An interesting letter is sent by Mr. P. W. Newman, of the Royal Engineers attached to the Welsh Army Corps, stationed at Porthcawl, to a friend at Bettws. Prior to joining the colours Mr. Newman was on the printing staff of the Chronicle.
He states ; -
“We are having a ripping time here; quite a gentleman's life. I can assure you we have most comfortable billets, and the people of the town seem to do everything they can for us. We have had a good deal of ‘sky juice' since our arrival, but, of curse, we must expect that this time of the year.
Time flies while the drills are on. We fling ourselves into the work heart and soul, and we have capable officers and instructors, so that the work is most interesting. Our drills consist mainly of physical exercises.
These I found rather trying at the outset, but now nothing pleases me more than to hear we are to have a few hours drill of this kind. On Sunday s we have two drum-head services, but they are of short duration.
The Y. M. C. A. intend having a marquee here for the use of the men in their leisure hours. They already have large rooms here for the use of the men for recreation, and most of the places of worship have given rooms; so you see we can while away our evenings without hanging round street corners.
It is rather cold and rough here, but once we get warmed up to our drill we forget all about it. We are not driven to death here by work as yet, as we only do six hours a day. We start 7 a.m. and, as a rule, are dismissed shortly after four o'clock.
Out of this we have two hours and a half for meals. No doubt, once the regiments are full we shall have to slog in. I shall not be sorry when this happens, as the sooner we are proficient the better.
There are about 1,600 men here now, and they continue to come in every day. Until our number is complete it is almost impossible to get to serious work. During the past week the men here have made rapid strides in the training, and now look something like soldiers.
We have all been measured for our uniform, which we hope to get in the course of the next week. I have met many old friends here from different parts, but up to the time of writing I have not met any Ammanford boys in the ranks.”
