IT was full of details about a holiday in the sun ... the only problem is that the news is 40 years old.
A postcard bringing holiday greetings to a couple in Almondbury has just been delivered – 40 years after it was posted.
Couple David and Jennifer Palliser were dumbfounded to find the postcard – bearing a 5d stamp and addressed to a previous occupant of their house – among the bills landing on the doormat.
And it came amid mounting fears that postal workers are set to go on national strike.
The Communication Workers Union revealed on Thursday that members backed a nationwide walkout by 3-1 in protest at the “imposition” of changes to working practices as well as cuts in their pay and job losses.
The postcard was sent by someone called Heather to a Mr and Mrs Sedgwick at 27 Broadgate Crescent.
The postmark shows it was posted in June or July, 1969, in Shakespeare’s birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon.
Heather talks about enjoying the sunshine, watching plays and seeing a match at Wimbledon’s Centre Court.
Heather comments on having seats behind US tennis player Charlie Pasarell.
The Wimbledon men’s singles title was eventually won by Australian Rod Laver while Britain’s Ann Jones took the women’s title.
The postcard, featuring a colour picture of Anna Hathaway’s Cottage, also bears a stamp marking the Garrick Theatre Jubilee 1769-1969.
Mrs Palliser said: “I saw the postcard lying on the mat with the other post and my first thought was ‘who’s sent us a postcard?’
“I read the name and thought it must have come to the wrong house.
“Then I saw it had a 5d stamp and realised it was properly addressed but was 40 years old.
“The postcard looks to be in good condition, considering its age.”
Mrs Palliser said a Mr and Mrs Sedgwick had lived at the address but the house had at least two other occupants before the Pallisers moved in during 1986.
Mr Palliser said: “We are asking around some of the neighbours who may know what became of the Sedgwicks or their relatives.
“If possible, we’d like to make sure the postcard gets to its rightful recipients.”
A spokesman for Royal Mail said: “Without seeing the item, it’s difficult to speculate as to what may have happened, but it’s extremely unlikely that it’s been in our system all that time as we regularly check all our sorting machines and offices.
“It could be that it has only recently been re-posted by a member of the public.”
Other events in summer of 1969 :
June 1 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono protest against war by staging a “bed-in” in Canada
June 20 – Georges Pompidou is elected President of France
June 24 – The UK and Rhodesia sever diplomatic ties
July 8 – The US makes its first troop withdrawals from Vietnam
July 20 – Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the Moon
