OUT OF THE PAST
Long-delayed postcards, historic stamps, hidden messages and a man reunited with his wandering dentures
• Jan and Terry Chudley from Whipton, Exeter, mailed four postcards to relatives when they were on holiday in Lanzarotte in the Canary Islands in December 2014. None of them arrived, but on Christmas Eve 2021, seven years after they were posted, Jan’s sister called her from Colchester to say that she had received a postcard from her, sent from Lanzarote. A spokesman for the Royal Mail trotted out the usual excuse: that they must have been found recently and put back in the postal system. , 6 Jan 2022.
• A postcard sent by a member of the Royal Navy, Neil Crocker, took 30 years to reach its destination. He posted it during a stop-off in Chile while returning from serving in the Falklands aboard HMS Cumberland in 1991. It eventually turned up in October 2021, posted through the door of his father-in-law Brian Watkins, 89, in Weymouth, Dorset. Neil, now 57, said: “He was very confused when it was posted through the door. I was shocked – I thought it was a wind-up.” D.Express, 5 Oct 2021.
• While the parcel a woman named only as Amanda received containing trousers for her teenage son arrived promptly from the seller in Jersey, the stamps on it came from another time. It had been posted with an array of 24 stamps dating from 40 years ago, including two marking Prince Charles’s wedding to Diana in 1981. Others included stamps celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Jersey Motorcycle and Car club, HMS Unicorn, one of the world’s oldest surviving warships, and 18th century naval officer Philippe D’Auvergne, who fought in the American War of Independence. Together they had a face value of £9.37.5. “I’ve never seen so many lovely stamps on one envelope. Some kid must have inherited their grandad’s stamp collection and learned it was legal tender,” said Amanda. D.Express, 22 Jan 2022.
• The note that orphanage choir boy William Elliott, then 13, wrote on 11 August 1897 and
hid in a pew in Sunderland Old Parish Church was rediscovered 125 years later while the building was being converted into an arts centre. The note, written on an order of service, reads, “Whoever finds this paper don’t throw it away… keep it in remembrance of me”, and a framed copy has now been hung next to the seat where it was discovered. Centre manager Tracy Mienie said, “His letter has touched us all.” It is believed Elliott was killed in World War I. D.Express, 30 Mar 2022.
• When the Lord Nelson pub in Bristol was being knocked down, a cardboard note was found behind the old skittle alley. Written by Gary Wait, then aged 16, it said he hid the note in 1975 and hoped to find it one day to remind him of happy times. In it, Gary described his blonde hair and blue eyes, talked about his job at the pub and how he was saving up to pay off his moped.
An appeal put out on Facebook to try and find Gary or his relatives was picked up by Julie Tucker, 64, who recognised her brother’s handwriting. Unfortunately, Gary had died in a motorbike accident four years after writing the note, but Julie said: “It’s brought back so many deep memories.” Sun, 8 Feb 2022.
• Paul Bishop, 63, was surprised to receive a package from Spain containing a set of false teeth that he’d last seen 11 years before during a drinking binge in Benidorm to celebrate a friend’s 50th birthday. Towards the end of the day, Bishop had thrown up in a bin and didn’t notice his teeth were missing until he hit the next bar. He said that he then carried on the holiday as normal, “singing Elvis and eating and drinking with no teeth,” only replacing his missing gnashers when he got home. Years later, Spanish authorities discovered the teeth in landfill and used DNA testing to trace them back to Mr Bishop, mailing them to him in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, with a note saying: “Please come back to Spain again, but be careful.” D.Mail, 11 Feb 2022.
• Police in Matlock, Derbyshire, put out an appeal to try and trace the owner of a wallet that had been stuffed behind the disabled toilet cistern in Matlock Old Market Hall for 35 years. It contained a one-pound note, stamps worth 18p and receipts from 1987. Police said the wallet possibly had some connection to the local Adkin family and that it “contains some rather interesting and old memorabilia”. S.Mercury,
1 May 2022.