Back in reserve, Sherriff sent a couple of letters home to Pips sorting out his financial affairs. He had held on to some English money and rather than changing it into Francs, he opted to send some of it (£4) back home to add to his Office Deposit Fund. Clearly finances were on his mind because, as he told Pips, he was very busy settling up Mess Bills (in his role as Mess President).

He was with the battalion in Bully Grenay, and his time during the day was taken up with training. When he arrived back in his billet at the end of the day he took the chance to scribble a few lines, partly noting that the war seemed to be going well, but also noting the impact of the German shelling:

‘We have certainly annoyed the Huns, as they keep putting shells over round about us all day, and we fully return the compliment. It is an extraordinary thing how the French people stick to their old homes – you see them unconcernedly digging in their gardens or hanging clothes on their lines, a shell churns up their garden and makes a huge hole which they fill in and start again – it is rather wonderful but it gives the place a more homely air to see inhabitants at work’.

[Next letter: 7 April]