Handwritten letter to Alex from Wendy, document 6432 a/d

In this letter Wendy tells Alex about her town of Oswestry and the annual May Day celebration.

71 York Street, Oswestry Dear Alex. Greetings. Thank you for your warm letter. I'm afraid I'm not a very good letter writer, so bear with me if I waffle on. Life in Oswestry is at a much slower pace than in London, but still there never seems to be enough time - excuse! excuse! I do work full-time, though I have done for the last 3 years. I supervise over 3 nurseries and a creche on a community programme, which is under threat at the moment by the government to be converted to a united training scheme, a jumped-up YTS more like! Oswestry is a strange place on the border of Shropshire and Wales, which is known for the amount of pubs it has, which reflects the locals' habits, which we are adjusting to without too much difficulty. Oswestry is not a tourist town but is surrounded by beautiful countryside. Apart from the locals, there are a high percentage of ex-hippies in and around Oswestry who never made the big move to communes around the 60s but slowly filtered out of London and other cities to a safe border town before buying land and a derelict cottage to renovate while eating health food, etc. I suppose I almost fit into that category, but I'm being unfair, and those people are my friends and many are sympathetic to craft. We have a May Day celebration each year. This year will be the 5th. We have a maypole in a friend's field and meet rain or shine to dance around the maypole. Everyone brings us food and drink and we have games, races, music, bonfire, and food. Two of us bless the wine in the horn after the first dance and keep it flowing as long as it lasts (Paul's favourite job!). It would be good to hold an outer festival on each major Sabbat day. Occasionally, we have arranged things: parties, picnics, walks, and bonfires, but so far only May Day has become a yearly tradition. Alan and I went into partnership with friends last year and leased a wine bar. It was hard work, but we had some great evenings, but alas! due to competition (which, as I mentioned, there is a lot in Oswestry) and overheads we had to close. A financial disaster which we will take quite a while to recover from, but it was fun while it lasted. It would be good to get together some time, but everyone is so spread out, it wouldn't be easy. Any ideas? I must close now, but I'll write again soon. Love and smiles. Wendy x Blessed Be x Notes: - "YTS" refers to the Youth Training Scheme, a real UK government employment/training programme running through the 1980s — its mention as a proposed replacement for Wendy's nursery programme helps date this letter to that decade. - "The craft" is used here as a term for Wicca/witchcraft practice, consistent with usage elsewhere in this collection. - References an established local May Day tradition ("this year will be the 5th") suggesting an active, ongoing Wiccan community in Oswestry distinct from Alex's own London-based coven. Authorship note: Straightforward single-author personal letter, signed "Wendy." No diarist framing or mixed voice present — a purely personal, catch-up style letter with no ritual or trance content.