Diary Entry - 25th June, 1917

Walford: In the morning, I took Ginger out for exercise and rode over towards St Eloi and had a look at the RNAS Aerodrome, where the Triplane Squadron hail from. It was really wonderful to see the way these machines rise off the ground and climb. They are up 1000 feet before they turn after leaving the ground. They also landed very nicely. Arrived back at the battery at eleven a.m., had lunch at eleven forty-five, went off on the one-eyed horse at twelve forty-five for the Army show at Chateau de la Haye, along with Hoyland and Hortage, the latter we picked up at St Eloi, near the ruin. The show was beyond all imagination and the turn outs would take a lot of beating, even at Olympia. We were there until four thirty and saw the grand parade, judging of officers' chargers, officers and section jumping, as well as other odd events. There were some beautiful chargers shown and a very nice little chestnut took the prize, after a lengthy contest. The judges even rode each horse round the ring several times. We hurried back at four thirty, just missed seeing the Prince of Wales and Sir Douglas Haig arrive and, after tea at the WL, we went into the theatre Bowe Belles. This was also a most excellent performance, the best I have yet seen in France, and the men who did girls' parts were extraordinarily good. The theatre ran from six p.m. to eight p.m and when it came out we three met Siggers and the Padre (Holden) at the officers' club, where we finished up the day with a good dinner. It was raining at ten thirty p.m. when we commenced for home and, having no coats, we thought we were in for it, but were lucky in getting a car at the five crossroads or the Octroi, which took us to our doorstep.