PPM revisits Manchester's Belle Vue amusement park - Picture ...

Clubscene
A real Cornish evening
The desperate plight of Cornish miners forced to
travel across the world to find work was recalled at
Plymouth’s May meeting. This was a talk with a difference,
however, as Alan and Lynda Jewell movingly
told the story of Cornish emigration in words,
music and song, accompanied by Alan on various
instruments (concertina, mandola and bazouki) with
Lynda on the flute. Alan’s interest in the hardships
endured by his forbears began when he found out
that his grandparents made the long journey to Salt
Lake City in the early 1900s. The Redruth duo use
their musical talents to promote a Cornish Global
Migration Project launched on the internet by Alan
to establish a database of all the county’s emigrants.
With the flag of St. Piran as a backcloth, Cornish
members played a key role in the success of
the evening. Tony Lucas from Saltash set up a
superb array of south-east Cornwall topos; Steve
Prescott from St. Ives was the visiting dealer; Peter
Keast from Newquay gave a hearty vote of thanks;
and Rowe’s Bakery of Falmouth supplied hot pasties
and saffron cake for a proper Cornish supper.
The SOUTH WALES club
held a quiz evening in May
when Lynne Warry asked
the audience contestants to
identify a range of topographical
cards from the
Cardiff and Newport areas.
The answers came via a
powerpoint projection of
the featured postcards.
READING’s first meeting
of May saw Cliff Maddock
give a powerpoint display
of cigarette and trade
cards which followed the
River Thames from Pangbourne
to Kingston. His aim
was to show how the hobby
can be widened from its
usual completion of sets or
collection of types to provide
a panorama similar to
that afforded by picture
postcards. Later in the
month, Chris Hollingham
explained the role of Lord
Baden-Powell and his sister
Agnes in the establishment
of the Scout and Guide
movements in 1908 and
1910. An enthusiastic question
time followed, with the
opportunity to examine part
of Chris’s personal collection
of postcards and other
memorabilia. He invoked
many long-forgotten memories
and tales of earlier
scouting and guiding days
among many of his audience
Ḋenby Dale Collectors
Society were at HUDDERS-
FIELD Postcard Club in May,
returning a visit two months
previously. The Denby contingent
produced a number
of excellent displays and
presentations, including calendars,
cigarette cards,
postcards of advertising
posters, letterheads and
glass walking sticks.
Postcards in the
wash
It was Washday Blues at
EXETER in May, with Di
Lawer presenting postcards
that depicted the history of
washing and laundry.
Splendid brightly-illustrated
postcards showed children
in wooden bath tubs, pretty
women in hip and shower
baths, boys in tin baths and
elegant pedestal baths. Di’s
early cards had everyone
smiling before she moved
on to water heaters, boiler
gas geysers, washboards,
mangles, dolly pegs and all
the other washday paraphernalia!
She also showed
off reproduction soap
advert postcards, and her
memorable talk was
enjoyed by all.
PPM editor Brian Lund
visited the NORTHAMP-
TONSHIRE club again, this
time putting on a display
that underlined the importance
of topographical postcards
from national, regional
and local publishers. The
display, talk and subsequent
question and answer
session gave everyone in
the audience a chance to
participate.
The Football Postcard
Collectors Club celebrated
20 years’ existence in May,
and that month’s magazine
maintains the high standard
set from the outset by originator
Paul Macnamara. It
contains articles on the G.A.
Wiles postcards of crowd
scenes at Brighton & Hove
Albion, the Newcastle United
postcards of Gladstone
Adams, Crystal Palace’s
early years and lots more.
20 Picture Postcard Monthly July 2010
July 2010 highlights
Aylsham - Les Downham is guest dealer(5th, at new
venue, Cawson Road Chapel)
Bradford - members’ night(29th)
Bristol - ‘As we like it’ with Christine Booth and Michael
Lambert(5th)
Bury St. Edmunds - an evening with Lee Marchant(20th)
Canterbury & East Kent - “Best thing since sliced
bread”, says Felicity Stafford(28th)
Cotswold - vintage bus trip(29th)
Croydon - Mike Garwood features Boston(1st)
Dorset - “Whatever happened to the Customs?” asks
Brian Searle(14th)
Ellesmere Port - informal evening(20th)
Exeter - members’ evening:six cards on the letters T, U
or V(27th)
Farnborough - informal meeting(7th) and ‘Whatever you
wish to show’(21st)
Ferndown - early classics & postal history of the British
Empire(12th) and ‘Goats & Mexican Wells Fargo’
with Francis Kiddle(26th)
Frinton & Walton - outing to Shark’s teeth at Walton(6th)
and Keith Banks on ‘The Flying Squad’(13th)
Grampian - Eric Lawson features coal mining in West
Fife (12th, at new venue, Inverurie Community
Centre)
Huddersfield - old gas lamps with Philip Tordoff(14th)
Lothian - members’ night(9th)
Maidstone - Tony Farnham on East Coast barges(19th)
Mid-Essex - AGM(15th)
Norfolk - Richard Everitt on The Seaforth
Highlanders(14th)
Northamptonshire - visit to Thurleigh Air Museum(13th)
Nottingham - chairman’s choice(13th)
Plymouth - Geoff Ashton on the Golden Age of LL plus
display of lace postcards(14th)
Reading - club fair(4th), competition entries
discussion(8th) and auction(22nd)
Red Rose - talk by Stephen Sartin(21st)
Shropshire - cards on the letter ‘N’(13th)
South Downs - roundabout Lewes with Bob Cairns(14th)
South Wales - visit to Glamorgan Cricket Museum(8th)
Surrey - walk around Blackheath(21st)
Torbay - talks from club members(14th)
Wealden - summer outing on the Wey & Arun
Canal(9th)
West London - Weatherman Ian Currie tells of ‘the day it
rained crabs and frogs’(16th)
Wirral - websites for the historian with Gavin Hunter(1st)
FERNDOWN had a double bill at their latest event, with a
display of Spitsbergen covers and postcards, the latter
covering the spectacular scenery or the ships that visited
the region. Even a postcard produced by a German tourist
leader who ran his own company was on display, along
with a rare postcard from Bear Island. The second half of
the evening was a display of the mobile post offices of
South Africa, introduced in 1937 as the townships expanded
rapidly; the first one was in Johannesburg. In all 25
mobile offices were established but were withdrawn gradually
in the 1980s.
A party from the MID-
Nottinghamshire’s postal ESSEX club visited Essex
history was on the agenda
Police HQ in Chelmsford in
at NOTTINGHAM Postcard
May, when the guided tour
Club in May. With the aid of
included a look at the
slides, Dennis Humphreys
superb Operation Control
traced it back to 1561 when
Centre, where an insight
the first postmasters were
into how the vast and highly
sophisticated Centre per-
appointed in the county.
Postal route maps were produced
and the postal facility
forms its many duties. From
there, the group moved on
became available to the
to the Essex Police Museum,
which features 160
public. Dennis showed a
selection of old letters,
years of the county’s constabulary
history. Chairman
some sealed with wax, and
postcards of the county. In
John Adnam was ceremonially
handcuffed for a short
June, the ladies entertained
with postcards of Royal jewellery,
country life and farm
time!
scenes, and ‘A holiday in
Aylsham Postcard Club
Spain’ - a clever compilation
of preparation, flight
have a new venue from this
month, at the Cawston
and adventure.
Road Chapel in Aylsham.