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No: 297
RECTOR'S WEEKLY NEWS
January 24th 1946

My dear Boys and Girls,
In these days one can worry about small things,and what is troubling me is that no one has put in a claim for the Tokio medal. It has been struck, and is only waiting for some lad with the proper qualifications to claim it so that it can be inscribed. All the other medals have now been claimed - Berlin, Kiel Canal, Berlin Aerodrome, and Singapore. Who then is to be the first to set foot in Tokio. If no Tarleton lad claims that distinction I shall have to find some other qualification for, having bought the medal, I shall have to give it to some one. Here is where I should value your opinion. In your next letters to me perhaps you will make suggestions for the disposal of this medal providing, that is, that no Tarleton lad finds himself in Tokio before the final selection is made. With my love, my prayers, and my Blessing, ever your affection rector,
L.N.FORSE.

HOME FRONT NEWS
Gladys Hodson, Blackgate Lane, eldest daughter of Mr.and Mrs.Bill Hodson, was married on Saturday in Tarleton Parish Church, to Pte. Kenneth Harding, RAOC, now serving in BAOR only child of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Harding, of Werneth, Oldham. For some time the bridegroom was billeted in the camp at Mere Brow. Reception at Garlicks, Honeymoon at Blackpool. Mr. James Sergeant, of the Café, has bought The Anchorage, Hesketh Lane, now occupied by the Faireys, from Mr. John Moss, Hesketh Lane, who owned it, for £1000. There are five smallish greenhouses at the back. Mr. Jimmy Sutton, son of the late Mr. George Sutton, of Ascroft's Farm, Holmes, bought his late father's farm, when it was put up for auction last Thursday, for £5,700. At present Jimmy Sutton lives at Banks, his wife is very ill and is in Southport Infirmary. He has five children. Alice, the late George Sutton's eldest daughter, is still going on living at the farm. Thomas Holden, better known as Tommy Bones, of Sollom Lock, died in Preston Infirmary on Tuesday after an operation, and was buried at Tarleton on Friday. He was 56 years of age. Arthur Harrison(married Dolly Iddon) and Jack Marsden have both been demobbed this week. Billy Benjamin has also been demobbed. The British Legion Club is to be thoroughly repaired, re-decorated inside and out, and made cosy and comfortable. There was skating on the canal last weekend when, as usual on these occasions, all the locals turned out either to skate or to watch those who could - and those who couldn't but thought they could. Mr. and Mrs. Jack Hague are moving at the end of the month and are going to Ormskirk to live in a house belonging to Jack's uncle Harry. At the moment Jack is in Java. He is a Lieut.in the RN. Mr.Collins,the Bank Hall Keeper, shot a large fox in the Bank Hall grounds last week. Mr. George Edward Halsted, father of Levi, Mrs. Jay, Mrs. Dick Harrison, and Mrs. Hugh Latham, died at Nelson last Saturday. At one time he was the Manager of the Tarleton Mill. He was 74 years of age. Peter Bryan is now serving on HMS Ganges.
This week the rector received a POW card sent over a year ago by Gdsn Aubrey Smith, when he was a POW in Germany. It was over-stamped `RETURNED FROM CONTINENT IN UNDELIVERED MAILS`. Aubrey has been back home for the last nine months. Mr. James Baybutt, School Houses, Sollom, died on Sunday after a severe illness, and was buried at Tarleton on Wednesday. He was 69 years of age. Ex-Home Guardsmen will be interested to learn that Major Thorneycroft, who was the Battalion Adjutant, is now travelling for Minimax Ltd., the Fire Extinguisher firm.

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS
LAC Harold Pilkington writes from SEAAF "I have written to you from a number of places since I left England, and to add to my list comprising India, Bengal, Burma, French Indo-China, and Siam, comes Singapore, right in the place where my uncle was taken POW when Singapore fell. There is every possibility of my going to Australia for leave, as it is allowed from here and air passage is free. My uncle and aunt live in Australia and it would give great pleasure to my mother and grandfather to know I had seen him again. My work now consists of conveying passengers from Kalang airport to our office which is the Air Booking Centre of Singapore. Local lads this way will find me with a Staff car outside the office." Pte. George Wait writes from KALYAN, India Command "We have been in the depot for six weeks now, getting climatised while waiting posting to a Unit. Some of my pals have been posted this week to Singapore, and we should be going there also. There is no entertainment of any kind here and it has been a very quiet Christmas for us. We are 36 miles from Bombay, and have been able to get a one-day pass there." Dvr. John Caunce writes from Austria "Thanks for the Christmas NL and card. I have not had any other mail. I am settling down quite well with this coy, but it takes such a long time to get to know everyone. It is freezing hard here, and you see children and grownups skating all over the place. When I get a bit of spare time I shall be skating too. We have got quite a few lads in this coy who have only been in the Army a matter of months. I am hoping to meet some village lads before long." Dvr. Billy Whittle writes from BAOR "Rumours are going around that this detachment is moving again shortly, and I hope they are true. When this place was built, the architect must have been drunk. Anyway, let's hope that it won't be long before I can come home to the most wonderful place on the map - Tarleton. It really is a paradise to this place. On the way back here I travelled part of the way with Bill Hull, so please convey, via the NL, special good wishes to him." Fusilier Jimmy Monaghan writes from Alexandria "I am now in Mustapha Barracks here, and I hear that your nephew left Mustapha on Boxing Day, so I missed seeing him again. I suppose he will be demobbed by now. We were out about twenty miles from Alex, in a transit camp, for about two months waiting for the men to move out of the barracks. It's not too bad here, we could be a lot worse off. Remember me to Arnold Bailey, and to all the Tarleton lads." AB Walter Ascroft writes from HMS Sylvia "We are in dry dock at Malta at present, having a refit, so we have no mine-sweeping to do at present. I was very disappointed when we arrived here to find that my cousin, Bill Harrison, went out the same day that we came in. We have a Lieut.aboard our ship who comes from Grange-over-Sands. He knows Mr. Dean very well, and says that he knows you also. His name is Nelson. I am receiving the NLs alright again now, some of them only take four days to come. Remember me to all the lads and lasses." Sapper Eric Edmondson writes from CMF "It is Saturday afternoon when I write this, and it is a day for being out of doors, something similar to an English spring day. I am at Taranto, coming here after my leave. I am still with the same coy, but I don't think it will be long before we join another one. Lots of troops come here for there is a Transit Camp which deals with personnel going or returning from Greece. The lads here are of various groups, and some will be leaving the Army shortly while others, like myself, will not get our release for some months." Dvr. Fred Burns writes from Berlin "The weather here is awful at present. It has done nothing but snow for the past 3 days, and it is freezing like anything. I see that most of my brothers are getting demobbed, but as for me, I don't expect to get out for quite a while yet. Please remember me to all my brothers and brothers-in-law."
Gunner Arthur Harrison writes from Hamburg with the magic words, written in large block letters "LAST LETTER", "Please do not send any more NLs out here now. For the past five and a half years that I have been in the army there has not been one week that has gone by without bringing the NL. I would like, before I leave the Army, to thank the Mothers' Union, the British Legion, Bowling Club, and all who have helped us to feel nearer to home while serving in the Forces."