The homely chirrup bringing memories of Norfolk stockyards in December with flocks of finches buntings rustling among the straw.They are of varying quality, due no doubt to the involved production method of airgraphs a system invented by the Eastman Kodak company in the 1930s in conjunction with Imperial Airways to reduce the weight of letters being sent by air.
![]() The negatives were then sent by aeroplane to England, where they were developed into photographs 11 x 14 cms. This photograph was then folded just below the address, put into an envelope and then sent to the recipient. In the Second World War this system was adopted by the armed forces and was known as the Army Postal Service, or APS. It would seem to have been very labour intensive, but apparently saved enormous and precious weight and space on transport planes. Those Classic Golden Years Volume 31 Rar Series Of ArticlesHe was a great admirer of HWs writing from an early age, and met HW during the latters years on the Norfolk Farm during the Second World War; he much later illustrated a series of articles that HW wrote for the Daily Express. But that brief statement only tells the barest outline of a considerable, and interesting, connection. Little is known of his early years, other than that when he was about six years old the family moved to the south-west (where his brother John was born) and that young Richard was educated at a naval school in Bisley (where as a schoolboy HW had attended the annual schools rifle competition). He showed considerable interest in birds from an early age, together with an innate talent for drawing them. On leaving school aged sixteen he was employed in an office in the City, apparently living in a hostel and spending all his spare time observing and drawing birds in St Jamess Park. He also became a member of the London Natural History Society. Overall, one gets an impression of a rather lonely lad, losing himself in his hobby. In 1939 he began to keep a notebook diary of his observations and sketches, where in an early entry he stated that he admired the work of Charles Tunnicliffe, who had illustrated many of Henry Williamsons books, and that he was HWs best artist thereby revealing the fact that he had been a great admirer of HWs writing from an early age. Indeed, Moss Taylor states in his biography Guardian Spirit of the East Bank (Wren Publishing, 2002) that RAR was strongly influenced by both Edward Wilson (the artist who accompanied the Scott Antarctic Expedition, dying with the others of the team on their return journey from the Pole) and Henry Williamson, quoting from a later entry from RARs diary. He was then variously stationed at Swanton Morley in Norfolk; Colchester; and in Lincolnshire, before ending up (again date unknown) in Aylsham, North Norfolk, where he was billeted at Gordon House with Clifford and Dorothy Pask. It is clear that the Pasks took the young lad under their wing, and Gordon House seems to have become home to him, and where he set up an aviary of birds he had caught and tamed. He also would have known from articles in the Eastern Daily Press and elsewhere, and through the publication of HWs book The Story of a Norfolk Farm in 1941, that HW was living and farming at Old Hall Farm in Stiffkey, close to Cley. He met up with HW in the summer of 1943: his extraordinarily atmospheric painting of the farm is dated 19 June 1943. RAR refers to this meeting in a subsequent letter, from which one can deduce that he spent several days with the family. He certainly knew the names of all the children with some small details about them for instance, the fact that HWs son John was at Paston, the very well-known Norfolk school, and as we find later, the date of the birthday of the youngest, Richard. Unfortunately, no factual information about RAR exists in HWs archive. This means it is actually very small, yet the detail is clear. That he had established a firm friendship with HW is shown by an airmail letter card he wrote soon after his arrival at Deolali. An airmail letter card was a small thin pale blue paper which folded into four (5 x 4 inches) with a sticky flap to seal it, printed so the recipients address could be clearly written together with regulatory details of the sender. The kites and vultures, the house crows, the mynahs are becoming part of everyday life lately Ive found myself watching the sparrows.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |