Old forms of communication

Mum has been doing some sorting out and came across a few things she has given to me.

I learned to read with Rupert Bear. Dad used to read the stories to me and I started to correct him if he missed a word or made a mistake! There is no year on the telegram, but I assume I must have made a Christmas card for Rupert and this telegram is to wish me a Happy Birthday. The text says, " You must have worked so very hard, To make me such a lovely card, By now you have your birthday fun, Good luck to you and everyone"

Correction courtesy of Mum: I made a birthday card for Rupert and won a hamper to have on his birthday. I've found the telegram date. It was November 1955 when I was three.

For those who don't know, the Rupert stories, published in the Daily Express, were written in rhyming couplets.

Telegrams are no longer in use.

The letter was another suprise. It is from my father to Mum's best friend, Joan and her husband, Tom. Dad was thanking them for a postcard from Sussex. His letter, in lovely handwriting, begins:
Many years ago, more than I care to remember, a teacher said to me “Baillie, if you could spell, even write you would be good at composition – if you had an imagination”!   (I would add only one extra comma to this if   had the red pen.) Dad puts himself down in the letter and I think the teacher had a profound effect on his belief in his abilities. Later he writes movingly about out small family unit and how close we are to each other.

Dad died 30 years ago and this is a blast from a more distant past. Sadly, he did not remember to put the date on the letter. Joan gave it to Mum some time later, probably after Dad had died.

Treasures indeed.