In praise of the humble picture postcard …….

 It’s that time of year when stories of holidays would fall through the letter box onto the door mat.

Fishing boats, houses and a sea wall, Mousehole,2025

And leaving aside the saucy cards of inebriated vicars, busty women, and innocent shop girls, the postal service was full of picture postcards with scenes of seaside resorts and city centres.

The golden age ended I suppose in the 1960s, and pretty much has been seen off by pictures sent instantly by mobile phones at no cost.

By contrast sending an old-fashioned picture card today will cost 87 pence along with the price of the card and take days to arrive, and even longer if sent from some holiday destination in Greece.

A century and a bit ago a stamp cost next to nothing and with frequent collections and deliveries it was possible to tell your mum you were leaving on the morning train and be home by teatime.

Twisty street leading nowhere, Mousehole, 2025

Better still you could post early and arrange to meet up later in the day.

Now all of this I have written about heaps of time supported by a collection of picture postcards from the 1880s onwards.

So instead, here are four pictures I took last week, and with the help of technology tried to reproduce that golden mellow look that many picture cards seemed to have in the 1950s and 60s along with those blue tinged ones.

I even tried the really yellow look reminiscent of Eastman colour, but that was a step too far.

Of course, I could have gone for that washed out appearance which I suspect had more to do with the length of the time the cards had sat on those twirling stands in full view of direct sunlight.

And in keeping with the time, the selection ranges from the harbour scene and twisty street to the boring.

Leaving me just to offer up some from the collection spanning the Golden Age of the picture postcard which are available by following the link.*

The boring picture, Bristol, 2025

Two bikes and a heap of boats, Mousehole, 2025

Location; Mousehole, Cornwall, and Bristol 

Pictures; Capturing Mousehole and Bristol, 2025, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Picture postcards, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Postcards

Postcards from the seaside ……. no 1

Now the age of the picture postcard might not be over but it only limps along.

Once when there were several collections and deliveries a day, and the cost of a card and stamp were cheap the picture postcard was the preferred means of communication with  family and friends.

Edith could send a card by the first post in the morning and was so confident of its arrival before midday that she would happily suggest to a friend that they meet in the afternoon, or William announce his intention to be home from holiday by teatime.

Today especially picture cards sent back from abroad might well arrive after the suntan had faded and all the duty free consumed.

Added to which first, the telephone, and then the mobile with its camera feature mean that holiday moments are but a call and text away.

All of which is good, but means those collections recording what a seaside resort was like at a moment in time are lost forever.  

No picture of a pier in its heyday, nor those slightly rude and suggestive cards with big fat ladies, skimpy dressed beauties, or embarrassed juvenile males.

So with that in mind here for no other reason than I can are three from Brixham in 2022, as a homage to all those boring, and unimaginative postcards sent over the decades to aunt Flo, Uncle Eric and mum and dad “wishing you all the best, and hoping this finds you as it leaves us, all in the pink”.

Location; Brixham

Pictures; postcards from the seaside, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

“Wishing you were here” …. sun … sea …. a deck chair and a postcard

It is that time of year again, when most of us can expect heaps of holiday photographs from friends which pop up on our phones with a short jolly message.

And in this year of “stayvacation” they will of course feature plenty of places in the UK.

Not so long ago, Brighton, Blackpool and Clacton on Sea would have been edged out in favour of the Greek Islands, Italian cities and Spanish tourist spots.

Step back another few decades and the instant mobile photograph would have come from a picture postcard, which ranged from a “saucy” picture with its suggestive caption to views of the resort and surrounding countryside.

Most made you wish you were with uncle Eddy and auntie Flo, but some could only be described as boring.  I remember the one we got of a power station, and another of an empty field with what looked like a castle in the distance.

And so in this year of the stayvacation holiday the blog invites people to share picture postcards which at best are odd and at worst would make the sewage works out let pipe at Great Yarmouth a thing of beauty and excitement.

Now I know a car park, shopping parade or row of seaside benches, may get the hearts of some beating faster, but I doubt that they would ever be the best advert for a resort or in a normal year win over the travelled tourist to forsake Florence, Venice or a picturesque Greek Island for a week in Rhyl.

So that is it.  I took the picture of the telegraph poll earlier this year, and the postcards of Fort William and Malta are from Linda Rigby, circa, 1970s.

Location; Wales, Scotland, and Malta

Pictures; the local landmark, Menai, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Fort William and Malta, circa 1970s  from the collection of Linda Rigby