Griff writes to Ida that he thought of playing the "Old Family Relic" piano but it's pretty out of tune so practiced vocal scales instead.
"I so want to sing in 'Damnation of Faust'; it will be a horrid blow if I am not elected for the coming season." He's jealous as "all my little pals know they are in because they have received invitations for the summer events at the BBC and the College of Music." He petulantly threatens to leave Manchester altogether and find other groups to sing in.
He's writing some walking guides for the Cotsworlds for work, "If only the Cotswolds knew what was being contemplated."
He's looking forward to the radio concerts and discusses radio model options.
He understands if she doesn't want to meet with him later as she is probably tired and wants an early night.
She's off to the theatre and he speculates about the happiness of marriages, "in life and in the newspapers, full mention if given to the unhappy unions; the happy ones are neither good gossip or news."
Griff encounters some manspreading on the train and gives his opinion of someone who champions local dialects and doesn't get on with the BBC.

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff apologises to Ida for nearly falling asleep at the cinema. "The rain is galling here and I am afraid your tennis tournament at Lockie's will be spoilt.
He thanks her for letting him meet her when she returns to Manchester. He advises her travelling companions on the best transport home.
He wonders if she needs a short break from the Matthay School of Music if she is feeling off, unless it is something else bothering her. "Please let me know, if you are able, for we can help one another, you know."

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff writes to Ida while she's away at Stratford-upon-Avon, being very late home after a Rummy contest. "The sky was impressive at 12:40 this (Wednesday) morning, as I walked along Birchfields Road and Kingsway. The moon was missing nearly all the time, but its rays were thrown upon the low clouds and created the impression of a long band of white across the sky."
He met a chap on his walk who appeared to be being stalked by a cat, which promptly abandoned him when he accidentally stood on it.
He's had a busy day with "furious work" and "what must be recorded as definitely the craziest end to the craziest choir practice ever."
He said of the Hallé that "the boys of the professional choir again reduced me to pop-eyed wonder, and Mr Wilkes and the leading basso sang very prettily. Mr Leonard Hirsch was again the leader and Jack of course zoomed up and down the old organ."
He hopes she is getting nice weather and that "I hope you will soon resolve your difficulties of the moment, weather they be large or small, but I am sure you lead a most useful life already; for one instance you are able to influence the minds of your own pupils and you no doubt do so at School." He assures her that she does not count among the world's selfish people.

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff writes to Ida, "the walk was one of the best but I hope you didn't collect too large a quantity of mud on those shoes."
He's sending her a ticket to a concert and even though the programme isn't pretty "there is always the fine precision of the playing to admire, isn't there."
He's already congratulating her on her win at cards which has yet to be played and prophesises that the choir practice tonight will go fine. He'll spend some time in the library this evening then on to the cinema and then "a short tour of Manchester By Night will pass the time satisfactorily for the last half hour" before he meets her for "the midnight ramble."
The "mouldy" weather sets to put him in a foul mood until later, "until then I may bully Eric and insult intending passengers right and left; already I can't spell, being doubtful of several words. I shall sing deliberately out of tune, if I am not already out, and probably tell everyone how badly they sing."

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Ida had ignored Griff's express wishes and gone out in the gale. But as it was to go and see him, he was quite pleased, and when she went home it sounds like he escorted her and then "I gave the weather a good cussing at the top of Fog Lane at 8:55 or so, evidently without good result."
He discusses buying tickets and choosing seats for a concert or play.
He enjoys his radio and fiddling with them, especially as "most sets nowadays have gadgets for keeping down the squeaks."
He reckons the "pointer of our [weather] glass will be embedded in our stair carpet if there's much more [wet weather]."

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff writes to Ida describing his understanding of Heaton Chapel's topography, though he admits he may have gotten turned around the blizzard.
Miss Collens is taking Ida to an earlier show and then supper at the Midland, so Griff hopes he can see her later in the week.
He relays an evening with the radio and has cleared up his desk, "I am a world record holder for collecting odds and ends and placing them on top of one another. Most untidy."
He talks about a Mr Berry, who is a "remarkable gentleman, and one of the very best. He joined the Hallé Chorus about 51 years ago as an alto, sang tenor a year or two later, and is still at it."
He hopes she won't go out in the gale, "even though I know you are very hale and hearty."

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff updates Ida on her afternoon. They went for a walk and even though he was "trying to save your shoes for the morrow, and you find an entirely new field path."
He's had a couple of more pleasant dreams, "not a sign of a Policeman anywhere, nor Air Warden, L(and) D(efence) V(olunteer) and the rest; just you and me in fact, so quite perfect."
Apparently due to war risks, "Eastern England and most of the South is barred to holiday-makers, so you may guess that Blackpool and North Wales are enjoying themselves."
He relays that a "wake" in Lancashire refers to a "high holiday" and not an Irish funeral euphemism as he thought.

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

"Did you ever see a prettier Manchester sky than at ten-fifteen this evening?" Griff asks Ida.
A friend has been recommended that he join "the guards, in view of his height." So that's tall, or...?
He's not very excited about his forthcoming working pattern and laments his long commute to Ashton. "Business is poor, especially there, because of the many cancelled holidays." So he will tidy up the offices to kill time.
He suggests meeting up but then berates himself that "this is an awful letter - variations on the theme 'Ashton-under-Lyne' and all in minor keys."
He discusses Mendelssohn's "Hear My Prayer".

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff confesses to Ida that while he can "think and dream about you endlessly" that "I love you so, and there is just nothing to compare with being together - just you and me."
He signed off work early but got caught on a train when an air raid siren sounded, causing the train to come to a complete stop. "So if you are in a hurry any time and want to travel during a warning, consult Bradshaw! But I don't recommend it, my dearest. A moving train must be an enticing target and a nice shelter is the best plan."
He's had some anxious work dreams about office keys.

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff writes to Ida bemoaning the weather and his longing for six o'clock (probably when they will meet).
He remembers a girl a few years ago that caused him to be "nearly swept into a fascination that surprises me to think about now." He has recently confessed his love for Ida but "a few days ago I had never said 'I love you' to anyone - except in youthful jest - and in obviously jesting way! Now there is no jest. You are everything to me. If it is a daily and nightly obsession, filling the mind to the uttermost and then it it is love also. I can't imagine true love without a fusion of the mind as well as body, and there I am content in that thought, though aware of imperfections in myself." He signs off, "I pay homage to your sweetness and beauty. I love you."

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff is very tired despite sleep and suspects Ida would be too after her trip to Liverpool, "looking round cities can be most tiring."
He's done the books for the travel agency in a "fury of labour" as he does "like the money part to be kept straight." He's been drumming up interest in the Ashton branch, luckily when the boss' son dropped by "to find crowds gazing into the window, the secret is simple - stick a few notices in the window, and the unsophisticated Ashtonite will stare at them all night!" ...rude.

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff starts his letter to Ida with "Sunday afternoon (and what an afternoon)". The weather is growing "mouldier" and threatens their plans together.
It looks like his weight has been the topic of debate again and he wonders, "But why diet at all?"
He enjoyed his visit to Liverpool a while ago and hopes she will too. He would like to see the inside of the newly rebuilt Philharmonic Hall.

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff has been playing cards with his parents, he tells Ida, instead of an early night. He's regretting it now as there will be a lot of office hopping in the autumn between Manchester, Ashton and Oldham which is sure to be tiring.
He hopes she enjoyed the concert and arranges to meet her at their usual Post Office corner in Didsbury, "it would be an indifferent place to be in unless you were!"
His second supper earlier in the week was interrupted by a second air raid siren.

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

It is difficult to leave in the evening, writes Griff to Ida, when she looks so lovely. He's bringing music books to the offices in Stockport, "books that would fairly astonish Mr Stanton!" the boss.
"Mottram thinks the H[ome] G[uard] might want me to join the Levenshulme division, as I live in that postal area, but it would be nice to be in the Withington section, nearer to you sometimes, though I may not see you." He discusses the merits between the two.
Offers suggestions for the theatre and cinema.

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff writes to Ida, "How peaceful tonight! 10:20 and not a sound, unless there was a siren during the 8:00 o'clock radio concert!" Spoiler alert - this peace does not last.
He thinks of putting it to the Ashton Chamber of Commerce, "yes, they have one," that shops should close early 5 days instead of 1.
He describes his commute on the trains, but "this has turned into a perfect little travelogue and a plane has passed overhead and the warning has gone and everything is foul!" I am more sleepy (after this morning's alarms) than I've been for weeks and here we are again." Surprise, he's predicting a cold.
He knows Ida is busy and understands if she doesn't write to him for a while.
"I waste valuable minutes describing my uninteresting journey home, and now the house is all excitement, and a shell has burst horrid near - a few miles away probably, but it sounded a few feet away."
I was utterly restless last night, so spent a long, long time thinking about you - so nice. In imagination we walked, talked and sat by the fireside!" A nice domestic fantasy to take him away from what appears to be a pretty stressful time.

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff writes to Ida, "It is a great relief to know you aren't going to London; the place is surrounded by air fields for, for one thing, and the chance of a stray 'onion' must be considerable, not to mention possible attempts on railway stations." Ida seems wide to avoid London in WW2 in that case.
He will accompany her for a walk later on Saturday after work and watching a football match.
"Tonight, last night I just dodged home in time to avoid the old hooters," not sure what they are buy good for him. "At this jolly rate we shall have to visit shows we want to see on wet Saturdays."
Last night he played cards with his family and "this morning we all look petrified."
He signs off, "I love you so and you are beautiful."

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff has treated his cold with TCP, he writes to Ida. He's gone to close up the Salford branch of the travel agency and the heat of the day did not make it a pleasant job. Although they did somehow get involved in a child's tea party, cake and all.
He's looking forward to the theatre and a concert - he hopes Hilda Collens doesn't take her to see the same programme as they are going to see!
He thinks about a walking holiday and hopes her and her father Walter can get away for Easter.

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff writes to Ida about a senior member of staff at the Swan and Leach Travel Office (now the Costa on Albert Square) not letting Griff listen to the music he like on the radio like the BBC Symphony Orchestra, "The atmosphere artistic in leisure moments at number twenty-seven Princess Street is not all it might be." The chap "states frankly that the singers of those days were far superior to those of today" and Griff says he would be welcome to listen to whatever he likes "if only he would cease to talk about them!" Griff has therefore been careful not to mention any music that this chap does like.
Griff updates Ida on card game scores and says he has a cold. Again.

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Marjorie Proudlove writes to her ex-pupil Vivien Evans, explaining about her deteriorating health but her gratitude for her friends.

Ref: VEvans
With kind permission of Vivien Evans.
Date unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Marjorie Proudlove writes to ex-pupil Vivien Evans thanking her for letting her know that Ida Carroll has died. Ida was ill for a long time, she says, yet "still it was very sad indeed to realise that she had actually gone out of our lives." Marjorie is so grateful to Ida as "she did such a lot to help (some of us) for over seventy-odd years." She thanks Vivien for writing to her about the funeral, grateful that so many people came even though she was unable to attend.

Ref: VEvans
With kind permission of Vivien Evans.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

A sweet letter from Northern School of Music piano teacher Marjorie Proudlove to ex-pupil Vivien Evans. She updates Vivien on their activities, the various social groups they attend and that she still keeps in touch with other Northern School of Music/RNCM people.

Ref: VEvans
With kind permission of Vivien Evans.
Date unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

This gorgeous letter is from Ida Carroll to Vivian Evans, regarding the death of Ida's sister Elsa. Vivian was a student at the Northern School of Music during its interesting transition period towards its closure and the creation of the Royal Northern College of Music.

Ref: VEvans
With kind permission of Vivian Evans.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff writes to Ida discussing the arrangement of tickets for a concert, who is and isn't able to come.
"I haven't taken you to a 'blackout' service!" at the church and remarks that the concert season is very short. Regarding the church choir, he writes that "a few suitable attendances by me at evening service will calm the ire of the old war-horses in the choir" since he left to focus on his singing with the Hallé. However, with more people leaving there bass singers are becoming increasingly outnumbered, he asks her "can you sing bass as well as play it?"
He invites her to the cinema and jokes that "I hope Philip falls all the way downstairs and can't take you out."

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Griff writes to Ida "the hurried note this morning was quite inadequate to express my pleasure on hearing of the return of Tommy. I hoped he would be south of the Somme, but it all turned out for the best that he was sent north. I trust they will all get a good leave after that awful racket. Poor Mrs Armstrong must have been in a pretty awful state."
Hilda Collens is ill and therefore Ida has to take up more work at the Matthay School of Music, so Griff understands if he has to see less of her.
He's been playing scales on Boris the cello and practiced singing.
He wonders whether she would go and see the Wizard of Oz with him but equally would like to meet without going to the cinema.

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.