POSTCARD FAIR IN TEDDINGTON

A Postcard Fair depicting historic images of local landmarks will be held at the Teddington Baptist Church next month.

The fair, on October 12,  has been staged at the same venue in Church Road for the last seven years and is the original West London Postcard Fair that was staged at Chiswick Town Hall for many years..

The fair has evolved over the years and now has 12 to 14 dealers at each fair which opens at 10am at closes at 4pm.

They sell a variety of collectables as well as  thousands of postcards.

Picture postcards were first introduced in 1894 and were the main form of communication for many years prior to the introduction of telephones and computers.

Millions of cards were published throughout the world with images covering every place and every subject.

In the past families and households collected postcards and kept them in family albums as treasured mementoes of holidays and memories.

Today older postcards are still much sought after by collectors and local historians.

The dealers at the Teddington event will also be selling stamps, first day covers and coins as well as books. Admission is £2 and many visitors derive pleasure from just browsing rather than purchasing.

Alan Winter, who runs the fair,  has stocks of postcards covering all local areas such as Teddington, the Hamptons, Twickenham, Richmond and Kew, Barnes East Sheen and Mortlake as well as Kingston and Surbiton. He will also consider buying any postcards visitors may wish to sell.

The most common Teddington postcards are of the river and lock as well as the churches and High Street and Broad Street.

The postcards of residential roads and areas are rarer and more expensive.