Correspondence between Herbert Vincent Reynolds and his family, 1916 - Part 10

[*On Active Service*]
[*12 SEPT
1916 Berrima
Jan 1915*]
Mrs Reynolds
Albert St
Sebastopol
Ballarat
Victoria
Australia
[*R.J Slack*]
 

On Active Service
Sept 22^nd. 16
Dear Mother
Very pleased to receive your
nice long letter dated Aug 7^th, I have not
received the parcel that you mentioned but
it will very likely come to hand before long.
Ellis' letter has not come along yet, I received
a few lines from Harry Elliot a few days ago - he
was then in camp at a place in England called
andover, Hants, but he expected to be back
with the unit before long, he said he had had
a splendid time on furlough in London & had
made many friends.
I have not heard from Herb yet, in a letter I
received from Mr Key, he said that his sister
had been writing to Herb over here in France
so it is funny that I have had no reply to
my letter yet, unless he has  been shifted
to another unit.
Well Mum your parcel did not reach me in
time for my birthday as you hoped it would
but never mind it will be just as much
appreciated, even if it comes a month late which
I hope does not happen nevertheless.
Well the 16^th was on a Sat this year as you
know & that day was choosen as a sports day
by the unit, so I will remember my birthday
this year without any trouble, it is the
3^rd birthday that I have had since enlisting 

I wonder if I will see another before getting
back home, well I hope not anyhow.
Our sports was a great success horse events
caused a great deal of interest, & the programme
extended over the best part of the day, an
international tug of war created a great
deal of interest during the latter part of the
afternoon, there were four teams entered & the
first pull resulted in a win for our team,
against the Canadians, the Scotch team then
beat the English team, &, in the final after
a very hard pull, our team beat the Scotch
The weather had been very unsettled & wet
but we were favoured with a beautifull day
for our sports & everything went without a hitch
To finish up there is going to be a spread
in our mess hut, next Tuesd, when the
prizes are to be distributed; we have all
put in 3 francs each to the fund & we hope
to have a good evenings amusement.
I went for a walk last Sund afternoon having
the day off, so I went & looked up Pete &
Wallie Mitchel  they are both pretty well.
I really do not know what else to write so I
expect I had better close these few lines, trusting
you are quite well, with best wishes
from
Bert
PS
Would be very pleased of you sent along a magazine
occasionally. 

[*On Active Service*]
[* Sept 22 1916*]
Mrs H. Reynolds
Albert St
Sebastopol
Ballarat
Victoria
Australia 

On Active Service
Oct 11^th 1916
Dear Mother
Very pleased to receive your
letters dated Aug 15^th & 21^st also the couple
of booklets, which I am very pleased
with, the views in one bring back old
memories of pleasant times that are past
& when looking at some of them how I
wish it were the actual scene before
me instead of a reproduction of it on
paper. Oh! well providing all goe's well
I hope it is not long before I am able
to ^once again view the actual places that are
pictured in the souvenir booklet.
The parcel reached me allright & its contents
were thoroughly enjoyed by us, a few dainties
are always apprieciated, though things are
different over here to what they were at
Galipolli, we can obtain a goodly number of
articals from YMCA huts & canteens which 

(2)
could not be obtained for love or money
at the other place.
Please do not think that I am ungratefull
or any thing like that, but you remember
sending a few tins of coffee & milk & a few
other such articals, well they were used
& were much apprieciated, but we can
get those sort of things fairly easy over
here & not very long ago we had that much
of it that we were asking one another
if we wanted any, of course that was
when packs had to the carried & things
had to be got rid of one way or another,
& a great deal of stuff was given away.
because we could not carry it with us
I am always pleased to receive any of
the other articals you sent along & for
those you sent along last time let
me send my best thanks in return.
I am very pleased to see by your last
letter that you have been receiving the
cards I sent along to you & that you
were pleased with them. 

(3)
I have been receiving the papers that you
& Siss have been sending, sometimes there
are two of the same date come along, but
that does not matter, better that than
none at all.
I would be pleased if you would send me
a magazine now & again at times we cannot
get anything to read when we have a little
spare time, at present we have plenty of
reading matter, there being a library in the
camp but if we move as we may at any
time ^do, then a book of some description -
becomes very acceptable.
Last time I wrote only a very few lines
owing to leaving it to the last moment,
& then I was rather crook & could not
write much, as I hardly knew what I
was writing, owing to a headache I had at
the time, I mentioned being crook at the
time, well it was as I said a touch of
influenza & for a couple of days I felt 

(4)
rather crook on it, but I soon got right
again & am pretty well at present
except for a bit of a cold but that
is nothing to worry about.
We are still at the same place as I
wrote from last, & are still having
a pretty quiet time, I have been
finding enough to keep me going in
my line we are putting up a canteen
hut & I have been working on that
for the last few days, we are starting
a canteen here like we had at the
last rest station we were at.
I have not come across anyone I know
lately & I have had no news from Herb.
One of the other Ballt chaps returned to
the unit a few days ago, the news about
Geo White having died of wounds seems to
be pretty right we were not too sure of
it being correct at first. Well trusting you
are all well I will close with best wishes to
all
yours very truly
Bert

[* On Active Service*]
[* Oct 11th 1916*]

Mrs Reynolds
Albert St
Sebastopol

Ballarat
Victoria
Australia
[* G.M. Wilson*]
 

[* I have been
working at a

factory making ambulance

trucks for a light railway

a mate & I were sent from our

unit & we have been here for
a little over a week. *]

Somewhere in France
December Sund 3^rd 1916
Dear Mother
I cannot say how pleased I was
to receive your Xmas card, it is a fine one &
I think the verse is very nice, it arrived
early, & I  only hope the other things come
along to time, & not a month late as they usually
do
I have been very lucky this last week with
my mail, yesterday your letter No 28 reached
me along with one from Flo & Stan & Ciss, &
today I received two from you Oct 10^th & 20^th
along with your card & a letter from H Osborne.
I am looking forward to receiving your
parcel, it would be extremely acceptable
at present, I no doubt will be more so very
soon.
As you mentioned this will be the third Xmas
that I have spent away from home, as each of
the previous ones passed, hopes were, that
the next would find me back in sunny Aust
once again, but now the third finds me here