They were postcards she had come across and didn't want anymore. There were various scenes of Norfolk. The photographs were interesting but so were the reverse side where messages had been written and sent to various addresses.
These are a piece of social history. Who sends postcards anymore? Most had banal messages along the obvious lines of "wish you were here" and other inconsequentialities (that could be the longest word ever written in this blog with no fewer than 20 letters). But these in themselves are interesting because I'm always imagining I am the writer. I’m putting myself in the place of the writer.
Most of those Ii have come from the 1980s when people did send postcards before you had to take a mortgage out to buy stamps. That's almost 50 years ago. I imagine the people sitting at a table and writing short messages to let the person they are being sent to know where they are and how they are. The writing on some is so small that it is unreadable but the person writing has tried to cram as much as they can in the limited space. I wonder if the senders who include Brian, Dorothy, Mary and the Two Mums, Josie, Sandra and Graham, Sheila and family, Barbara and Tony, May and Ann, Martin and Sue, A, et al, sent numerous postcards to all their relations to let them know what they were doing on a specific day safe in the knowledge that by the time the postcard got to its destination that day would be well and truly over. How many times have you written a postcard and left it days before posting it? And how many times have you been abroad, written a postcard and put a British stamp on it and posted it when you got back.
Just some of the remarks on the postcards were:
"The Hunstanton Convalescent Home - We are having a nice holiday. The weather is very good, also the food is lovely."
"Weather not very good but it’s a rest, plenty of people about. Now going to see the bygone village at Fleggburgh" (from Hemsby)
"Hope this card finds you at home and making progress. Had a bad storm Saturday night but didn’t get wet.”
“Having a good time. Caravan ok, nice and peaceful. Plenty of people about. Off to Gorleston today. Got rabbits outside on the grass.”
“We have been all round the Broads and today we went into Norwich. The wedding went off perfectly. Weather here fantastic.”
“The sun is out today but it’s windy. The caravan is nice with plenty of room. I hope you are keeping well and managing ok.”
“There was a lot of traffic on the ring road in Norwich. The site is nice, immediately over the bridge in Ludham. We’re nearer to Yarmouth than we thought – only 10 miles.”
“We had a fine day yesterday until evening when it rained hard. Today looks more promising, sun is struggling through. We have seen Di. She looks very well. We are taking her out for the day tomorrow.”
“Hope all is well with you and that the weather is good, So so this way with heavy showers but harvest is getting underway where they can.”
“We are enjoying our change of scenery at Hunstanton, but the weather is cool and unsettled. We take a quick walk when the sun shines. We hope your rest at Felixstowe is doing you good.”
“I have had to make a flying visit to Norwich with two people from Cadburys to visit the Government Research Institute at Colney near Norwich.”
“Here is a quick line to let you know I’m just surfacing again after 10 very strenuous days/nights. The sun here is beautiful just now and the birds are singing.”
And finally my favourite:
“Many thanks for your photo which is now in place with all my other toy boys.”
So, what do these messages tell us about anything? Well they underline the British obsession with the weather and with health and the low level writing. I wonder how many of these people genuinely enjoyed writing and sending postcards and how many were just doing it out of duty with virtually nothing to say.
But as a race we love to talk about the mundane. When we were writing our book on the massacre in Northern France, John Head and I had to decide whether to include all or part of the diary of one of the survivors – Bill O’Callaghan.
Much of it was very mundane and day to day stuff, but it was of a time and of a place in history and that’s why we decided include all the entries to help people understand Bill’s concerns and thought processes during that time. I put together a website for a friend many years ago whose mother was a nursing sister in the Second World War and her diary was very similar, chatting about what could be considered the mundane.
Today I’m going to include the history of Hethersett and I’m not talking about the village where we live. I’m talking about a horse. So what follows is of interest to followers of what has been dubbed the Sport of Kings ie horse racing, So here goes with Hethersett the horse.
Hethersett was born in 1959 and lived for just seven years, during which time he won one of the country's five classic races and was denied a possible win in the UK's most famous flat race - the Epsom Derby.
It's difficult to know whether Hethersett is most remembered for winning the St Leger or for falling in the Derby.
After showing promise as a two-year-old, Hethersett was the highest-rated British three-year-old of 1962 when he also won the Brighton Derby Trial and the Great Voltigeur Stakes. After his success in the Leger, when he gave his trainer Dick Hern his first classic win, Hethersett never won again and was retired in 1963. He had a brief but successful stud career before his death at the age of seven.
Hethersett was a powerfully built bay horse with no white markings bred by his owner, Major Lionel Brook Holliday and named after our village. Holliday sent Hethersett to his private Lagrange stable at Newmarket where he was trained by Dick Hern.
Hethersett was sired by Hugh Lupus, a French-bred stallion who won the Champion Stakes in 1956. Hugh Lupus suffered from low fertility at stud but sired several other good horses including the 1,000 Guineas winner Pourparler.
Hugh Lupus and Hethersett were representatives of the Byerley Turk sire line, unlike more than 95% of modern thoroughbreds, who descend directly from the Darley Arabian.
Hethersett's dam, Bride Elect (by Big Game) was a fast filly who won the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot for Holliday in 1954. However, her dam, Netherton Maid, was a stayer and finished second in the Oaks, another British classic.
Hethersett began his three-year-old season on 15th May by winning the Derby Trial Stakes at Brighton by five lengths. Three weeks later he was sent to Epsom for the Derby, and was strongly fancied, despite his lack of experience. Ridden by the 45-year-old veteran Harry Carr he started favourite at odds of 9/2 in a field of 26 runners. He appeared to be travelling well in the middle of the field when he was one of seven horses to either fall or be brought down in a pile-up just after half distance. Hethersett escaped with minor injuries, but Carr sustained a broken shoulder which kept him out of racing for almost two months. The race was won by the Irish-trained outsider Larkspur. It is a relatively rare occurrence for a horse to fall in a flat race.
Hethersett ran poorly on firm ground at Goodwood in July, finishing seventh but returned to form in August at York. Ridden by Frankie Durr in the Great Voltigeur Stakes over one and a half miles he started at odds of 15/2 and won by a short head from Miralgo.
In the St Leger Stakes at Doncaster on 12th September, Hethersett started at odds of 100/8 with some doubting that he would be effective over the distance of fourteen and a half furlongs (almost two miles) on soft ground. Ridden by Carr, he took the lead a furlong and a half from the finish and won easily by four lengths from Monterrico, with Miralgo in third and Larkspur sixth. This was Hern's first of 16 Classic victories in his career as a trainer. On his final appearance of the season, Hethersett was brought back in distance for the Champion Stakes over one and a quarter mile at Newmarket and finished second to the Irish 2000 Guineas winner Arctic Storm.
The successes of Hethersett enabled Holliday to become British champion owner for the third time, while Hern won the first of his four trainers' championships. Hethersett was given a rating of 134 by the independent Timeform organisation, placing him equal with Arctic Storm as the best three-year-old in Europe.
Hethersett had little chance to prove himself as a breeding stallion, dying in 1966 at the age of seven after only three years at stud. He showed considerable promise, siring the 1969 Derby winner Blakeney and the filly Highest Hopes (Prix Vermeille). Rarity, a colt from Hethersett's final crop of foals, came within a short-head of beating the then unbeaten Brigadier Gerard in the Champion Stakes at Newmarket in 1971. Hethersett died of a brain tumour in 1966: Hern speculated that the trouble stemmed from the head injury the colt sustained in the Derby.
Being somebody who has been "racing" on numerous occasions over the years I am aware that some of the terminology above may be a little difficult to understand. Put in simple terms there are five British classics - The Derby, The Oaks, the St Ledger, the 1,000 Guineas and the 2,000 Guineas. Hethersett was a top-class horse. I am not sure just why he was named after our village but the fact the owner named one of his offspring Blakeney would suggest a love or strong connection with Norfolk.
You can view the closing stages of the St Ledger 1962 on You Tube by following the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lBm-me_QxA
The 1962 Pathe News coverage of the Derby can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NvrNYzVZjo.
Unfortunately, the coverage misses the incident where Hethersett was brought down. There's slightly different coverage at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o8YC8CavBE