Letters Home: Correspondence, 1950-1963

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Soldiers wrote letters in spare moments, sometimes from front line trenches or in the calmer surroundings behind the lines. Censorship dictated what servicemen were permitted to disclose in their letters. However, in practice, men often found ways to impart information, and their letters offer a powerful and highly personal insight into the experience of war.

And this, is it not, is one of the greatest reasons why we read. The best writing can break down the walls that separate us from each other - it can overcome the limitations of perception so we can understand what other people feel. "It is as if a hand has reached out, and taken yours." It is a whisper in the darkness as you lie awake at night, unable to sleep: You are not alone. ON November 14 we finally had news that Belfast Trust will take forward plans for a Northern Ireland Mother and Baby Unit (MBU). Those of us who have been campaigning for many years are delighted that things are moving on, but it’s a bitter-sweet delight. We know that women have died while we’ve been waiting, and we know that unless there is an interim solution, women will continue to suffer while we wait for funding to be allocated and for a unit to be built. It’s almost 18 months since the inquest into the tragic death of Orlaith Quinn, who took her own life in the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital in 2018, two days after she gave birth to her third child while experiencing post-partum psychosis. The coroner said Northern Ireland needs an MBU. But since then more families bereaved by suicide have come to Action on Post-partum Psychosis for support. Esta recopilación de la correspondencia que mantuvieron Sylvia Plath y su madre es fabulosa. Comienza a los dieciocho años de la autora, cuando comienza la aventura de sus estudios universitarios en Smith College. Después de varios éxitos vendiendo poemas y relatos cortos a distintas revistas de su país, Sylvia comienza a estresarse y a querer cosechar más éxitos. No obstante, el rechazo de algunos de sus trabajos conducen a la autora a su primer intento de suicidio. Tras su recuperación, continúa más tranquila sus estudios, y al terminar el curso decide acabar su carrera en Europa. Por ello, llega a Cambridge, donde conocerá a gente muy interesante, y relatará toda clase de aventuras a su madre. Members of APP’s NI Peer Support group, who have been campaigning hard for an MBU, tell us about the distress of being separated from their babies, and how this has stayed with them, in some cases for many, many years.After offering the opportunity of treats including a delicious sushi buffet and a luxury afternoon tea. Finally, reading Matty’s letter to him, Yinrun says: “Dear Matty. It’s been great to watch your friendships with your housemates develop. Your humour, kindness and sensitivity has always been at the heart of everything you’ve done.” Headteacher’s letter – 31st October (including the daily schedule for all year groups for the coming half-term.

Nonetheless, she does write beautifully, and although some of the things she wrote could have been lifted directly from my diaries without even needing to change any of the specifics, more often than not I found myself reading a rather perfect evocation of something I had never thought to write down, or had not been able to express properly when I tried. Something I thought was mine alone. And what social history is here. You can almost smell it. This is a realm, now entirely disappeared, in which Louis Armstrong plays Bridlington, every posh dinner begins with celery soup, and little girls still keep their bedclothes in nightdress cases, as Kitty once did. It’s like visiting another planet – a chilly one, where the immersion heater is on only very rarely. The snow is fast disappearing now. I came across an article in a paper the other day about this district and it said that 14 or 15 years ago bears used to roam around hear [sic], but there seems to be nothing around now excepting the wild fowl, which are very numorous. I believe salmon are numerous at certain times of the year. Booth, Larkin’s biographer, has edited these letters superbly well (there are 607 in this volume, a mere sliver of the terrifying total in existence), even if his footnotes are pedantic at times. Neatly tracing the poet’s adult life from Oxford University, through Wellington, Leicester and Belfast, where he worked in various libraries, and finally to Hull, a picture of the man slowly emerges. It’s not new, but perhaps the emphasis is slightly altered. Larkin as we find him here is witty, wise, grossly impractical, and extremely modest, in every sense of the word. For his 50th birthday, he asked his sister, Kitty, for a plastic container in which he might keep grapefruit juiceMy Dearest Will, I feel I must write you again dear altho there is not much news to tell you. I wonder how you are getting on. I shall be so relieved to get a letter from you. I can't help feeling a bit anxious dear. I know how you must have felt darling when you did not get my letters for so long. Of course I know dear you will write as soon as ever you can, but the time seems so dull and weary without any news of you, if only this war was over dear and we were together again. It will be one day I suppose. While the Belfast Trust drawing up a business strategy is a hugely positive step, we’ve repeatedly been told that it can’t be implemented without an Assembly. And while we wait for an Assembly, women are dying. Women are receiving non-specialist care, separated from their baby, causing lifelong trauma. The Good Friday/Belfast Agreement, which is not fully operational, has had the effect of passively establishing the principle of peace and bringing it about. For many decades, Northern Ireland only knew of war, but the GFA/BA sold people the idea and ideal of peace and the possibility of reconciliation. Of course I told you we have had an entire change round and I have a new job now, part of the ship. I have not half the time I used to have but I enjoy the robust work much better and I get to see much more with working away. We get up at 6.30 and work until 1.00 so we put a few hours in don't we. That is when we are working away.

Reading Noky’s letter to her, Olivia says: “To my best friend, from the second I was born I have looked up to you in every single way – we were meant to be sisters.” Reading Olivia’s letter to her, Noky says: “Our darling, gorgeous girl Olivia. We are the proudest mum and dad ever. Gran, Po and James are all so proud but we will warn you now, Gran is wanting a word about your swearing!” We know that while suicide is the leading cause of maternal death, with the right care, it is preventable. We know an MBU to provide specialist inpatient care for mums experiencing severe postnatal illness and their babies would save lives, but Northern Ireland remains the only part of the UK that doesn’t have one. We can only appeal to those from the dark side to give peace a chance and democracy. It will do them good and everybody good and bring an end to conflict and perpetual hell. Well done NI… keep it up.This optimism, this energy, this enthusiasm is almost confusing. After reading Plath's letters, I can't say that I understand her better. I am more doubtful of what I understand about who she was - her sentiments towards her mother, her father, her children, and husband... At the same time, this doubt makes me feel closer to understanding. Headteacher’s end of term letter to families (with letter from Haringey Public Health) 17th December 2020