June 1996
Dear Vincent;Thank you for your letter of June 7th. I am pleased to hear you enjoyed my book.
My interest in Marianne was concerned with her role in the story of the rectory, which, after all, is what I was investigating, and I do think that some individuals write a great deal of irrelevant rubbish about Marianne which has little or nothing to do with Borley Rectory.
I think that anybody trying to assess Marianne's role in the story needs to realize that she was indeed an unusual lady, who didn't fit conveniently into a particularly ordinary slot in society and I don't think you can fairly deal with her time at Borley unless you remember and understand that aspect of her character.
The curator of the Harry Price Library, Mr. Alan Wesencraft, said to me that he thought Marianne was more sinned against than sinner, and I think that is a fair assessment!
It is important to remember that Marianne was only one part of a very long story and I think it is a great mistake to judge the story of Borley Rectory solely on her time there.
Well, that had better be all for now. It will be interesting to see how well The Enigma of Borley Rectory does in North America, where there seems to be a level of interest in the paranormal greater, if anything, than shown in the subject in England.
One of the problems is that there is always a section of the public, and even worse - the mass media - which sees paranormal phenomena as a huge joke, hence the childish patronizing way in which the subject is too often handled by the newspapers.
The press can be a useful tool sometimes, but there are other times when some sections of the media could do with a swift kick up the butt!
Yours sincerely,
Ivan Banks
12 June 1997
Dear Vincent;Thank you for your letter of June 5th. I'm afraid I won't be able to accompany you to Borley, owing to unavoidable visits to my doctor's surgery for necessary injections to help my kidney dialysis.
With regard to accomodations in the district, on my visits to Borley, I used to use the Four Swans Hotel in Sudbury. I haven't been down to Borley since my kidneys failed, not so much because of that, but simply having been too busy with other things! I think the Four Swans is still going strong, so perhaps your best bet would be to write them. . . . .
With regards to getting in touch with the rector of Borley, these days the parish of Borley is combined with a number of others and the rector is based out of Foxearth Rectory, about two or three miles from Borley. You need to write to. . . . .
I'm not sure who the present incumbent is. The last time I wrote to him, it was the Rev. Christopher Cooke, but I believe he's retired since then.
I hope your visit to Borley will be successfull. Could I just offer a little word of warning. Be careful how you approach the local people in Borley. Because of all the attention focused on their community over the years, the local residents these days are VERY defensive and you might find, if you ask people about the rectory, that you get doors slammed in your face!
Apart from that brief cautionary note, I wish you the best for your visit.
Do let me know how you get on!
Yours Sincerely,
Ivan
11 April 2000
Dear Vincent;Thank you for the letter and the various enclosures relating to the Borley Ghost Society.
I've lost track of my contacts with whom I corresponded when I was compiling my book on Borley, largely because since 1992 I've had six years on dialysis after kidney failure, finally getting a successful transplant on November 3rd 1998, which is still going strong. Since then I've had to be responsible for looking after my elderly mother, now coming on 89 years old, but with rapidly failing memory.
I've really had to leave my correspondence on Borley as I just don't seem to have any [spare] time to deal with it any longer.
My interest in Borley will always remain undiminished of course.
I've always thought of my contribution to the Borley story as being that of a layman rather than as any sort of an expert or psychic researcher, and I doubt if I could undertake a similar exercise now, although as far as further books are concerned, it would very much depend on what subject I tackled. . . .
I have most of the books on Borley including the reproduction of Price's famous original (given to me by Alan Wesencraft some time ago), others I've been lucky enough to come across secondhand.
I'm not in the Internet. I'm afraid I'm a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to information technology. I've just no interest in it. There's really nothing that I deal with in everyday life that can't be covered by a phone call or a letter. . . .
Actually my private hobby is very different from the world of psychic phenomena. It is in fact a lifelong passion for steam locomotives that I have had since childhood. They seem to be the closest that a man-made machine can come to being alive, depending as they do on two of the essential elements of life, fire and water!
In due course, I hope to be able to catch up on my correspondence but I just don't seem to have any spare time lately.
I look forward to hearing from you again soon.
Yours sincerely,
Ivan Banks