Item 2016-11-07-07 - Letter from the Front - Laurie Melbourne

"News From home Appreciated Most By Boys
May 25, 1944
Dear Mr. McKenzie:
My first copies of The Bradford Witness arrived a few days ago and I can assure you it was indeed a pleasure to read news of the old town. My mail has been coming through exceptionally well, but even so I found a number of items of news in your paper that my wife and mother apparently had overlooked.
Spring has at last arrived in England and is most welcome after a winter of fog and rain. I am at present on a drome in the centre of the fruit-growing district and the trees are a mass of bloom. Whoever wrote about the beauties of "An English Apple Orchard in the Spring" didn't half do it justice.
Like everyone else these days, we are kept very busy, but last week I managed to get sufficient time off to visit Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-on-Avon. It is a beautiful little town and the Memorial Theatre is very interesting.
I hear from Ron. Sutherland and Lorne West quite regularly by letter, but it is difficult to arrange one's leave in order to get together.
My sincere thanks to you and Mr. Earl Rowe for making it possible to receive your paper. Without a doubt, news from home is cherished most by all the boys overseas.
My kind regards to all the good people of Bradford and district.
Sincerely, Laurie Melbourne."