Category: Old Postcard

The Culvers, Sandown – a very jolly time in 1921

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Sent just a few days after the card in my previous post, this card shows a view of The Culvers, Sandown, Isle of Wight. It was sent to Winnie Barber in July 1921 – she was still staying in Cromer.

The Culvers, Sandown- a card from the “Peerless” Series

The message reads

“Dear Scratching Lady
Thanks for PC. I am having a very jolly time + most comfortable, wish I were staying another month.
Have not met many PIO girls that I know.
Kind regards
Seally”

The PIO must refer to their place of work but as yet I haven’t been able to find out exactly what this is.  And why is Winnie addressed as the “scratching lady”? Was she convalescing in Cromer after  an itchy illness?

“Having a topping time”: Sandown, Isle of Wight

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This card was sent  to Winnie Barber in 1921 whilst she was staying in Cromer, Norfolk.  The view shows the Esplanade , with children playing on the shore.

The Esplanade, Sandown. No. 1 in the Photogravure Series.

The message is brief:

It reads

“Dear Barber,
We’re having a topping time here, + like the place very much
Love
Leggatt + Tony”

The writers were probably good friends of Winnie’s, or possibly two of her work colleagues?

 

Tewkesbury High Street – a card posted in 1920

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This sepia card from the Abbey Studio, Tewkesbury, shows a fairly quiet view of Tewkesbury High Street.   If the clock is showing the correct time the photograph was taken at 11.30 a.m.


The card was posted on July 29th in Hereford and the senders had obviously been touring the west of England before heading into Wales.

The message reads

Dear Winnie,
We have got along splendidly so far. Oxford, Bath Wells, Glastonbury, Cheddar, Weston-s-mare, Bristol, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Tewkesbury, Tintern Abbey, Monmouth, Abergavenny, Crickhowell. We are in Wales now. Scenery is lovely – weather middling cloudy, showers with bright intervals. Love from the two of us.

Auntie Nell and Percy.

I’m not sure of the relationship here – “Auntie Nell” could be Winnie’s aunt Ellen on her Barber side of the family, her father’s sister.  Perhaps “Percy” is her uncle Percy,  Ellen’s younger brother?

A modern view of the same location showing the buildings on the left hand side of the road:

Tewkesbury, Church Street, Barton Street and High Street Junction

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Roy Hughes and licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0

The interior of St Stephen’s Church, Bournemouth – a card posted in 1920

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This card, which was posted to Winnie Barber in February 1920, is one of the “Boots Cash Chemists Pelham Series, No 453a”. The image shows the interior of St Stephen’s Church in Bournemouth.

 

The card was sent from 55 Revelstoke Road, SW, and seems to have been posted in Wandsworth. Revelstoke Road is adjacent to Wimbledon Park.

The message is quite detailed; some of it seems to have been written in pencil and then written over in ink. It reads:

Dear Freddie

Will you please ask Dany(?) if she received my letter safely. If so, will she please answer it as I want to know if she is coming to tea Sat.
Well Freddie how are you getting on? I am coming in next Monday, I hope nobody’s got my job. Please let me know. With love, Mooney (?)

The name of the sender is difficult to decipher – but I assume she was one of Winnie Barber’s work colleagues.   Winnie was now almost 18 ; I wonder what her occupation was, and whether the next batch of cards gives us any clues.

 

Sandown High Street – a card sent in 1919

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This card was sent from Sandown, on the Isle of Wight,  on 26th September 1919.

The photograph shows a busy shopping street, the shops have their awnings out and people are out shopping and strolling on  a pleasant day.

This card is the first in my collection to be written by Winnie Barber. She is writing to her father.   Her message reads:

Dear Dadda,
Received registered letter safely and shall look for you tomorrow evening at time mentioned. Weather still good. Blackberrying today. Afraid of railway strike. Still hope for best. Love from both, Winnie

The railway strike began at midnight that evening (26th September) and lasted for 9 days until 5th October, so if George Barber had planned to travel by train from Palmers Green it seems unlikely that he arrived the next day.  I wonder whether Winnie and her companions had to extend their holiday in Sandown?

A modern view of the same location, which looks reassuringly unchanged 100 years after the postcard was sent!

A pretty spot: a postcard from Hyde Heath in 1917

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The pencil writing on this postcard is very faded now and quite hard to read.  The postcard shows a view over the common at Hyde Heath in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire. A figure dressed in white can be seen on the footpath which leads towards a cottage.

The card was sent by “A” (Annie Barber?) to George Barber in October 1917.  The message (written upside down on the card)   reads

Thursday
25/10/17
This pretty spot is only 5 min walk from where we are living. We walked
to Little Missenden this morning. The weather has improved to-day. There
are beautiful walks all around here. Winnie picked a bunch of poppies this morning while on our walk.
A.

It seems that Annie and Winnie were taking a  holiday, leaving George at home, presumably because he was at work.

A bird’s eye view of Ely – March 1915

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This postcard appears to be the only one from 1915 in the collection.  It shows a view of Ely taken from the cathedral, looking west.  

The card was sent from K (Kitty?) to A (Annie Barber) on 24th March 1915.  the message reads:

Dear A,

My friends are coming to tea today. When you come will you bring three pennyworth of milk scones. Winnie can come if she likes. K.

“A nice time at Clacton”: another postcard sent in August 1914

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This postcard is the first one in the collection to have been sent specifically to Winnie Barber. Winnie, the daughter of George and Annie Barber, was born in 1902. Later in life she lived in Woodland Way, Winchmore Hill, which is where the box of postcards was found in the 1960s.

In 1914, aged 12, whilst presumably on holiday at The Laurels at Leigh on Sea,  Winnie received this postcard from her Aunt Annie who had been on holiday at Clacton but had now returned home. The card is postmarked “Wood Green”.

The message reads:

 

Dear Winnie

Very please to have a pc from you please you are having such a good time and such fine weather.

I have had a nice time at Clacton but please to get home. I hope your mother’s enjoying herself.

With love from all

Aunt Annie good bye

 

“It’s very nice at Clacton”: a postcard sent in 1914

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The next card was sent by “Dad” to George Barber.  He was staying at St Andrews Road, Clacton in Essex and chose this interesting image of a crowded beach at West Cliff, Clacton on Sea. The line of bathing machines along the shore harks back to an earlier time; by 1914 most of the bathing machines were static and used as changing rooms rather than being wheeled into the sea, so the photograph used on this card was probably taken several years earlier.

Dad’s message reads;

Dear George and Annie

we arrived quite safe and kept very good time country looks very nice corn seems to be pretty well

all cut & it is very nice at Clacton lots of people here weather beautiful & windy

 Dad