REMARKABLE photographs capturing events in and around Ipswich have been sent to me by former Ipswich resident Margaret Hunter (nee English), who now lives in Manchester.

David Kindred

REMARKABLE photographs capturing events in and around Ipswich have been sent to me by former Ipswich resident Margaret Hunter (nee English), who now lives in Manchester.

Margaret, who was a pupil at Nacton Road School, Ipswich, in the 1950s sent the set of postcards collected by her grandfather Noble English.

The cards are original photographic cards produced by the photographer in a darkroom, unlike the mass produced cards ink printed by a commercial printer on a press.

They are from the pre-television period and when few photographs were printed in newspapers locally.

Cinema newsreel was mainly of national and international events so photographers could market photographs to the general public of events including disasters.

Many cards depicting awful tragedies were sent with a simple “having a lovely time, wish you were here” type of message, ignoring the photograph on the other side.

It was 1894 when the post office gave permission for picture postcards to be sent through the post. With several deliveries a day a message posted on a card in town in the morning would reach the recipient by early afternoon.

The picture postcards set a trend to send a simple message home from a day out or holiday. A trend that continues today even with mobile phones and e-mail available to most.

- Do you have any vintage postcards to share with readers? Write to Dave Kindred, Kindred Spirits, Evening Star, Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN.