Now one of the great pleasures of writing the blog has been the way I get to share the stories of other people, and today I have begun reading the story of Stan and Chris, which is a collection of letters they exchanged from 1941 through till 1946.
Their granddaughter, Gabrielle, suggested I read the book, which she told me “was compiled by my uncle following the death of my Grandma in 2016, who made his way through hundreds of letters between my Grandma and Grandad during the war.
It brings us closer to understanding the real-life struggles couples and families were forced to endure during World War Two”.
And I have to agree. Stan and Chris in the War* is a fascinating read.
Added to which the way the letters became a book is itself a fascinating piece of history.
In the preface her uncle described how he came to write it, beginning as all good books should at the beginning of his adventure.
“Chris Pickard died on the 19th February 2016. Several times during her life she had alluded to ‘Stan’s love letters to me’, saying that her family could read them after she was dead. We had not understood that the collection included so many letters (1200) or that nearly half of them were from Chris to her husband Stan.
The letters were stored in a tatty old suitcase and had been roughly bundled up by month and year and tied with string.
We believe that Chris had last read them after the death of Stan in 1987.
Not all the letters were in the bundles, and the order was by no means reliable even in respect of the
letters that were dated (some lacked dates, and some had been dated
incorrectly in the first place)
The archive is not complete – they wrote to each other on most days but many letters are missing, incomplete or fragmentary. Nor is it entirely comprehensive – there were a number of periods of time (from a few days to a couple of months) when they were able to live together and did not
write.
This book is their story.
It covers Stan’s recruitment into the navy in 1941, his training as a seaman, eight months on a destroyer followed by officer training, his service as a Lieutenant with the 22nd Motor Torpedo Boat flotilla based at Lowestoft, and with a naval working party on the Kiel Canal in Germany, until his
demobilisation in May 1946.
Chris tells of her life in Eastbourne during the same period – as a young woman, a young wife and a young mother. For most of the time she was living with her parents and sisters, but she did live with Stan briefly in 1943 and for 6 months in 1945.”
And that is as far as I shall go, partly because I want to finish the book, but mainly because I want you to read the letters which as Gabrielle has said "bring us closer to understanding the real-life struggles couples and families were forced to endure during World War Two”.
Pictures; courtesy of the Pickard family
* Stan and Chris in the War, Jeremy Pickard, 2017, published by Pickard Brothers and can be purchased at YPD Books, http://www.ypdbooks.com/biography/1743-stan-and-chris-in-the-war-as-described-in-their-letters--YPD01931.html or at Amazon.
It brings us closer to understanding the real-life struggles couples and families were forced to endure during World War Two”.
And I have to agree. Stan and Chris in the War* is a fascinating read.
Added to which the way the letters became a book is itself a fascinating piece of history.
In the preface her uncle described how he came to write it, beginning as all good books should at the beginning of his adventure.
“Chris Pickard died on the 19th February 2016. Several times during her life she had alluded to ‘Stan’s love letters to me’, saying that her family could read them after she was dead. We had not understood that the collection included so many letters (1200) or that nearly half of them were from Chris to her husband Stan.
 |
| The wedding |
We believe that Chris had last read them after the death of Stan in 1987.
Not all the letters were in the bundles, and the order was by no means reliable even in respect of the
letters that were dated (some lacked dates, and some had been dated
incorrectly in the first place)
The archive is not complete – they wrote to each other on most days but many letters are missing, incomplete or fragmentary. Nor is it entirely comprehensive – there were a number of periods of time (from a few days to a couple of months) when they were able to live together and did not
write.
This book is their story.
 |
| Precious leave |
demobilisation in May 1946.
Chris tells of her life in Eastbourne during the same period – as a young woman, a young wife and a young mother. For most of the time she was living with her parents and sisters, but she did live with Stan briefly in 1943 and for 6 months in 1945.”
And that is as far as I shall go, partly because I want to finish the book, but mainly because I want you to read the letters which as Gabrielle has said "bring us closer to understanding the real-life struggles couples and families were forced to endure during World War Two”.
Pictures; courtesy of the Pickard family
* Stan and Chris in the War, Jeremy Pickard, 2017, published by Pickard Brothers and can be purchased at YPD Books, http://www.ypdbooks.com/biography/1743-stan-and-chris-in-the-war-as-described-in-their-letters--YPD01931.html or at Amazon.
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