Long live the postcard! How The i Paper readers are rescuing holiday ritual

The writing may be on the wall for postcards, but The i Paper’s readers have been helping to bring them back from the edge. Scores of short but sweet summer missives have made their way to our newsroom over the past month, from as far afield as Amsterdam and the Isle of Man and closer to home in West Sussex and Kent, following an appeal to revive the dying art of sending tidings from your travels. English Heritage issued a warning about the dire prospects for postcards last month, stating they were in “terminal decline” after a survey it commissioned revealed that the traditional dispatch from distant shores, seaside resorts and tourist trails was becoming a thing of the past. It found that only 8 per cent of adults now send a postcard once a year – and 52 per cent never send them at all. While 86 per cent of adults grew up either sending postcards or in a household where a family member did, only 16 per cent now do so a few times a year and 18 per cent less than once. Shorts Digital communications are understood to be behind the demise, along with postal costs and the time required to write them. However, our readers got the message and have put pen to card post haste, sending a clear stamp of approval for the once-common form of correspondence. First past the post was Christopher, who sent a view of the High Street in the nearby town of Rochester, Kent, proving that postcards are not just for the holidays. “I haven’t travelled so far this year”, he wrote, “Here’s a card from my neighbouring town.” Gill sent old-school seaside greetings from Newton Abbot in Devon, writing: “I love this vintage card… sadly it would fall short of today’s trade description legislation as we aren’t actually on the coast!”Tom and Ann espoused the advantages of the Isle of Man with a postcard, describing it as a “little gem”. The weather, always a popular postcard topic, was “good” and the scenery “grand” for Eileen in Northumberland, while the Yorkshire coastal resort of Bridlington offered a bracing alternative to her home town of Heanor in Derbyshire for Fiona. The same could be said for North Berwick, East Lothian, from where Cath wrote to say “the weather is so much more pleasant than back home”. Revisiting Llandudno in North Wales after 50 years, Mark sent greetings and a request to “feed my tomatoes if you visit Brighton”. Margaret said she was having “a whale of time” in East Yorkshire and Sian let us know she was having “a marvellous time in the Mumbles”. Others were keen to remind us they are keeping the tradition alive. Valerie in Bosham, West Sussex, said she would “keep sending” postcards because they are “a joy to send to share news and for social history”. In a dispatch from Dorset, Rachel said she was pleased to learn she was not the only one still sending postcards, as they are “part of my holiday!” and Karren in County Durham described them as “a hug on a card”. New research found that only 8 per cent of adults now send a postcard once a year – and 52 per cent never send them at all (Photo: Getty Images) In a similar vein, Amy sent salutations from the Glenfinnan Viaduct in the Highlands. “To me, a postcard is a small treasure coming through the letter box”, she wrote, “a window to the world and a piece of history showing a snapshot of the sender’s life in that moment.” And one reader, writing from Aberdaron on the Llyn Peninsula in Gwynedd, pointed out that postcards are a chance to “slow down, get away from the instant gratification that seems to be the norm”. They wrote: “My postcard is not from my holiday but from my three-mile journey, six times a week to pick up my The i Paper and, tide permitting, walk on the beach.” In an attempt to bring back the great postal tradition, English Heritage commissioned children’s illustrators Nick Sharratt and Sir Quentin Blake to design three limited-edition postcards.Available to collect for free at 18 historic sites as part of its “Great British Summer” events until 6 September, it has given away more than 10,000 so far, and has had to order more. Grace Parsonage, assistant curator of collections and interiors for the South East at English Heritage, said: “Our campaign to revive the humble postcard has gone brilliantly. “With more than 10,000 given away so far – and proving almost as popular with adults as they are with children – we have seen visitors really engaging with our appeal and many even writing them then and there at our historic castles and stately homes. “We hope this reignites the passion many of us had as children for writing postcards to loved ones and the joy of receiving them in the post. “We’re thrilled to hear your readers have been taking up the baton too.” First introduced to the nation of letter writers in 1870, postcards became an immediate mail marvel, with around 75 million postcards sent in Britain by 1871. Four decades later, in 1910, as a quick alternative to the formal letter, volumes had increased to more than a remarkable 800 million a year. Postcard-sending peaked at around 12 million a year during the 60s and 70s, with a revival of the saucy seaside message. Graeme Wolford, of postcard firm Judges, said annual sales are now around three million. Pushed from pillar box to post over the years, the outlook for postcards has not been much to write home about. So if you wish they were here in years to come, now is the time to address it.