This letter was published in the Singleton Argus 27 November 1917.  Staff Nurse Dorothy Maud Traill served at No 14 Australian General Hospital (Egypt) but was also an active volunteer with the Red Cross.  The jam that Dorothy refers to was probably included in a parcel of comforts sent by Red Cross volunteers in Singleton.  Such gifts were practical but also helped to assuage homesickness and reassured servicemen and women that they were not forgotten by their communities.  This letter also mentions Sister Agnes Cuthbertson, a nurse well known in Singleton.

Note:  It is important to remember that letters home were censored so nurses and soldiers had to be guarded in what they wrote about and that newspapers may have been selective in which parts of a letter they published.

SINGLETON JAM

Appreciative letter from Egypt

No 14 AGH Abbassia, Cairo, Egypt 4 September 1917

The following letter has been received by Mrs S Butler, Singleton

Dear Madam, I am sending you a few lines of heartfelt thanks for the beautiful jam we get here that is made by you.  The other sisters, orderlies and patients join me in thanks also.  The food here is good on the whole, but it is so nice to eat something from Australia, and the peach jam is all that can be desired, especially to me, as I am so fond of jam.  I saw your name on the label so thought I would write.  Sister Cuthbertson, Matron of the Dangar Cottage Hospital, is here, and is getting on well. With kindest regards, believe me, yours very sincerely, Dorothy Traill, Australian Branch British Red Cross Society.

[Accessed from the Edgeworth David Museum Library, Kurri Kurri]

© Christine Bramble 2013