A SCENE repeated on hundreds of local doorsteps – this Keighley aircraftman was about to join a wintry barrage balloon site in the Orkneys.

He would write back with blistering advice for a brother-in-law who complained about wartime factory shop at home:

“If ever he feels a bit fed-up with his work. I’d like to offer this idea of mine as a cure. Get hold of an old car or lorry, then take it to the wildest spot he can find, wait until some night when it’s raining cats and dogs with hailstones in among, and then try standing alongside it, say from 1am to 3am and see how he likes that.”

The railings on the left were soon to be confiscated to help the war effort.