I like receiving postcards. I also send them and make them. They are little delights floating through the letterbox. The Observer gave them a boost recently with a postcard writing competition. This was accompanied by a cheerful book from Redstone Press, Having a Wonderful Time – postcards that tell a story. It sent me rummaging through an old box file of cards I’d collected over the years. Reading through them was to discover a world in which the cards were a real means of communication: in 1906 there were anything from four to twelve deliveries a day in England.
To: Mrs J Williams, Market St, Swavesey, Cambs, 1906 I hope to be in Swavesey on Thursday, so I shall be very glad if you could get me two soft cheeses ready to take back with me in the evening to London. Will tell you all the news then. H. E. Moore.
To: Miss L. Doggett, 21 Scotland Road, Old Chesterton, Cambs, 1910 Dear Louie, Thanks for letter. I will answer it on Sunday. Would you like to come with me to our Sunday School treat today (Thursday). I should like to go, not half, the same old place as last year, do you remember how we did enjoy ourselves, with best love to all from Emma
To: Miss Chalmers, 37a Grey Road, Cambridge, 1967 Tuesday – This is to say, if you were thinking of coming on Thursday will you not. I am surprisingly, going out to tea, not far away – the weather is nice now. Harvest in full swing. Love, Rose Buttell.