dear Eric,
Doris has had a breakdown in health, and is going to the seaside on Thursday to rest for a few days.
It is my earnest desire that she should have ‘Pennine Campaign’ to read during this Period.
The matter is particularly urgent. Will you please recover the book and send it on immediately? If you will I will return it afterwards.
AW
URGENT
LETTER 10: TO ERIC WALTER MAUDSLEY, 4 JULY 1941
90 Shadsworth
Blackburn
4th July 1941
Dear Eric,
Glad to hear from you again, sonny, and to note from your letter evidence of a return to better humour after your harrowing experience at Wirksworth.
Yes ‘Pennine Campaign’ came back quite safely, thank you, but I believe you have somewhere two other publications of the Shad Press, viz
1. ‘Alpine Adventure’, 1939
2. ‘British Lakeland Climbing Expedition 1940’, complete with graphs etc.
I still peep furtively at times at your Manual of Sex, and can say definitely that the Posterior Seated Position has nothing to commend it. I’ll let you have the book back shortly.
I was at Keswick for Whitsuntide: couldn’t get a bed so went up Skiddaw and watched the sun rise from the top: a wonderful experience. Food was scarce, breakfast being the only meal obtainable and there was a queue a mile long outside the chip shop.
In these circumstances I felt myself quite unable to recommend an organized expedition, for I hear that every place in the Lakes is the same and hundreds are sleeping under the hedges at night. So this summer it’s every man for himself. Next year the war will be over and things will be back to normal, and then the Pendle Club will venture forth en masse.
I am, however, going to Keswick for the week July 26 to August 2nd, having booked a bed, but as I shall be taking my infant son, activity will be restricted and I don’t think you’d like to join us even if you could get a room and food.
Possibly I shall go north again in September – if so, I’ll let you know. Best wishes to you and the snails.
AW
LETTER 11: TO ERIC WALTER MAUDSLEY, 5 SEPTEMBER 1941
90 Shadsworth road
Blackburn
5th September 1941.
Dear Eric.
I received my Baddeley and map safely, thank you, but was considerably surprised, almost alarmed, to get them so early. You must have dispatched them on the Saturday, yet I thought your stay was to extend until the following Tuesday, and you are not usually so prompt in returning other people’s possessions. Did anything go wrong? Did vile weather send you scampering off back home, prematurely, away from a storm-wracked Wasdale? Surely not! Armed and fortified with Dunn’s Supreme Headgear the weather would have no terrors for you. What else then could have happened? Was not one of the horde of females rapeable? Nor Hazel? Or perhaps you found after all that the solitude had no longer any appeal and hankered for the bright lights and jolly company of the drink-loving mob in Hertford. Fie on you!
I am most anxious to have the details of your holiday. Did you have a squint at Broad Stand, go up Lord’s Rake? How did you like Wasdale Head Hall?
If you returned before the Tuesday you would not receive the letter I posted to you at the week-end, although possibly Mrs Ullock has sent it on. In that letter I asked if you would kindly forward me a big consignment of Three Nuns Baccy when conditions were favourable. Will you, please, when they are?
My love to Longland. I shall never forget the noble manner in which he brought the Sherpas safely down to the North Col.
LETTER 12: TO ERIC WALTER MAUDSLEY, SEPTEMBER 1941
Dearest Eric, or Little by Little;
Many thanks for the card received this morning; as it does not depict a human being adhering impossibly to a rocky bastion I confidently await a second one.
The weather here has verged on the putrid all week, with high winds and rain; often I have thought of you tirelessly pacing the hills, pondering deeply on your New Order, shielded from the downpour by Dunn’s Latest and Greatest Creation. I cannot join you, alas, despite the added incentive of a horde of blockable women. Go to it, son. I recommend Method 7b. I have today celebrated an increase of salary by sending 2–14-0 to the publishers of Smythe’s PEAKS AND VALLEYS, A CAMERA IN THE HILLS, MY ALPINE ALBUM and THE MOUNTAIN SCENE for a copy of each: these are magnificent books and I advise you to follow suit.
Well, how is the gradient on Brown Tongue; any easier than of yore? What of the merciless scree in Hollow Stones? Had a look at Broad Stand yet? Got lost on Lord’s Rake? Oh boy, the mere mention of the names tears my heart out. How I would like to be there!
Remember me to Mrs Ullock, please. Last time I was there she was seriously considering an assault on Scafell; has she tackled it yet? I’ll bet she hasn’t.
Good hunting during the few hours that remain to you.
AW
AFTERTHOUGHT: when returning Baddeley will you please send also a consignment of 3 nuns, if possible?
On 8 October 1941 AW had some big news to tell Maudsley. In September, Bob Alker, one of his colleagues in the office, had spotted an advertisement for a job. It was the last day for application, but AW decided to apply all the same. He got a good reference from Blackburn’s Borough Treasurer R.G. Pye, who mentioned an accountancy prize that AW had won, albeit ten years previously. In October, AW heard that his application had been successful.
LETTER 13: TO ERIC WALTER MAUDSLEY, 8 OCTOBER 1941
90 Shadsworth Road
Blackburn
8th October 1941
My dear Eric,
Yes, it’s true. The old stick-in-the-mud has bestirred himself, renounced fame and fortune, and committed himself and his family to a way of life which must now always lack the pleasures that a little surplus money can bring. Such action, to your ambitious mind, must seem abhorrent, crazy. Once upon a time you might have been inclined to approve. In those happy days of youth, when nothing seemed better to you that to be amongst the hills with a carefree crowd, before the bewitching dream of monetary gain got you in its foul clutch, I fancy you would have understood. Now, of course, you won’t. your spirit has grown flabby: never again shall I hear your inspiring cry ‘En Avant!’ resounding amongst the crags. Your aim in life, and mine, lie along very different paths.
It’s the simple life for me henceforth, to be lived in the surroundings I should choose more than any other.
I cannot believe I have made a wrong choice.
Here’s 7/4 for the baccy; thanks very much.
Will write more fully later.
AlfW
Part 2
Letters to Lawrence Wolstenholme, 1941–2
AW’s new job was in Kendal, a move he had been contemplating and then dreaming about for some time. He had decided that Lakeland, or as near as possible, was where he really wanted to live, in striking distance of the fells and lakes. He wanted to be out walking on the high stuff as often as possible and not, perhaps, thinking so much about his unhappy marriage or girls who might have been. Or were – it is hard to know if some of his suggestive remarks about his ‘girlfriends’ in Blackburn were fantasy or reality.
He was willing to move, even though it might mean a drop in pay and status. In the Blackburn Borough Treasury department he was on £350 a year. In his new job in Kendal, a much smaller Borough, as an accountancy assistant, he started on only £275.
He was by now coming up to his thirty-fifth birthday and had spent twenty-one years in the Blackburn office. Over half his working life was over, if being a municipal accountant was going to be all of his working. He had become part of the fixtures and furniture of the Blackburn office, had a clo
se set of friends, lots of outside interests, usually involving the same set of friends. His wife Ruth was not quite so keen on Kendal and didn’t want to leave her own friends and relations.
AW arrived in Kendal on his own, moving into digs in Burneside Road, Kendal at the end of November 1941, waiting for accommodation where his wife and son could join him. He had been promised a council-owned property.
His position – as accountancy assistant – sounds quite humble, but he was in fact third in the hierarchy. At the Blackburn office, he knew there were many people ahead, so it would have taken a long time and slog to rise nearer the top. Several at his own level had already left, such as Maudsley, looking for experience and advancement elsewhere.
One of the people who remained in Blackburn was his good friend Lawrence Wolstenholme, a fellow walker whose wife Marjory did join them on local outings, unlike poor old Ruth. He eventually became the Borough Treasurer.
AW sat down at his typewriter to write to Lawrence on 4 December 1941, a few days after he had arrived in Kendal. He numbered the letter in the top left hand corner ‘LW 1’, indicating that he expected this to be beginning of a regular correspondence – and also indicating that he had been a well brought up, well trained accountant.
LETTER 14: TO LAWRENCE WOLSTENHOLME, 4 DECEMBER 1941
‘Stanegarth’
Burneside Road
Kendal
Thursday evening,
December 4 1941.
Dear Lawrence,
Fancy sitting down to write to you, old friend, and not knowing what to say!
The Wainwright Letters Page 3