Correspondence between Herbert Vincent Reynolds and his family, 1916 - Part 2

parson played the organ & as luck
would have it a couple of the few
present could sing. & the service
was very interesting without being
at all monotonus.
The chaps in No I photo are from left
standing
Cpl Narick 7 Batt Pte Warrenor 4^th Fld Amb       
Pte Wharton 1^st Fld Amb he went back with the
disabled men, Pte        Convlet Depot, Pte Sack

Convlet Depot & Pte Ashwood 13^th Batt AMC
of course you know the other next guy or you
ought to then Pte Hughes 2^nd Clearing Hosp.
No 2 is another snap of some of the
boys. Sgt Sexton is the chap on
the right & he is about the best sgt
we have had here, he is a real sport.
the photo was taken while we were out for
a morning ramble, we had good times when
we had Sgt Sexton in charge of us, but
a cove from the 6^th Fld Amb has charge
of us now & we are know it. to our disgust.
There are a few stamps enclosed put them in the book 

Mrs Reynolds
Albert St
Sebastopol
Ballarat
Victoria
Australia

[*Feb 7^th 1916*]

Monte Video Camp
Weymouth Feb 15^th 1916
Dear Mother
Extremely pleased to have received your letter written
Xmas Day it is the first one that has reached me from you
since last Dec, I cannot understand where your letters have been
going as the address is correct. Pleased to hear that you received
my photos & cards allright, did you get the souvenirs of Anzac
that I sent you? You say that Xmas was very quiet at home
well it was just the other way about with me I shall always
have pleasant recolections of the splendid time that I spent
at Bournmouth last Xmas, but how ones thoughts wandered back
to home where the festival season was being held neath sunny skies
while over here we were makeing merry neath the roofs. although we
had such a good time over here, there was a constant longing which at
times became a mad desire to be once again back in Sunny Aust
in the company of those who we hold so dear, to once again be amidst
old friends and to once again be able to see the beauties & glories
of the Aust Xmas season. which
Stan was extremely unlucky with not getting his merit
well he ought to take every advantage of his second chance and
make sure of it next time, pleased to hear that T Raine passed at
The School of Mines, how are Stan Davies & the others getting on I have
not heard from them lately.
We had Andy Fisher down here yesterday he did not have much to say
gave us a message from the people of Aust & wished us good luck & every
success for the future. 

Most of the boys have gone to a concert at the Jubille Hall
this afternoon but I though I would stay home & write
a few letters as I seen the show last night.
There is a fund of some sort that provides a concert
there every fortnight.
Well there is very little to write about so I will close
wishing you all good health
yours ever very truely
Bert. 

PS The 3 photos are some taken around here No 1 is a snap of the
esplanade at Weymouth the clock tower can be seen & the two structures
on the extreme right are bathing saloons. No 2 is a view of the
Turks Head Inn at Chickerall it is an extremely old building and
is altogether different to our booze houses in Aust there is no bar
in this place. No 3 is a snap of the road from Chickerall to
Fleet Mannor it is a very pretty little road, the Fleet Church
(you have a photo of it) is about 150 yds along from where the photo
was taken & on the right hand side of the photo. The chap standing
in the photo is Pte Warrenor 4^th Fld Amb, we often go for a stroll
out that way of a Sunday & get a few snaps of the country.
I will sent you a few more when I get them done. 

Mrs Reynolds
Albert St
Sebastopol
Ballarat
Victoria
Australia
[*15^th Feb 1916*]

Monte Video Camp
Weymouth Feb. 16^th 1916
Dear Flo
Extremely pleased to receive your letter written
Dec 27^th & pleased to see that you are getting the post cards
allright. Well it is your birthday the day after tomorrow
isn't it I had forgotten all about it, but you must excuse
me for that, & accept my best wishes for your birthday although
they will be rather late in reaching you.
I am pleased to see that you are getting plenty of work
you ought to be able to get plenty of it from the military
authorities as there is a lot of that work wanted by them.
You said in your letter that there was a bit of trouble
with the troops about leaving before Xmas, well it would
not have hurt the authorities to allow the men to have their
Xmas in Aust & leave soon after, but then if arrangements
had been made to leave beforehand, the men had no right
to cause trouble they will have to do a lot of things that they
do not quite aggree. with, but they will not get their way when
ever they want it, Well there is no news to tell you
so I think the best thing that I can do is to wish
you good bye hopeing you are all well
yours very truely
Bert. 

Miss F Reynolds
Albert St
Sebastopol
Ballarat
Victoria
Australia 

[*16.2.1916 *]

Monte Video Camp
Weymouth Feb 16^th 1916
Dear Stan
Very pleased to receive your welcome letter
dated Dec 25^th, it is a long time since I had any news
from you and I began to wonder why you were not writing
Well you had extremely hard luck at the exam but make
sure you pass when your second chance comes along, I am
very pleased to hear that you done so well in all the other
subjects to that in whath which you failed in, never mind
buck in & pass in that at Easter when you get another
chance.
I hope you can rare the young white dove all right, how many
have you got now? you said in one of your earlier letters that
the old one died did'nt you?
I am sorry to hear that C Norton has had to close up for a
time things must be pretty bad in that line.
Well there is very little to write about unless I tell you
about a couple of our pets here, well we have a cat, & had a
he∧dgehog here for about a week untill he ran off, we called
the cat Anzac & the hedgehog Achi Baba, he was an extremely
comical customer, if you brushed his spikes backwards he would
unroll himself & scoot off into some dark corner & roll up into a
ball again, one night we put him into one of the Corporals beds
I guess he got some shock when he put his foot on old Achi Baba
prickely back, well I will close now wishing you every success at school
& hopeing you are all in the best of health ever yours very truely
Bert 

HMT Kingstonian
Alexandria 4/3/16
Dear Mother
Well we have arrived here
safely, although we had an extremely
anxious time, especially during the last few
days, no doubt you will have received the
few lines I wrote to you from England
& have been wondering how we have got on.
We left Weymouth by rail for Devonport
about 11 pm Feb 21^st & reached our destination
about 5 am, at Exeter we stopped for a few
minutes, tea & cakes were handed round to
us which was provided by the Mayoress of
Exeters fund, & it was very acceptable.
At about 6 am Feb 22^nd we went on board
imagine our disgust when we seen the old 

2
tub she is an old cattle boat of the
Leyland line & is a stinking old thing.
there are about 1000 of us fellows on her &
250 tommies besides 900 mules, there
is hardly room to turn round on her.
& I will be jolly glad when we get off
of her, which well probably be tomorrow
morning. We steamed out of Devonport
at about 3 pm on Feb 22^nd along with two
destroyers as an escort at 4 pm we passed
the Eddystone lighthouse, the destroyers
only escorted us till dark then left us
I started work in the hospital Thurs 24^th
and before the day was out I was a patient in
it I was bringing down the dinner and
got almost to the foot of the stairs when
the ship gave a rather violent lurch & I