Monday 7 April 2014

A Casualty of War

Found amongst a lot of fly tying materials and fly boxes bought at the weekend a letter written on the 10th July 1958 by a lady called Polly Mackenzie to her friend Roden.  It opens,

'Herewith a belated Wedding Present to wish you all happiness - the Mackenzie Fly Box, designed and manufactured by P.H.M (inc) holds, as you can see, both Tube and conventional flies.  The flies, with the exception of the 4 'Waddingtons' are all my own tieing - one, "The Hearth Rug" I tied one Sunday up at Lairg with hairs taken from a moth-eaten bear skin rug in front of sitting room fire.  The "Stoat Tails" are from stoats trapped at Gartincaber with a little Kingfisher from skin of a bird killed by my cousin Daisy Spicer's cat during Hitler's War.'