Meanderings of Maude-1939/1940-newsletter from Spirella "Threads" magazine
By Linda Dunn
“Dear Friends
I wonder how long do we have to put up with this wretched war and black-out world!”
“I am all merry and bright,sitting at my post,tape measure in hand,working like a true Briton,pieces of rubbish and fluff often fall on my head,and occasionally a corset which has fallen out of the chute.I look up and say “Gee there’s old Hitler having a go at me !”
“On Sunday mornings I look out of my window and watch mothers and childen throng to the station to meet their daddies.”
“I went out one Sunday afternoon and saw some of these children and one girl said “We have just been waving goodbye to our daddy.He came all the way from Blackpool to see us”
“Good-bye,everybody.The war will soon be over and i hope that January will bring us peace.Keep your pecker up and keep smiling.”
Maude Emily
Sadly peace did not come in January 1940 but Maude continued her column in the staff magazine called “Threads ” at Spirella.
If you would like to read more about the activities at Spirella over the years copies are available at Letchworth Library
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I believe Maude Emily was my great Aunt Maude Saunders who worked at Spirella and had a flat in Letchworth near the station. My Grandma, Ivy Saunders, also worked there until she married Arthur Papworth in 1932. She used to have a large collection of the magazines including one from 1937 announcing the birth of my Dad, Alan Papworth. Sadly i do not know what became of the copies.
We moved into #12 Gaunts Way ~1961/2 and lived there until ~1966. My Great Grandma lived across the road (Mrs Cocker @#3 I think) and my Grandparents lived up the road in Western Way (Alborough). My Mum worked for a while at Spirella.
50 years later I have returned to have meetings in offices that now inhabit Spirella and go for Park Runs over the fields behind Gaunts Way. The streets seem so narrow now, far more cars than the planners dreamed of but the houses havent changed much apart from a lot of replacement windows and new front porches
I left Letchworth as a 6 year old in 1961 for the wilds of Canada where I still reside. We were the first residents of #14 Gaunts Way. Does it still exist?..My grandfather, Alfred Connew worked at the Spirella and wrote regularly in Threads about his old (1899-1921) navy days. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. See you again one day, I hope.