Wish You Were Here? Pick up a postcard designed by Quentin Blake at English Heritage sites this summer

The humble postcard – a communication staple for over 150 years – is at risk, English Heritage warns, as new research commissioned by the charity reveals that only 8% of adults send a postcard once a year and 52% never send them at all. In a bid to revive the once-popular British holiday tradition and inspire children to take up postcard-writing, English Heritage has commissioned three limited edition postcards, designed by children’s illustrators Nick Sharratt and Sir Quentin Blake, which will be available to collect for free at eighteen historic sites as part of their Great British Summer events. The charity has also acquired around 800 historic postcards depicting Dover Castle in Kent – an intimate time capsule with the earliest dating from the 19th century.

 

Introduced to Britain in 1870, postcards were an instant success, allowing a nation of long, laborious letter-writers to send quick, cheap and easy correspondence with little formality for the first time. With numerous postal collections and deliveries per day, in 1871 around 75 million postcards were sent in Britain and (according to sources at The Postal Museum) volumes increased to over 800 million a year by the end of King Edward VII’s reign in 1910.  For a population of almost 45 million at that time, that’s an average of just under 18 postcards being sent per person, at a rate equivalent to one postcard every three weeks. The traditional postcard served a lighter purpose too, and for some might conjure up memories of flaky fish and vinegar-soaked chips, salty sea air, sandcastles and writing to tell your friends and relations how much fun you’re having because you’re on holiday and alas, they’re not.

 

But new research suggests that this once-beloved holiday ritual could soon become a relic of the past. So why the decline? The usual suspects: digital communication is cited as easier, postage costs add up, and for many, putting pen to paper feels, sadly, too time-consuming.  

 

“The postcard was once as much a part of the British holiday as a bucket and spade or the drip of ice cream; a handwritten note dashed off from the pier or a historic landmark, stamped and posted to friends and family back home," notes Matt Thompson, English Heritage’s Conservation, Curatorial and Learning Director. "But our research reveals a habit fading fast and, if this decline continues, there’s a chance it could become a distant nostalgic memory... At English Heritage we believe the postcard deserves more than a place in the nostalgia tin – it’s a living tradition worth preserving and we need your help to give it a new lease of life. We want to inspire the next generation so pick up one of our three brilliant postcards, designed by Sir Quentin Blake and Nick Sharratt, write your message, pop it in the post and give your grandmother or friend’s fridge door something to get excited about.”

 

Sir Quentin Blake  commented: “There’s no better way to put a smile on someone’s face than with a postcard. In the days of knights in armour they didn’t have postcards, so I do hope children enjoy mine and send him on to someone special.”