Inventive

2015: Inventive Britain

The 'Inventive Britain' set of stamps won the Asiago award for philatelic art in 2015, who said that the stamps  "difficult subject" succeeded in "creating striking images visually perfect with concise captions but easily understood". 

L to R is the 1st Class  - Colossus computers who were developed by British code-breakers in 1943-45 and is considered the world's first electronic digital computer. Designed by the research telephone engineer Tommy Flowers but hushed up for the perceived security reasons  many decades after the war had ended.  (The scan doesn't really bring out the centre strip which looks like one of the old punched cards used in computers)   1st Class - World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee invented the first web browser and the HTML language when working at CERN in 1989 to be able to share data easily 81p - Catseyes, invented by Percy Shaw and always voted for as one of the top ten British inventions in the UK, simple yet effective. The first thought that came into my mind when seeing this one was the road safety advice 'dip don't dazzle!

81p Fibre Optics, a term coined by Narinder Singh Kapany, but the stamp celebrates Charles Kao and George Hockam's pioneering rapid data transfer technology for communications. £1.28 Stainless Steel created by Harry Brearley in 1914 he originally called it rustless steel and is credited as inventing the first commercially viable corrosion resistant stainless steel. The more you stare at this stamp the more it seems to bevel. £1.28 - Carbon Fibre, stronger and lighter than metal, invented by William Watt 

£1.47 - DNA Sequencing, a method of mapping DNA invented by the Nobel winning scientist Frederick Sanger in the 1960s-70s.  It is also the theme of the FDC photograph and the cancel is from his birthplace of Gloucester.  Lastly £1.47 - I-Limb a bionic hand invented by David Gold and his team at the Princess Margaret Rose Hospital in Edinburgh.

An entry to Sunday Stamps II - 20th Century Inventions - discover more at See It On A Postcard

Lancaster Maritime Museum

There is snow on the fells and frosty starts to the days here so I thought this view of Lancaster Maritime Museum in winter would be appropriate for the time of year.  The museum is located by the side of the River Lune on St George's Quay and its original purpose was as a Customs House. You will observe that the Georgian building is surrounded by what were originally bonded warehouses.  The building was designed by Richard Gillow (architect and cabinet maker) and built in 1769, closing as a Customs House in 1882 when the customs were transferred to Barrow and much later opened as a museum in 1985. In the terrible winter storms last year the museum was flooded and has been closed for repairs but part of the collection housed in the adjoining warehouse has just reopened.

The museums in Lancaster face an uncertain future due to local government cuts.  The Judges Lodgings which houses a wonderful collection of Gillows furniture and a childhood museum is closed, there have been murmurings about changes, none of them good, to the main museum as well as the Maritime Museum seen on the postcard.    

Postcards for the Weekend theme - Museum/University Library - learn more at Connections to the World.

Children

1993: Greetings Stamps

Oh look William has found a nice present for his sister Ethel!  Generations of children have enjoyed the adventures of this mischievous schoolboy and his gang, the Outlaws. Richmal Crompton (1890-1969) published her first book Just Willliam about his adventures in 1922 and in the following years many more followed, many radio and television series have also aired since, the latest one being only a few years ago. There have been a number of illustrators of the books over the years but Thomas Henry is the one inextricably linked with William and the illustrator of the stamp Paul Slater has recreated his style.

1995: Greetings Stamps

Children often appear on the paintings of LS Lowry (1887-1976) whatever the subject, he is usually associated with his views of the urban and industrial north.  I always look for a dog in his painting because there is usually at least one in the background somewhere, but not in this case.  This painting is just called, Children Playing. I wonder what the game is?

1937: Child Welfare

Like William here is another laughing boy but this time from long ago and painted by Frans Hals (1582-1666) but he does look more angelic.

Here are some organisations formed to channel all  that youthful energy, first the Boy's and Girl's Brigade

1982: Youth Organisations

and Boy Scouts and Girl Guides.

 I was amused to notice this cancel from 1982  in my collection, years before the internet changed all our lives

'Everyone's shopping by post these days'.  The stamps were designed by the illustrator Brian Sanders who has produced many stamps including a whole series for World War II.  His life in five decades of illustrations can be seen here.

An entry to Sunday Stamps II theme - Children - play along at See It On A Postcard

Girl Reading

Girl Reading by Harold Knight

The view from the window shows a bare branched tree and a hazy view, perhaps the windows are a little steamed up from the warmth of the room. What better place to recline on a winters day, to read and then perhaps muse while looking out of the window. Whoever she is and wherever this window view is  it looks an extremely comfortable place to recline.    

The painting is 'Girl Reading' by Harold Knight (1874-1961) exhibited at the Royal Academy, London in 1932. Harold is less known than his artist wife Laura who he married in 1903,  their painting styles possibly reflect their personalities, Harold quiet and Laura exuberant.  He painted mostly portraits and interiors, quite a few of which are of girls reading or immersed in a task.  He and Laura spent several years in Holland studying the Dutch Masters and that influence can be seen (keeping to this week's theme) in a painting like Reading At The Window  

Postcards for the Weekend theme this week is - Books/Reading/ Authors - read more at Connections to the World

War and Peace

2011: Remembrance Day( Designer: Tim Hancock)

Australia issued two stamps for Remembrance Day in 2011 and also two maximum cards (one of which I have shown before here).  Soldiers, poppies and the poem 'In Flanders Field' are on both.

The card is a photograph of Australian soldiers at Bapaume, France. The village was occupied by the Germans at the beginning of WW1 in September 1914 and was within sight of the Australian trenches in the winter months at the beginning of 1917. The Germans gave the illusion of retreat as spring approached and the allied troupes celebrated but the Germans were actually moving 7 kilometres to a better, and newly developed, defensive zone 'the Hindenburg Line'. Four Australian divisions were thrown in reaching the outskirts of the village on 17th March where booby traps and time bombs had been left behind .  The Germans would briefly retake the village in March 1918 but the second battle 21 Aug-3 Sept was the beginning of the end of the war in Europe.

The "war to end all wars" led to another World War and once again countries were destroyed.

This Guernsey FDC celebrates the anniversary of the liberation of the islands from foreign troops in May 1945, the painting of the scene on the steps I think might be the reading of the official proclamation of liberation and the message from the King which has appeared on other stamps of Guernsey but I like the optimism of the Peace stamp on this cover.

1985: Peace in Europe (Liberation Day 9th May 1945)

Which as we know did not continue but that doesn't stop people of good heart  promoting peace

1983: Centenary of the Swedish Peace Movement (Svensk Fredsrörelse)

The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Association was formed in 1883 and is the oldest peace organisation in the world today.  There is a rather Monty Python moment to the English speaker on the stamp with the name Fred! on the banner of the peace demonstration but the Swedish for peace is fred.

An entry to Sunday Stamps II theme - Peace or War - join the fray at See It On A Postcard

 

Time for Tea

A tea pot from about 1834-40 is on display in the Harris Museum, Preston, a piece of the towns history, for this is where the teetotal movement was started by Joseph Livesey in 1833.  At first it only promoted the abstinence from spirits but eventually the members of the movement took 'The Pledge' to abstain from all alcohol, 'except as medicine'. It became a mass working class movement linked to radical politics, non conformist religion and the quest for women's suffrage. They couldn't meet in pubs so they built Temperance Halls, hotels and bars which served things like ginger beer and sarsaparilla.  By the 1930s it was all over, although a lot of the buildings survive and are now put to other uses but surprisingly there are still a scattering of temperance bars around the country.

Tea drinking boomed in the 19th Century Britain and we have never looked back since. So whats your tipple?  Here is one of Martin Wiscombe's retro cards

 I can't resist including William Cowper's most famous lines from his poem The Task evoking a winter's evening.

 

Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,
And, while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups,
That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful evening in.

'Postcards for the Weekend' is enjoying Coffee Tea and Pastries at Connections to the World 

Fireworks

1965: Chinese Folklore (1st series)

Light the blue touchpaper and retire, as the instructions on fireworks tend to say.  These Taiwanese children are prepared for the loud explosion of what looks like a firecracker -.

2012: Lunar New Year

Boom.  Years ago there was only one night at this time of year for fireworks here, on November 5th, but it has expanded a lot in recent times, especially if it occurs near the weekend.  For the firework enthusiast (and I'm rather fond of them) in 2016 there are displays locally on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and for some random reason I can't fathom, Tuesday.   As it turned out November 5th was the perfect cool, clear starry night

2015: Jersey Seasons

 Whatever day or time of year you watch fireworks there will be always oohs and aahs. An accompaniment of a crispy jacket potato cooked in the bonfire would be my food of choice.  One of the best places to watch fireworks (and sunsets) is over water.  This stamp is 'Sunset at the Radio Tower at St. Brelade'.  Built as an observation tower during World War II this recently restored building is now a unique holiday let on Jersey's south west coast.  Perfect views every night.

This week's Sunday Stamps II theme - Fireworks or Night Views - more displays at See It On A Postcard     

Feast

"Russian Cuisine" by Margarita Tkachenko

This card came from Diana in Tomsk who told me she regularly cooks borsch.  I imagine a nice hot soup is the perfect winter warmer in Western Siberia.  I liked the sound of what she serves with it dumplings, mmm, in Russian, vareniki (dough with stuffing inside - could be potatoes, cabbage, cherry or cottage cheese).  I am not a big fan of the beetroot but do like them pickled and there are all sorts things that can be pickled on this postcard.  As winter approaches and the nights draw in perhaps ones thoughts would turn to a steaming samovar with a continual supply of tea for everyone.

Postcards for the Weekend theme - Foods of the World - join the Maria's Linky Party feast here