Last Wednesday morning at 4 AM we began on the big offensive on the Western front, by exploding 9 miles of mines in the neighbourhood of Ypres. The noise of the explosion was heard in London.

Mary came here on Tuesday & left today will stop father has been out each day in the bath chair, & today went out in the old pony carriage that grandfather used to go in. He is carried downstairs each morning & spends the day in the drawing room, & gets out of doors from there through the window and stop the nurse left today, Mr Moore has had his orders to go as a chaplain to the forces, next Sunday is his last.

Mary heard yesterday that the whole of her section of the WO is to be moved this week to the Imperial Institute to make way for the demobilisation section which is to take their place in St James’s Park. Mary is very annoyed as the I.I. Is not nearly such a nice place.

All these weeks that father has been ill the weather continues glorious, it is not often we have such perfect May & June.

I had a letter from the adjutant of the fifth Dorset’s saying that Private Loder had been taken to hospital suffering from an unsound mind & that his word was not in the least to be depended on, so that is all right.