Old letters from Elaine Sims Taunton, Somerset 1945

[Kim Jindra]

It is very possible Elaine is not her real name.
In one letter she apologized for not signing her name.
I thought that was a bit odd. And I think it is
possible she was or had been married to an English soldier.
It is late here but I will look at the letters carefully
for more clues. She talks a lot about rationing and prices.

[Wiggy]

Going to be tricky if it isn't her real name -

- but if your father was over there, it is possible some other people may remember his name and be able to trace her from through his name! 

 Good luck!!

[Ruskie]

How many letters are there? And are the letters very long? I am just wondering if scanning and posting them here would be feasible? Or perhaps a general summary? Or, a the very least, just facts you can extract, as I mentioned earlier.   Look forward to learning more ...  

[Wiggy]

Or even posting just one so someone may recognise handwriting!

Wiggy   

[wilcoxon]

If you have an address, electoral registers may have the details.

http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/Leaflets/ElectoralRegisters.pdf

1945-1973: Arranged alphabetically by polling district, then by parish and ward.
Two columns: electoral number and name and address. Larger parishes/towns
are listed alphabetically by street.

[Kim Jindra]

15 Wedlands or Wodlands Terrace
Cheddar or Cheddon Rd
Taunton, Somerset

I've been looking at her one signature
and her last name might be Tims. Her uppercase
T and S are very similar.

Kim

[Kim Jindra]

There are four letters. The paper is flimsy and ink faded but I can attempt to scan.
I'm afraid ink might bleed through. They are written front/back.
She mentions a Janet and her friend Tom so I'm assuming Janet
is Elaine's friend.  They went to Exter ... one cold November day...
She speaks about silk and nylon hose. Did they come in number sizes?
Maybe 91/2 refers to that. She says she does not have small feet.

[Ruskie]

I will do some searching for the address ....

I think a scan would be helpful (as Wiggy said, maybe even just one of them), but if the letters are too delicate please don't risk damaging them. But I do think that a scan of her surname plus any other examples of her T's or S's may help us work out her surname. 

[Ruskie]

Well there is a Wedlands (not Terrace or Road, just "Wedlands") which runs off Cheddon Road in Taunton (you can find it on googlemapsuk.

I have also looked at the area on old-maps.co.uk - some of the maps aren't very clear, but the 1961/62 map shows the area more or less the same as today, with the name still just "Wedlands". The 1930 map shows the area only partly developed with housing.

Looking at Wedlands today, some of the houses look 1960's to me, there are some older ones near Cheddon Road, and another row of houses which I am unsure of the era. Houses are very neat and tidy and well kept but look like they may have been council (or public) housing.

Basically Wedlands runs off Cheddon in a large loop and connects back to Cheddon, so I really don't know why the address is Wedlands Terrace, Cheddon Road, unless it is just to identify that Wedlands runs off Cheddon.  You can search for No 15 Wedlands which shows a house which to my eyes looks like it may have been built later than 1945, but I am unsure datewise. Also keep in mind that numbering of houses may have changed since 1945.

Not really much help I'm afraid.