Finding Postcard Fairs in the UK

I mentioned yesterday The Picture Postcard Show which opens in London tomorrow and lasts three days. Most postcard fairs are only one day affairs, although there are a few two-day fairs and some evening fairs. Whether they last one, two or three days postcard fairs are a great place to find postcards to illustrate your family history.

When it comes to finding out where postcard fairs are held there are two main places to look:

The Postcard Traders Association website

The Postcard Traders Association has a calendar of postcard fairs on their website. The good thing about this calendar is that you can click through and find out more information about the organiser, including contact details and possibly their website.

The main drawback with this list is that it doesn’t always get updated regularly, but it is a good starting place especially as a lot of the fairs take place on a regular basis. Also this doesn’t always feature some of the smaller fairs.

Picture Postcard Monthly

Picture Postcard Monthly magazine has a much fuller list of postcard fairs including some international ones (along with auctions and exhibitions). These usually cover the coming three months and also includes contact details for the organisers as well as indicating the number of postcard dealers likely to be attending.

As well as the list of fairs in Picture Postcard Monthly, it is also the main place where postcard fairs are advertised, as well everything else you would expect in a magazine such as news, letters and articles.

The Postcard Traders Association website has a page entitled How to Win at Fairs with advice to get the best out of your visit to a postcard fair. My own advice would be to set yourself a budget and stick to it, otherwise it could get very expensive!

Copyright © 2011 John Gasson.

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The Picture Postcard Show 2011

The highlight of the postcard collecting calendar is the annual Picture Postcard Show, also known as BIPEX (British International Postcard Exhibition), which takes place this week, running from Thursday 1st September 2011 to Saturday 3rd September 2011.

The three-day show is held at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Lawrence Hall in Greycoat Street, London and is described as “the world’s most prestigious card show”. Full details including admission prices and opening times can be found on the Postcard Traders Association website.

The Picture Postcard Show is like a normal provincial postcard fair on steroids, with a greater diversity of postcard dealers in attendance, including many from overseas. This means a greater diversity of postcards and as the website says, “some of the best cards available today”.

Unfortunately it doesn’t look like I am going to be able to make it to this year’s show, but you can read about my previous visits here and here.

Copyright © 2011 John Gasson.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Postcard Album: Slaugham Church

Postcards of the village of Slaugham, Sussex are not that easy to come by, so I snapped up this one when it came up even though it is not in top condition. It shows the interior of St Mary’s Church, Slaugham.

The Interior of St Mary's Church, Slaugham, Sussex

I visited the church earlier this year (see the photo below) before I got this postcard and to be honest it took me a while to verify that this was the same church, such were the changes that have been made to the interior.

The Interior of St Mary's Church, Slaugham, Sussex (30/04/11)

The quality of my photo is rather poor (I will take more care next time and perhaps find the light switch) but it is good enough to see the similarities in the structure of the building even if most of the furniture and fittings have changed. Although not included in my photo the font on the right-hand sign is definitely the same.

The postcard itself is unused but it does have printed on the back that it is part of “The Dolphin Series” which almost certainly means it was the work of Harry Tullett of nearby Haywards Heath, Sussex, and probably dates the card to somewhere around 1910. It may be possible to date the picture more accurately if the changes inside the church were recorded and carried out over a number of years.

There are a number of family connections with this church, including the marriage of my 3x great-grandparents Thomas GASSON and Harriet MITCHELL, the burials of my 4x great-grandparents Henry and Catherine GASSON and the baptism of my 2x great-grandfather George Thomas GASSON.

Copyright © 2011 John Gasson.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

The death certificate of Catherine GASSON

Catherine GASSON (née HOLMAN) was the wife of Henry GASSON, making her my 4x great-grandmother. I ordered her death certificate at the same time as I ordered Henrys and largely for the same reason, to make sure that I had found the correct individual.

Looking at the certificate there isn’t really any doubt. Catherine died on the 2nd December 1858 aged 64 years at Warninglid, Slaugham, Sussex. Her occupation is given as “Wife of Henry Gasson an Agricultural Laborer”. So her age, address and her husband’s name and occupation all match up.

The cause of death was recorded as “Disease of Liver 2 Years Jaundice Certified” and her death was registered by her husband Henry (who was present at the death) on the 6th December 1858.

So the certificate served it’s purpose, or at least the purpose I had intend. I am now confident that this Catherine was my 4x great-grandmother and was the same Catherine buried at Slaugham on the 12th December 1858.

The Warninglid mentioned on the certificate is a small community within the parish of Slaugham rather a particular house or farm, so the certificate doesn’t really help to pin-point where they were living a great deal, but it is better than nothing.

I am pretty certain that I have previously checked monumental inscriptions for St. Mary’s Church, Slaugham but I certainly need to check again and if possible make another visit to Slaugham and Warninglid. Last time I visited I was just passing through and not fully aware of the GASSON connections, now I have some concrete evidence I can go back and explore some more.

Copyright © 2011 John Gasson.

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Wandering: South Downs Way – Queen Elizabeth Country Park to Exton

My wife and I were out and about again today, walking another section of the South Downs Way. The weather was reasonably good, slightly cooler than previous walks and mostly dry. The photo below shows the first climb of the day, as you can see there was lots of broken cloud, but around midday the cloud became thicker eventually leading to some light rain and ultimately one heavy, but very brief shower.

There had obviously been some very heavy rain recently because there were some very large (almost unpassable) puddles and many patches of mud, which made some of the paths a little awkward.

Butser Hill, Queen Elizabeth Country Park, Hampshire

I like this particular section, partly because of the almost continuous views of the village of East Meon and that it finished in Exton, both of which have family connections, partly because there are some superb views to the south to Southampton and the Isle of Wight and partly because it is a section I am not that familiar with (unlike some of the Sussex sections).

The biggest surprise of the day was the state of HMS Mercury, last year when I walked this section the site contained many derlict buildings that made up this naval establishment. Today although the security fences were still there but the buildings had gone, or rather they had been reduced to big piles of ground-up rubble. I don’t think there was anything architecturally outstanding about the buildings but it was still sad to see them gone.

HMS Mercury (23 June 2010)

HMS Mercury (27 August 2011)

As with previous walks here are some facts and figures for today’s walk:

Starting point: Queen Elizabeth Country Park, Horndean, Hampshire

Finishing point: Exton, Hampshire

Distance walked: 10.1 miles

Highest point: Butser Hill (889 ft) [said to be the highest point on the South Downs]

Places of note: Queen Elizabeth Country Park, Butser Hill, HMS Mercury, Wether Down, Coombe Cross, Meon Springs, Old Winchester Hill

Number of trig points spotted: Two – Wether Down (although we didn’t get up close) and Old Winchester Hill

Number of sandwiches eaten: Two halves (egg mayonnaise and cheese ploughmans)

Number of taxi journeys taken: One (from Petersfield to QECP) [quicker than waiting for the bus, meant we could start walking sooner]

Number of bus journeys taken: Four

Number of train journeys taken: Three

Number of ice creams eaten: Three! (a bumper section of the SDW for ice creams)

Shorts or long trousers: Long trousers (a few warmer spells but not warm enough for shorts)

Copyright © 2011 John Gasson.
	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.