"Mr Hitler's bombs took their rightful back place" to playing bridge with Ida Carroll on Tuesday, writes Geoffrey Griffiths. He's determined to study Auction Bridge so that he can become a more formidable opponent. He does enjoy watching people play cards on the train, "often fulfil the role of interested onlooker."
He prefers home bomb shelters to public ones as they tend to be "too public." At the moment he takes up position by the stairs as the ground outside is mainly clay and everything seems wet and cold.
"I suppose that ignorant cad Hitler doesn't even realise just what a fantastic nuisance he is, visiting now at the time, now at that, depriving us of hours and hours together and again coming at entirely the wrong moment."

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.

"The telephone is not a nice, cosy instrument but it does enable me to hear your voice in the wilderness of time," but Geoffrey Griffiths doesn't wish to disturb her at this hectic time. He asks her not to look for the book he previously requested since he things it's now out of print.
It's a busy day in the travel agency where he works with train times being jigged around other companies refunding customers.

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.

Geoffrey Griffiths wishes that he could have magic powers that would enable him to see Ida Carroll now, even while she sleeps, so that he doesn't have to wait 20 hours to see her. "But maybe awkward situations would occur if magic carpets and supernatural powers were not confined to romantic literature. Then if you were asleep I should want to waken you and you would promptly blacken my eyes".
Talking on the telephone reduces him to an "inarticulate state" so has to wait hours until he cam tell her how much he loves her.

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.

Geoffrey Griffiths is sympathetic to Ida Carroll as she now has to run the school almost singlehandedly since Miss Collens has taken ill (we know she had shingles at the beginning of the war which took her out for some months but later he indicates she's also been hit by a bike - not the best year for Hetty.)
They have even fewer hours in the week to connect with each other and he longs for an "equatorial island of peace" they could go to together.
He shares a dream he had, a sort of anxiety dream on her behalf, he calls it a nightmare since what else could it have been when he could have been dreaming of her.
Even though he can't be with her, "G.B.H." in letters is nearly enough to "make me swoon away."

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.

Geoffrey Griffiths frets over the "crushing nuisance" of anyone putting bombs near his beloved Ida Carroll. He admits that "it's probably as well I didn't know where they were - if I had, I should have thrown about ten fits." However it tickled him an old chap called Gill has had part of his roof damaged.
When the bombs landed near him "it made the usual row coming down and we all woke from forty winks and dived under the table! Optimism!"
Importantly, he's run out of library books (I sympathise - it's a terrible circumstance), and their time together is being hampered by a Mrs. A. who keeps falling down and needs help. "Even I dreamt about violence to er… 'old bean'."
In a post script he relates that shopping was a failure, that there were plenty of eggs but a queue "of at least 150 grim-looking ladies."

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.

Geoffrey Griffiths laments the 20 "enormous" hours until he can see Ida Carroll again. Their late night walks in South Manchester are a favoured way of spending time together but the war has made spending long hours together difficult.
He's played cards with his parents "the home front", and has played scales on Boris - the family piano perhaps?
He has enrolled in the Ashton Central Fire Watching Scheme and he begins "bomb spotting" soon - they have ladders, pumps, buckets and more but "no steel hats!"

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.

Geoffrey Griffiths complains of the cold to Ida Carroll but has found a way to keep warm: "food is the perfect excuse for sitting on or near the stove." He's currently at work in the travel agents and there is a small snow drift against the door and has been mistaken for a birdseed shop!

He invites her to the cinema on Palatine Rd to see 'Buck Benny Rides Again', "so it cannot be a good flick but we could go to sleep - in a horribly dignified way of course."

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.

"My feet are well trained, darling one. Though the rest of me was bemused by your beauty, they took me home, though very unwillingly."

Geoffrey Griffiths sends a sweet note to Ida Carroll.

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.

Geoffrey Griffiths writes to Ida Carroll while at his work in the travel agents. She has recovered from an illness and is heading to Port Patrick for from sea air. He declares that whilst she was his "ideal" years ago, now he needs a word much stronger to describe what she means to him. "You help more than you know just by being your own sweet self."
He refers to joining up with the war effort - he may get better money for being in the W.R. (?) or the A.F.S. (Auxiliary Fire Service?)

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 looks like an x-ray has revealed Ida's in good health "not forgetting your left kidney!" (for some reason!).
Nevertheless Geoffrey Griffiths still urges his sweetheart to take it easy, especially on Air Raid Warden duties.

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.

Being rudely awakened from a dream about Ida Carroll by his mother and a bowl of shaving water, Geoffrey Griffiths complains of a "fat head" from oversleeping.
Ida has some sort of illness or injury requiring bed rest and he praises her sister Elsa's attentiveness.

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.

Geoffrey Griffiths admits to being tired, even though he fell asleep in Fog Lane park that afternoon before meeting his sweetheart Ida Carroll. Trying to reason away her tiredness as well he guesses it is the "delayed spring and the extra hour, perhaps." It can't be helped by the "frequent raids a few nights ago." Air raids perhaps?
He arranges to visit her around his war work but it looks like he'll be kept busy with late night vigils, even admitting to "rolling off the seating" eventually at 4AM one shift.
She's planning to see John Gielgud (famous actor and kindred prolific letter writer) but insists that she take a friend as "policemen of all kinds are looked upon with disfavour - by me!" Anyone know what he means by that? Gielgud's war service was to entertain people, not in the forces?
Shout out the cameo mention of Paul the Pipe!

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.

A letter over a couple of days here from Geoffrey Griffiths to Ida Carroll, making up for not writing the day before since Wednesday is usually his "literary" night. He is aware that he keeps her out all night, away from bed and bath on these cold nights, but doesn't know how he tears himself away from her. Perhaps it's will-power, "but here I am, chain-smoking, when you might say I ought to be well towards sleep, so that isn't will-power." He is always eager to be home after working or singing in the choirs, unless he has the chance to see her.
He talks about a dream she had that seems to have been very confusing for all! And he looks forward to a concert, even though she won't be accompanying him, saying he will enjoy "Casse-Noisette" (The Nutcracker) and that he will probably find Arthur Bliss interesting if not totally enjoyable. He had wished the Hallé would have programmed his favourite Respighi piece but alas they have not.
He's reading a good short story, a detective story, and allowing Madama Butterfly to "fly in one ear and out the other." Sounds very dramatic!

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.

Whilst working in the travel agency, Geoffrey Griffiths (future bursar of the Northern School of Music) writes to Ida Carroll (future principal of the Northern School of Music), arranging a meeting in Ashton-under-Lyne. Geoffrey's family seems to live there, his father appreciated her last visit - it looks like they played cards - and his "dear Mama will have something nice to say about you at breakfast tomorrow, I know."
He gets excited about the offers on the railways for trips around Manchester and signs off with "every bit of me is yours."

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.

Official Magazine of the Northern School of Music, 1955

Here Geoffrey Griffiths describes to his "angel precious darling" Ida Carroll of the Northern School of Music what progress he has made (since writing his previous letter that same day!) in exploring possible writing courses. It seems that he fancies being a writer, a novelist even, although he admits starting with short stories seems sensible. He has looked at the London School of Journalism and the offers from the Regent Institute but has not reached a conclusion yet. He proposes an idea to her: "What do you say to our "splitting" a course in journalism, in your name but using No.37 as an "accommodation" address - to preserve secrecy?" To hide their relationship or the fact that they're going halvsies in a course? Who knows!

37 could have been Griff's address - it wasn't that of the NSM or of Ida Carroll, so he could be asking for the papers to be sent here.

He describes himself as "the devout slave to fiction and should for the time being be content to read very closely the books I now have."

From one book lover to another, I can almost guarantee that didn't happen.

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.

Geoffrey relays an evening he enjoyed with his friend Joe Moorhouse after going to watch the football. After dinner, they watched a short play on the television in which a young man throws something at a television screen and Mrs. M(oorhouse) claimed "yes, I feel like doing that many a time."

He hopes Ida Carroll is enjoying London and promises to meet her at Didsbury station in a couple of days 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.

With Ida Carroll holidaying at her family favourite destination, Port Patrick, Geoffrey Griffiths reminds himself to send the football papers to her. He has plans to see an afternoon play and to bring the Northern School of Music library lists "bang up-to-date." He has watched local teams from the University and the Northern Nomads.
For some reason he adds a menu or shopping list at the bottom of "grapefruit, smoked ham - excellent, mince tart, a little stilton, coffee."

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.

Weather, transport and sport are the topics of discussion here. Apparently Geoffrey Griffiths is anticipating the coldest March of the century and hopes for better weather for "the match". He advises Ida Carroll, in some investigative detail, the best routes on the London Underground to take to Wembley Stadium. Football then? On a cold March day? Geoffrey Griffiths, we find out in other letters, is something of a "transport nerd" as Ida Carroll affectionally labels him.

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.

This lovely letter talks of marriage, between Geoffrey Griffiths and Ida Carroll. Europe still being unsettled - perhaps after WW2? - "I'm blest if I know whether these times are good for the contemplation of marriage." Especially considering that "our respective environments have ordained differences in family and in friends... but you know how I feel about you, darling, and I am so happy in the knowledge that you love me."

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.

The Northern School of Music started off as the Matthay School of Music. But was it like? Get a glimpse into the first 10 years here!

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

How did the Northern School of Music actually become a thing? To find this out, we have to look at the First World War and its impact on music.

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

To get to know how the Northern School of Music came into being, we have to jump backwards to the late 1800s, 30 years before the school opened, and to the story of its founding principal, Hilda Collens.

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