Letters - Friday October 2 2020

I am writing to salute the actor Laurence Fox for wanting to launch a political party to “reclaim” British values from politicians, who he says have “lost touch with the people”.

At this time when freedom of speech appears to be a thing of the past it is very brave of Laurence (pictured) to put his career on the line by speaking out, even though nothing he says can be deemed as racist.

This is a wonderful country with a good life for most thus encouraging immigrants past and present to settle here.

However it feels all wrong when ethnic minorities want to change our laws and history, good and bad, in their own favour, taking away any pride our children should have.

Perhaps it is time to get the chips off the shoulders and settle down to what we have to offer.

If immigrants still feel that they dislike everything this country and its people stand for, there is a big wide world out there with plenty of places to choose to live in, but I doubt they would find anywhere better than here.

J Hutchinson

via email

Nostalgia

Looking for former Wrens

I am looking for ex-Wrens – anyone who joined between 1947 to 1981 and trained at HMS Dauntless (Reading).

I’m compiling a searchable, accessible archive of Divisional ‘class’ photos that only ex-Wrens may access.

The collection also encourages old friends to be rediscovered, memories shared and new friendships/support groups formed.

With permission from various Wrens support groups, I started this archive and, for want of anywhere better or more accessible, I stored the collection in a private Facebook group and contacted all the Wrens I could trace using normal social media sources. But I know that there are many hundreds of ladies out there who don’t use social media.

Literally within days I realised the idea was much bigger than just photo storage. A friend came on board to help with the deluge of information that landed on my desktop and, within a month, we had over 1,000 ‘members’ in the group. That’s when we discovered that this was so much more than just an archive of old photos.

Especially during lockdown, it became a place of memories, finding old friends, making new ones, adding photos of adventures and escapades.

It brought isolated ladies together, occasionally offered moral support and gave us all things to think and talk about.

Within the first month of existence, there were over 10.5,000 social interactions within the group.

Thirty thousand Wrens went through the gates of the training establishment known as HMS Dauntless during the 34 years in operation. There were approximately 40 divisions (classes) per year, which means a rough total of 1,360 classes which equals the potential for 1,360 class photos. We currently have around 600 photos ... 42.5 per cent of what’s possible.

We’ve published in all the usual naval and military publications but we’d like to reach those ladies who don’t read these or use social media. If you were, or you know of any ladies who were, in the Wrens, please get in touch with us because we’d love to hear from you and quite possibly, give the opportunity to reconnect with old classmates.

Janette Crisp

44 Moreton Road

Worcester Park, Surrey

KT4 8EZ

[email protected]

0771 990 9844

USA

Hair-raising prices for Trump

Among his many non-attributes, Donald Trump claims to be an astute businessman.

If his recent hairdressing expenses of $70,000 are true, based on the end results, why did he not sue his barber?

Denis Lee

Ashton

Politics

10pm curfew and parliament

Re: Parliament’s bars. Regarding my earlier message (Your Say, September 29), I have now read that, following media publicity about them ignoring the 10pm curfew, the powers-that-be have reviewed their selfish arrangements and decided to comply, but should it really have come to this?

Jim Oldcorn

Great Harwood