South Yorkshire Times, November 15, 1941.
Out East.
Trooper Cyril Holgate, formerly of 26. Ivanhoe Road, Conisbrough, is having a second taste of service in the East with H.M.forces.
He originally joined the army in 1930 and saw service in Egypt’s with a famous cavalry Regiment before completing his term and returning to civil life. In 1936.
On the outbreak of the present war he was recalled to the colours and is now in the Middle East again.
His letters home throw some interesting sidelights on the model of life in the East, and it is reassuring to hear that there is little they cannot get in the way of food.
In one of his letters he says, “Yes, we can get lots of money and is. In fact, we ran onions and cheese for tea today; lovely honest two, real Egyptian audience. And as for eggs, well we can get hundreds of them at less than a penny each, big ones, too, though we cannot get bacon. In addition, we pull oranges off the trees, and many are going rotten for want of pulling. We can get as many oranges, lemons and grapefruit as we want.”
In a later letter he remarked that the grapes are now in season and “we can get a big bunch for 2 1/2d (1p), either black or green one, and they are so common that we do not bother much about them.”
Cyril, who is married, and the proud possessor of twin baby boys, worked for a time at the Conisbrough Cliff Companies works.