odges wrote the letter to his friend five days before he died

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Hodges boarded the ship on her voyage to New York City from Southampton on 10 April 1912, having spent £13 on his second-class ticket.

His letter was postmarked Queenstown, the former name for the Irish port of Cobh, the Titanic’s final stopping point before heading out to the Atlantic.

In his letter, Hodges wrote about the “fine” weather and the atmosphere on the ship.

It said: “Dear Hector, very many thanks for the telegram and for the good wishes. It was a kind and thoughtful act and much appreciated, and you will please convey my thanks to the members of our association.

“Wasn’t it good of the President to come and see me off? I almost believe I could have persuaded him to come along. We have had a fine time up to now.

“You do not see anything of the movement of the ship, but the weather is very fine.”

He also described that everything was “quite different to what you would expect to see at sea” and said he saw about 200 boys marching round and singing, playing dominoes and cards on the top deck.

A Postcard from Duddington!

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We acquired a few postcards from St Peter’s Church situated in the Deene (North Northants) countryside – on the Kliby Lane – not far from Kilby Hall. This Church dates back to 1060 CE and is no longer in regular use but is administered by The Churches Conservation Trust – which does very good work maintaining old Churches of immense historical value. This protects these old buildings from being sold-off, destroyed and built-over, etc. Another way of conserving old Churches involves what’s termed “Champing” – or old Churches converted for families and groups to stay in these old buildings overnight!

Duddington Postcard to Diane Wyles!

Duddington: A Special Postcard to Diane Wyles! (31.7.2025)

We visited (the 16th century) Kirby Hall today situated in the Northants countryside. On the way back – a solitary road-sign directed us to a “Historical Church”. This turned-out to be the 11th century “St Peter’s Church” (of Deene) – founded in 1060 – just six-years prior to the Norman Conquest of 1066. Well, this Church was unlocked and in it we found a selection of free postcards. On the way back to the place we are staying at in Easton-on-the-Hill – we stopped at the Highfield area of Duddington so that Kai-Lin could play in the adventure playground situated there. We wrote out the postcard, affixed a stamp (we only had 2nd Class) and popped it in the Duddington Post-Box – filming and photographing the entire process. The post will be collected tomorrow – at 9 am. The card will then meander its way to Paignton in Devon!