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A treasure trove of historic postcards showing scenes from Lake District history has been uncovered and put online for public viewing.
The collection includes 140 postcards mostly of England’s longest lake Windermere. But they also show other locations, attractions and hotels in the Lake District.
It was discovered by Nigel Wilkinson, the Managing Director of Windermere Lake Cruises as he sorted the belongings of his father Ralph Wilkinson.
“I knew nothing about this collection until I came across it while sorting out Dad’s possessions,” explains Nigel. “He has failing memory and has moved into a care village with my mum. We have quite an extensive collection of postcards in the Windermere Lake Cruises’ archive but there are many in my dad’s collection we have never seen before. It’s a wonderful, nostalgic window into Windermere’s past.”
The postcards, which were neatly filed in an album, appear to range in date from the early 1900s up to the 1980s. Some are by the celebrated postcard publisher George Perry Abraham who was based in Keswick. Some have been written on and contain messages to friends from holiday makers in the Lake District.
“I can only asume he collected them because he loved this area,” says Nigel. “It’s a real treasure trove for anyone who has an affection for the Lake District and Cumbria.”
Originally from the North West, Ralph Wilkinson, who’s 87, has a lifelong love of the Cumbrian lakes and fells.
He lived in Grange Over Sands for the last twenty years before moving into a care village. During his working career he was Bursar of the College of Ripon and York St Johns – now York St John University.
His love of Cumbria was so great he even wrote a book about it – “Touring Cumbria and The Lake District: A Motorist’s Guide” which was published in 1985.
His collection of postcards has now been digitised by Windermere Lake Cruises and can be viewed HERE
