Continuing from part one, Peter was at the Grove Court Hotel in London but in the letter below updates his parents on his new location at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, he writes:
"My Dear mum, dad and May, You will be pleased to know that I arrived at this 'south coast resort' at 11 am yesterday after as comfortable a journey as full kit would allow! The posting was rather sudden, but one must not be surprised at anything in the RAF. It is unusual for Grade A cadets to come here, but a number of us have been sent here, together with B, C and D grades and we shall do a three week course on maths, navigation, signals, P.T. drill, swimming etc. This time counts towards our I.T.W to which we shall be posted at the end of our three weeks.
This is a really 'pucker' place, and there is bags of 'B-LLS--T' we have to wear white belts off duty and the white flash is changed to a different part of our caps. To compensate for the stiff discipline, we are living under grand conditions. As you will see from my address we are in the biggest hotel in Brighton. I am on the 5th floor (it takes 5 minutes to go up or downstairs). Our rooms are excellent, I have a beautiful sea view, excellent mirror on the wall and wash basin with hot and cold running water in our bedrooms. We also have sheets again! The food here is top and heaps better than at Grove Court, we had a lovely salad lunch today."
The Grand Hotel Brighton - Image by GaryReggae via Wikimedia
The Grand Hotel in Brighton is still there (photo above) and it really is a beautiful place. I can only imagine the troops sent to stay there must have really felt they had fallen on their feet, as Peter did. He ends the letter with these observations:
"It is grand to see the sea again and there was a really glorious sunset yesterday. I am writing this letter on the promenade in brilliant sunshine and with the sea gleaming before me."
If I ever do visit Brighton promenade, I know I will think of Peter all those years ago, about to go to war and writing to his family while appreciating the sea view.
On the 11 March 1943 Peter wrote to his mum and dad again, his address is, 2 Squadron, A.C.T.W. Grand Hotel, RAF Station, Brighton. He writes that he is a grade A cadet and that he is being posted along with a lot of others to an initial training wing on Saturday. He writes again of the hotel they are staying in:
" We were told at first that we would be here three weeks, but as there is no necessity for us to take this course, they are pushing us out this weekend. Nevertheless this place has its compensations, and I am thoroughly enjoying it, especially the wonderful weather we have been having. It is a long day here and we attend lectures, parades, drill, P.T. etc. From 7.30 am to 6 pm.
Our maths sessions are usually of two hours length, whilst the P.T. we do on the promenade and is very enjoyable indeed. During drill the other day, we had some slight excitement when a few FW 190's came over and fired a few bullets, the first time i have seen jerry planes. We sheltered against walls etc. but nobody was hurt."
I can just imagine them all diving for cover along the promenade in Brighton, it must have been a scary introduction into what it is like for an enemy to fire at you. I am betting it was the talk of the camp for quite a while. Peter goes on to talk about having guard duty and a few stories of escapades around town, he went to the cinema and saw Ralph Richardson in 'Silver Fleet' afterwards stopping for sausages and chips. He goes on to say:
"This evening our flight is playing 'C' flight at darts at the Lamb and Flag and free beer is to be provided. I am writing this letter in scraps during the day and we have just returned from an afternoon of organized games which consisted of a three mile cross country run over the downs and a swim at the baths. I thoroughly enjoyed it as there were some fine views on the downs. We also had a two hour swimming session yesterday afternoon. I have heard since lunch time today that i am almost certainly going to Torquay. The food at this place remains just as good and is certainly much better than at Grove Court as we get jam for tea every day."
Not long after this, Peter is transferred to Newquay and describes his trip in the next letter dated 13th March 1943:
"My Dear Mum, Dad and May, Well here i am at a place where i wish you could all be! I was not sent to Torquay as i had been given to believe. I am sorry i could not talk to you longer on the phone, but i had some difficulty in getting through. We left Brighton at 5pm and arrived at Victoria at 7.20pm. From Victoria we went by Inner circle to Paddington (it seemed funny to pass through Bayswater Station wearing full kit!) At Paddington we were released until 9.15. So a few of us went to a Church army canteen i knew of and had a slap up supper for 10d and bought cakes to swell the rations given to us.
We left Paddington at 9.50pm and from there went to Par (do you remember going there?) we alternately dozed, read and ate! At Par we changed for Newquay and as it was light by then we were able to enjoy the superb scenery. We arrived at Newquay at 8.50am and were almost immediately given an excellent breakfast. I am in comfortable billets, 3 of us in a room in a small hotel overlooking the sea. I wish you could see the bay bathed in sunshine, the blue sea and the white breakers. We are going to have a grand time here for there are plenty of facilities for all sorts of sports including swimming.... The course here lasts about twelve weeks and at the end of that i shall get nine days leave before starting flying"
One of the things i love about these letters is how upbeat Peter is about his situation, he finds beauty in the world in each place he goes, and doesn’t seem to let anything phase him, taking the training in his stride and enjoying the new places he gets to visit.
To be continued....
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