Fascinating time capsule of city life during the First World War

"Worcester is just as exciting as ever - I don't think!" wrote Gladys Lane to a young soldier serving abroad.

Echoing the teenage lament "There's nothing to do around here," it could have been a sentiment expressed any time in the last half century.

Perhaps only the sender's christian name gives the game away that it wasn't.

For parents haven't called their daughters Gladys for a lot longer than that.

In fact, the phrase comes from a letter written on March 22, 1916, to George Mackie, a young soldier serving with the Worcestershire Regiment on The Somme.

It was bundled up with his effects after the war and has lain largely undisturbed in a box since then.

The collection of letters and pictures and paraphernalia passed down the Mackie family tree for generations, until Phil Mackie, to whom George was a great uncle, decided to open the box and investigate.

What he found was a fascinating time capsule of life in Worcester during the First World War.

As seen through the eyes of, among others, Gladys Lane, who was a typist at legendary Worcester engineers Heenan and Froude, and Philip Coombs, a young member of a Worcester Bible Class asked to write to former colleagues called up and fighting abroad.

The letters are cleanly and clearly typed - Gladys says she started hers at work and finished it later at home - so there is no problem attempting to decipher scribbly handwriting, while the photographs, presumably because they have remained hidden for so long, are almost as perfect as the day they were taken.

To see them all laid out on a desk is like taking the Tardis and time travelling back nearly a century.

Gladys lived at 22, Albany Terrace, off Britannia Square in Worcester, and her letter was obviously in reply to one she had received from George in France.

"I reckon she would have been around 20 in 1916," said Phil, a former Worcester King's student, who is now a Five Live journalist and lives in Kempsey.

"I was glad to hear you were keeping so well and you do seem cheerful too," Gladys begins her letter. "You are all quite a good example to all we at home; we often get fits of the blues'.

"We have been having some delightful weather lately to make things better; it has been snowing and raining on and off for the last six week, it will be a treat to get it fine again. I expect it has been pretty bad out at the front too.

"Have you been in the Fighting Lines much lately? What a time the French must be giving the Germans at Verdun! It seems as though things are hopeless for the Germans, doesn't it? How terrible the fighting must be there. Worcester is just as exciting as ever (I don't think!). I expect you hear all the news there is to tell from home."

She then mentions an episode which, to my knowledge, is not common currency.

The night the citizens of Worcester thought they were going to be bombed by a Zeppelin.

Not an idle worry, for Zeppelin raids were fairly common over southern England during the early part of the Great War.

"Did Nellie tell you about the Zeppelin scare we had?," Gladys wrote. "Patti and I were up at your Auntie's, and we were all in a state; I shall never forget running all the way home in the dark, and London Road looked absolutely horrid.

"At night time now, especially dark nights, it is quite dangerous out, it is difficult to see what you are walking into!"

Fortunately it appears to have been a false alarm, but none the less worrying for that.

On a lighter note, Gladys refers to some sporting success for King's School on the river.

"Mallie (presumably a male friend or relative) went to Oxford last Saturday to row in a boat race against Magdalen College and the King's School won.

"It was good, wasn't it?

"They really did not expect to, as of course, all the Oxford boys are big pots' on the rivers.

"It was a very exciting race, so Mallie told us, but our boys started well and were in front all the way. Mallie says he shall never forget the sensation in his life when in the middle of the race, two of the boys nearly collapsed, and he had to shout at them to "buck up." They were all done up when it was over."

But on the Home Front in Worcester, it was all far from plain sailing. "I expect you have heard all about Lord Derby's Scheme," the letter continues.

"Some time ago mother and father helped with the recruiting, and now there's conscription. Mother is helping at the public hall filling up the forms for the conscripts, but the men are not turning up as quickly as they should.

"Aren't these Conscientious Objectors' absurd, I should think they are all mad. One can hardly believe there are so many slackers' knocking about after nearly two years of this war."

The letter from the bible bashing Philip Coombs was sent to one of George Mackie's pals, Len Green, who was serving alongside him in France. Young Green adopted a rather different approach from that of the more genteel Gladys.

"How awful it must be to think that you will spend another Christmas in those awful trenches," he writes, hardly offering much comfort. "I did not think that this war would have lasted two years and I do not suppose you did either, but we are not going to give in until the Kaiser agrees to peace on our terms are we? No, Len, not a bit of it, we're not going to show those rotten Huns that we're as much cowards as they are, are we? That would never do eh what!"

Green then mounts his hobby horse to some order.

"You must remember Len that you are not only fighting for your King and Country but also for God," he continues.

"And you must also remember that you have a harder and more cruel enemy to face than that you are facing out there and that, as you know, is the Devil.

"You must know that you can't lead an out-and-out Christian Life till you have overcome the Devil and all his wicked works.

"It is very hard to lead a true Christian Life I know, but never mind, Len, you will have the victory if you pray earnestly to God and always tread Satan under feet."

Len, it appears, did survive the war and returned to Worcester. It is quite likely the young soldier features in a group photograph found among George Mackie's possessions.

"I would love to know which family is featured in the picture or if anyone knows anything of Len Green or his descendents," said Phil.

His great uncle George was not so lucky. He was killed on The Somme in April, 1916, only a few weeks after Gladys Lane had written a letter.

Whether it arrived in time for George to read it, no one will ever know for sure.

l Anyone who can help Phil Mackie with his research into the letters and particularly the family of Len Green can contact him on e-mail at phil.mackie@bbc.co.uk