Ruth left school in 1979 after one year in the sixth form. She had, from an early age, decided on a career in nursing but before her training at Ormskirk Hospital she took a gap year, working as a volunteer for the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers. After qualifying as a nurse, Ruth then volunteered as a cook on Fair Isle before going to St Marys to qualify as a midwife. Soon after this she married Jeff Redgrave and went to live in Lancashire; thereafter to the Midlands and to Suffolk as her husband took up new employment opportunities. These, her letters, were written over a period of some 17 years. They have been faithfully reproduced and it is hoped that the reader will take pleasure in them, just as much as Ruth's parents enjoyed receiving and reading them. Ruth's parents, Iris and Roger Legg, were both born in South London and both were evacuated during WWII. They met and married at their local Baptist Church, making their home in London. Iris was a junior class room teacher, specialising in slow learning and difficult children. Sadly she died at the relatively young age of 60. Roger trained as a building services engineer and for many years taught this subject at the Southbank University. He took early retirement in 1991 and currently runs (as a volunteer) a Day Centre for refugees and asylum seekers.