Until recently – and by recently we are talking March 4th 1937 when a typed note was fixed to the back of this postcard – this strange sight could be seen near Denver, Colorado. The antiquated Englewood to Cherrelyn tramway rises steeply for its 1 1/2 miles, up which the solitary horse drew the derelict car. The horse was then unhitched, and gladly occupied the rear platform while the car coasted down on the return journey, the driver controlling the brakes as necessary. At the end of its life, the car was run purely as a novelty, and was covered all over with the signatures of tourists.

The first postcard in my collection, but not the oldest.

It was bigger and more shiney than the postcards we would have sent from Skegness and Cromer. It is from my Mum and Dad in Majorca in 1970. The first time they ever went away without us.

The message begins “A picture of your favourite fruit!!…

It pre-dates figs and mangoes.

The guard of honour, policeman, and crowds can be seen on this hundred year old postcard (Copyright W. Burdekin) eagerly awaiting the arrival of Princess Christian to open the Purley Cottage Hospital. Before 1880 Purley hardly existed but it quickly grew from that time with a railway station nearby, and so The Cottage Hospital was needed.