ACCORDING to reports, there is to be a revival of the gift box for soldiers.
Tony Lund, of Lowerhouses, says the first gift boxes were distributed at Christmas 1914.
"Soldiers at the front received a box containing cigarettes, tobacco and a pipe, together with photographs of the King and Queen and Princess Mary. Non-smokers received chocolates.
"Two Holmfirth men mention them in letters home, although they have a difference of opinion as to whether the box is coming from the Queen or the Princess, both called Mary."
Tony says that driver Fred Turner of the Royal Field Artillery wrote to his mother at Club Yard, Wooldale, Holmfirth shortly after Christmas saying: "We also got a box each from Princess Mary, which contained a pipe and some tobacco, some cigarettes, and a card."
In a letter to his parents at Victoria, Holmfirth, which arrived early in the New Year, Sergeant Hubert Moodycliffe thanked them for a parcel and some newspapers he had received and added: "On Xmas day, I had Queen Mary's gift given to me. I have not unsealed it, but I am going to send it to you as soon as I can get to a town. Keep it, open it and show it to who you like, and say this was given Xmas Day, 1914, in the trenches."
