Monday, 13 March 2017

Sending a wooden spoon through the post

Now who sends a wooden spoon through the post?

And more than that who would send the said wooden post to a church hall?

The church hall was St Paul’s in Ridley Street West Ealing.

I can’t make out the postmark but the stamps look to carry the image of King George V and so could be anytime between 1911 and 1936.

It’s not much to go on and is compounded by the age of the Hall which looks relatively new.

I had hoped the message might offer up a clue, but the message written on the handle just says “MAY YOUR LIVES BE ONE LONG SPOON.”

One source suggests that  it is a parable about co-operation given the length of a long spoon is very difficult to use people would feed each other across a big table.

It belongs to David Harrop that collector of all things interesting and posty.  He was offered a tidy sum for it by dealer but decided to keep it and I am glad he did if for no other reason it has allowed me to write about it.

Location; London

Picture; a wooden spoon, circa 1911-1936, from the collection of David Harrop

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