Correspondence between Herbert Vincent Reynolds and his family, 1914-1915 - Part 13

Rear of envelope ~ see original

AUSTRALIAN & NEW ZEALAND BASE DEPOT,
MONTE VIDEO CAMP,
WEYMOUTH, DORSET
Nov 4^th 15
Dear Mother
I believe this mail gets home just before
Christmas so I must send you these few lines wishing you
all the compliments of the season, this is the second Christmas
which I will have spent away from home time has seemed to
have flown by, and then again it seems to have been a century
since leaving home how I wish for the time when I get back
there again just to see you all again but that is wishing for
an impossibility for the present at least. Our band and a
company of infty will take part in the Lord Mayors show
in London next Friday Tuesday and I am trying to get leave
to go up to London for the week end and see the procession.
I am sending a curio in the form of the time fuse off a Turkish
shrapnell shell it is an uncomon one as most of them are of brass this one
is of white metal I found it near our bivouac about the middle of last
June. There is a photo which I took a few days ago enclosed it shows
some of our huts which is built of pine with felt and tar roofs we
have a combustion stove in each hut but there is a deficiency of fuel
for them and we need a good fire this weather as it is
 

bitterly cold. There are about 30 in each hut and we
have small tressle beds which are about 6"ins off the floor and
consist of 3 - 8 ins boards with a straw mattress and 3 blanketts
and I must say that it takes us all our time to sleep
comfortably for the cold, our huts are fitted with electric light
which is supplied from a plant in the camp. Our picture show
lasted only about a week as the wind blew it down and it has
not been put up again. I am having a good bit of trouble with
my teeth I had one out in London but the dentist would not
pull any more there is a dentist here in the depot but I have
a dread of the cocane buisness which he uses, and I do not want to
go to him if possible. I am petty right now but will not be
able to stand as much as before, as it pulled me down properly
but I will be all right before long. The usual trouble with my
nose and throat has given me a good deal of trouble lately.
I must close now wishing you a Merry Christmas and
a Happy New year, remember me to all over that side
of the globe from yours truly
Bert
 

Mrs H Reynolds
Albert St
Sebastopol
Ballarat
Victoria

Australia
[*Nov 4^th 1915*]

 Rear of envelope ~ see original

AUSTRALIAN & NEW ZEALAND BASE DEPOT,
MONTE VIDEO CAMP,
WEYMOUTH, DORSET
Thurs 11^th 1915
Dear Stan
I have been sending you mostly all post cards lately
so will give you a change. I was extremely pleased to receive
a batch of a doz letters last Tues of which two were from you, there
must be a lot more somewhere as I have had no letters since
leaving Galipolli. Things seem to be pretty favourable out
in Aust by the way the men are enlisting it is a great pity
that the men do not come forward as willingly over here, they
take a terrible lot of encouragement to get them to come forward
and do their share. Your letters were dated 13/7/15 and Aug 4^th
I am extremely pleased to see that you done so well at the exam
and ask you to do your best and stay at school, remember that you
can do better still, do not be in a hurry about leaving school
as there is no need to do so I would like to see you go to the High
school, it was very unfortunate that it was destroyed as it was
a fine building and had a fine record. I am pleased to see that
you have a good teacher and that you are getting on so well under
her. I am pleased to see that some more young chaps have enlisted
from Sebas it is good to see that there are still some willing

to do their share, old Sebas must have a pretty good list
now. I expect you are often wondering how I have been
been  getting on over here, well I have had a pretty
good time taking it all through since reaching England
I went up to London last Saturday and stayed at
40 Weymouth St for a couple of days and got back here
late Monday A night I tryed to get off over Tuesday
to see the Lord Mayors Show but did not get leave to
do so, some of the troops from here went up and marched in
the procession they were the next draft who go back to Egypt
Australia was represented with a company of infty a troop of
light horse who were mounted, a battery of the Aust seige train
and our depot band, they got a splendid reception so the
chaps who were in it say, although they had a pretty wet time of it.
We are having a pretty wet time over here now and it is extremely
cold we are in huts not in the old tents but the roofs all
leak and we have to dodge the leaky parts, I have a dry
position in this hut but the water is coming in in other parts
of it now. We did not have a parade this afternoon as it
was too wet. I will be able to send some photos of the camp
and a few other places home soon, I printed some which I have
taken but they were not much good. Wishing you a B Happy
New Year I will close with my best wishes for your success at school
yours truly
Bert

Stan Reynolds
Albert St Sth
Sebastopol
Ballarat
Victoria
Australia

[*11/11/1915

12/Feb 1

16/Feb 1916*]

Australian Base Depot
Monte Video Camp
Weymouth Eng
Sund Nov 14^th 1915
Dear Mother
I did not expect to see the parcel reach me
which you sent as a birthday gift any how it came along
this morning with about a mile & half of string around it
but intact, it has been knocked about some but every artical
was there as far as I can judge. I must say that I did not
expect such consideration and must thank you from my
heart for the things which you have sent, they are extremely
welcome here, but would have been more so had I received them
out at Galipolli where this tablet & envelopes would have been
valued more, still, better to come late than never. I am
delighted with the 3 pairs of sox. they are just the sort
that I like, we are pretty well off in the way of
clothing over here, I can get anything just for the
asking from Mrs Blackwood who told me to let her
know if I wanted anything, but I do not care to
ask, after the ^splendid way she has treated me she could not do
enough for me, and I cannot give her enough praise for the
way she and other ladies at the Victoria Club have given
their time for the benefit of us Aust troops, the Clubrooms
at 16 Regent St, have dining rooms where troops from oversees

[*I must thank all who sent anything in the parcell was delighted with it we will fix up 
the cake etc for supper tonight instead of the usual toast, we are pretty comfortable

in our hut although it has a leaky roof, and can get a sufficiency of coal lately 

for the stove 

there is about 

30 of us in 

the hut.*]
 

2

can for the smallest cost have the very best of meals
served, there are also reading rooms where all the latest
colonial papers can be seen, and a billiard room I doubt if
there are many more places that can boast of so representable
a gathering of the Empires troops, you find Canadians, South
Africans, New Zealanders, and Australians mixing up with
one another relating experiences over the tables. The ladies who
so generously give their time and keep the Club going are all
Colonials. Well Mother after the good times I have had over
here I do not care about getting back to the game, but. I am
pretty right now and will be on my way back again before long
wether I have the same luck this time as I had last remains
to be seen, but next time I get invalided away I hope it
is ^to Aust, but I hope to be able to do some more before
then, although I may not last as long this time, as the
sickness took it out of me, nevertheless I will do my
best again, and trust to luck. A draft left this camp
at 8.30 am this morning on their way back to the front.
very likely I will be in the next if so I will keep
writing as long as possible every week, but do not worry
if I cannot do so. I went up to London last Sat and
stayed at 40 Weymouth St till Mond, Mr and Mrs. Herring
were extremely pleased to see me and made me comfortable
most of the chaps who were there during my stay there have left
some of them went back on the last boat for Austr some had