THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

The White Gates,
Dorking.

October 14 [1943]

Dear Mr Thistleton¹

If you think I am the best person to do it it is not for me to say No – The only trouble is about getting back the same night – as Sunday trains to Dorking are not very good.
Would it be possible for me to record it on some other day? I shall count on you to tell me what to say.
Yours sincerely

R. Vaughan Williams²

P.S. I have had a letter on the same subject from Frank Howes – Can this be an answer to him as well?

1. Secretary of the Musicians Benevolent Fund. He later (1956) became Secretary to the R.V.W. Trust.
2. The letter was written in response to a request by the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund to make an appeal on their behalf on the BBC’s regular Sunday charitable appeal slot. Frank Thistleton recalled in a note to UVW: “I remember this incident very well. The BBC found it impossible to relay the Appeal from Dorking and said that they never recorded appeals. So dear V.W. had to come to London on one of the foggiest nights of the year, and how he got back I shall never know beyond the fact that he provided himself with a car as an alternative to a bad train.”