Claro Times - 6th January 1915

Private Harry Holdsworth, of Burke Street, Harrogate, writing to his brother [Probably Edwin Holdsworth the HCWW Turncock, 27 Burke Street] from the Front, says he has not received a parcel or letter since he has been out there, and it was no use wasting money sending them. "I don't know that there is anything that I want particularly", he proceeds, and then he tells of a remarkable escape from death when under shell-fire. He is a transport driver, in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and he was going up to the trenches for some wounded with an ambulance waggon one night about 11 o'clock. "I had to cross about a hundred yards of open ground, and as soon as I approached I got about 30 shells over the waggon in about one minute. The driver and I sought cover in a ditch (after the horses had bolted), and then hid behind a big hayrick until we were shelled out of that. Then we ran for it down the road, dropping flat down every time we heard a shell coming along. They make a terrible noise when they are coming through the air, and when they burst – I can't explain it. If I had to tell you what I see in the course of a day, I should be writing all the time, but we have the satisfaction of knowing who is going to lose on this trip. It isn't going to be the "contemptible little army"