I was interested to read Daniel Lavelle’s take on the decline of the postcard (‘Times have changed’: is the writing on the wall for the British seaside postcard?, 17 May). A few weeks ago, every child in year 4 at St George’s C of E primary school in Worcester sent someone a postcard. My grandson is one of those children, and I was happy to fund the project. Their teacher built lessons around the features of a good postcard: a clear address, the date, a message with interesting detail, an affectionate sign off – and of course, a stamp. All 31 postcards were posted in a post box near the school, and many of them were delivered by the local postman, the father of another year 4 child.
There is nothing quite like the real deal: Billy Collins, the American poet, reminds us that a postcard is a small slice of history, a compression of what we feel. And so much the better if the handwriting is wonky, or a bit of lunch is smeared on one corner. That’s human, and real. You’ll never get those with a text.
Anne Greer
Worcester
• From the age of 15 or so I sent a postcard to my aunt from every holiday. When she died I discovered that she had kept them in an album and so in my 50s I inherited a unique keepsake. The cards chart my young adult life, and parenthood. Now a grandparent, I send postcards to my grandchildren. How can we stop their demise? Answers on a postcard.
Julie Grier
Rhuddlan, Denbighshire
• One of the highlights of a recent trip to Belfast was the buying of a wonderful variety of postcards in the Titanic museum. From reproductions of White Star Line posters of the “unsinkable” ship to those of the amazing museum and the docks. Postcards, rare these days, are a joy to write and happily welcomed, I’m told.
Jo Burden
Marlow, Buckinghamshire
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