Memorabilia

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With love from Perpignan (2016)

with love from France

Hello H & S, I have just spent a week cycling up various mountains near Perpignan and so I’m now fit and well. 4 of us stayed in my friend Alwyn’s house here, as we do every year, eating and drinking our way through massive amounts of food and wine. It’s like a skiing trip but with mountain bikes instead. Love Jon x

Sounds like a great trip! I love the illustration on the front of the card so typical of early 20th century advertising – this one promoting the superiority of a particular bike.

The stamp is the latest (controversial) version of Marianne.

Another card from Jon, who has also rediscovered the joy of postcard writing 🙂

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With love from Berlin (2017)

with love from Berlin

Berlin, 30.05.17  Hallo Hilary! This is the Revival postcard from Berlin :)!! 30 years later I’m now able to walk through Brandenburg Gate – it’s still a marvel!! I hope we won’t start building new walls in the future! Love Claudia

A status update from earlier this year, in which Claudia refers to the other card she sent me, 37 years ago 🙂 Berlin is now much more of a tourist destination than it was in the 80’s

Claudia and I continue to exchange news and views 🙂

 

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With love from London (1981)

with love from London

22-X-81 [Sailboard enthusiasts ‘en-masse’] Dear Guess, message received from krautland today. Hope “operation Clean-Up” is going ok – years supply of rubber yellow gloves will be parachuted in on specified date.  Am “checking out” pictured hideaway for possible ‘Leftie’ infiltrators or anti-royal ‘Moles’. DAM

DAM obviously had a supply of these cards, as the same picture also features here and although it shows Romsey, this message is postmarked ‘LONDON 22 OCT 1981’ the same day that it was written.

The 18p stamp depicts fishermen hauling in a trawl net and not windsurfers as DAM suggests! The stamp is from a commemorative set issued in 1981

I had been in Norway a few months by this time, working as children’s nanny, hence the reference to rubber gloves 🙂

I believe that DAM is still in Australia, but I continue to avoid reconnecting…

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With love from Niagara Falls (1982)

with-love-from-niagara

3-2-82  Dear Hilary, Having a great time at Niagara. We’re staying here over night and returning to Toronto tomorrow. Haven’t seen any mounties yet, but there’s plenty of time, and I’m just finishing my training programme so I can catch one! Lumberjacks are in short supply too, would you settle for an Italian! You ought to consider driving a truck out here, they’re immense, + so are the roads – anyway write soon. Love Amanda

Although signed Amanda, I’m fairly convinced that this is another of Mand‘s jokey status updates – she has reverted to her full name and has helpfully dated the message.

The stamps are from a 1977 definitive set of five stamps featuring trees of Canada.

A wide angle lens has captured most of the falls, but it is hard to get a sense of scale from this image.  Better scale on this one, but it loses the vastness…

When we were at school we loved the whole Monty Python lumberjack thing 🙂  I’m not sure what the Italian reference is.  Back in the day, my main career ambition was to become a truck (HGV) driver – slightly influenced by adverts for Yorkie bars (‘good, rich and thick’!), and undoubtedly encouraged by the irritation it provoked in parents and teachers alike, ha!

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With love from Shanklin (1988)

with-love-from-shanklin

Spending a week with a local Probus Group in Sandown for one week.  Excellent hotel & good service.  Quite warm at the moment & air like wine.  Love Auntie Vi

Postmarked ‘Portsmouth & Isle of Wight 9 MAY 1988’ this is another brief status update from (Great) Auntie Vi.  The important things are mentioned, of course; the weather and the quality of the hotel 🙂

I’ve never heard of Probus and, with the ignorance of youth and the lack of Wickipedia back in the day, I probably never bothered to find out about it in 1988!  Auntie Vi was a professional, intelligent woman and always sought out like minded people.

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With love from Berlin (1980)

with-love-from-berlin

Hello Hilary! Here is my postcard from Berlin. It is very nice here although the weather is quite cold. Yesterday evening we went on to the top platform of the sky-scraper which you can see on the card. From there we had a wonderful view over the whole city. But next time I’ll write more Many greetings Claudia

So here’s a card from 1980’s Berlin some 9 years before the wall came down. It carries a 50 pfennig stamp from the castles and palaces series. At the top of this stamp you can see that it was issued by the Federal Post Berlin.

‘sky-scraper’ is a phrase of the era! The building is known as the Europa-Center.

The card is postmarked ‘BERLIN 5.11.80’ and carries a second postmark, the rough translation of which is ‘keep connected with mail’ – a great sentiment!

Claudia is another prolific communicator who is also widely travelled 🙂

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With love from London (2017)

with-love-from-museum-of-london

13th February 2017 go, it’s free! before they relocate to Smithfield Mkt. Hilary, I saw this exhibition today (for free!) and obviously thought about our recent Charminster Chapter conversation. This permanent exhibition of suffragette/suffragist (we know the difference!) memorabilia has even inspired the gift shop’s souvenirs – Emmeline Pankhurst key rings & fridge magnets. The video footage + hearing their speeches on sound recordings was haunting, brave women Sally xxxx

This dropped through the door the other day, in an envelope, as there’s not enough space on the card for a message and an address.  The post mark is Mount Pleasant, one of the largest postal sorting offices.

Charminster Chapter is the name of the book group that I meet with. We recently read ‘A History of Britain in 21 Women‘ by Jenni Murray, which everyone enjoyed much more than they thought they would!  It is written in a conversational style that encouraged us to really engage and identify with the women featured, one of them being Emmeline Pankhurst.  We learned how all these women have helped to shape our country and we bemoaned the fact that we never learned enough, if anything, about them in school.

It is a testament to the book that we continue to discuss, get excited about and even add to the list of women included.

Sally‘s enthusiasm for the Museum of London is very apparent in her message, seems like I’ll have to pay a visit myself 🙂

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With love from Eastbourne (circa 1983)

with-love-from-eastbourne

Dear Hilary, thanks very much indeed for your postcard. Are you living in London now? Hope your course is going well. I am doing SRN and am into my last  year now (3rd), I will remember your b.day this yr! love to your family, love Ida xxx

Another perfect little status update from Ida, who appears to have settled in Eastbourne.

The postmark reads ‘SUSSEX COAST 1 OCT 198_’ and I am guessing it’s early eighties.

My ‘course’ and the fact that Ida thinks I might have been living in London are both confusing – I cannot recall the course and I have never lived in London!

Ida and I remain intermittently in touch but we have not met for many years.

 

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with love from Pisso Livadi, Paros, Greece (1986)

With love from Greece

Dear Hilary & Simon, Hello there, just to let you know that I’ve moved down to Plymouth, got a brilliant job in Freedom Fields – but at the moment Chris & I are on holiday in the greek islands – stayed in Athens for 2 days & saw the sights – then sailed down to Paros – which is out of this world – quiet, relaxing & very cheap. found this gorgeous village and harbour which really has got us hooked!!! and in love with it – Moving on to Santorini on Tuesday, an island rich in beauty. Having a fantastic time really wonderful to have Chris at home – Take care and keep in touch Lots of love Anne & Chris xxxx

Lots of information in this cheerful and exciting status update from Anne & Chris who are making the most of their trip to Greece.

This is another card taking the opportunity to update a change of address at the same time as raving about the gorgeous harbour village of Pisso Livadi, which, thirty years later, is now slightly more developed!

The post mark is very feint but the date ’17 X 86′ is visible. The 40 lepta stamp is from the 1986 twelve ‘Gods of Olympus’ series (mythology) and features Hephaestus – god of fire, metalworking, stone masonry and forges.

Sadly, I still have not managed to re-connect with Anne…

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with love from Greece (circa 2002)

With love from Greece

Best wishes from Greece. We’re enjoying sun and water every day. The landscapes are beautifull, the life is easy. We don’t need to worry about the weather because it’s always warm, so that we’re tanking energy for the next winter. Amicalement, Hervé & Family

A cheerful status update from French friends who are obviously making the most of the sunshine.

The post mark is very feint on this one; ‘ATHENS AIRPORT’ is just about legible, but unfortunately there are no clues as to the exact date or where else in Greece Hervé and Family might have visited.

The stamp is part of the definitive set celebrating Greek dancers, issued in 2002

Typical of many Greek Islands, the picture on the front features white buildings, blue roofs and sunny skies, but the printing on the reverse offers no indication of the exact location.

Many years ago, my in-laws arranged a French exchange for my husband in what transpired to be a futile bid to help him pass his O Level French exam.  Hervé, however, spoke reasonable English, and this enabled the friendship to flourish; although these days, I am the one that maintains it.  As young marrieds we stayed with Hervé and his wife in France and we continue to exchange news and greetings at Christmas.