It’s Our 3rd Birthday on 26th October!

So excited that it’s our 3rd Birthday on Monday 26th October! What an incredible three years it’s been meeting and connecting with so many interesting people and organisations, and all the adventures we’ve had along the way. It’s been a real blast!

The biggie this birthday had been to hopefully meet up with The Keeper of The National Archives and do something to do with the Prize Papers but sadly that’s all on hold and there isn’t really an opportunity to get out in the community and do a letter writing event which we’d normally do either.

However we couldn’t let the occasion pass without marking it somehow so below are a few ways we thought we would.

IDEA NUMBER 1: Songs on the Radio

Not sure about everyone else but these past months I’ve spent a lot of time with the BBC Radio 2 DJs. They almost feel like members of the family! Last year through a big joint effort of people writing in I managed to get on Sara Cox’s All Request Friday which was very exciting. We got Stevie Wonder’s brilliant song Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours played.

This year our birthday falls on a Monday so I wondered if we could try for Zoe Ball’s Pick Your Own Playlist where you get to choose three tunes. There’s only one week to go but if anyone fancied dropping Zoe a line too in support of our request that would be fab.

These are the three I thought would be a fantastic trio to kick off the celebrations.

Love Letters by Alison Moyet

Please Mr Postman by The Beatles

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours by Stevie Wonder (it feels like our anthem)

Zoe’s address is Zoe Ball, Pick Your Own Playlist, BBC Radio 2, London, W1A 1AA, or email at zoeball@bbc.co.uk.

(I have also written to Dermot O’Leary to see if he’d play A Letter to You by Shakin’ Stevens, Jeremy Vine to see if he’d play Bruce Springsteen’s Letter to You, and Mark Radcliffe to see if he’d play If I Were a Blackbird by Sam Kelly and the Lost Boys (it has a lovely line in it about sending a letter), just to cover all bases…)

IDEA NUMBER 2: Random Letters to Strangers

Writing letters has always connected people in a deep and meaningful way but especially this year when so many have been alone and isolated and faced uncertain times. During our time at Purbeck Valley Folk Festival in 2018 we hit upon an idea that it would be fun for people to write mystery letters to strangers and leave them dotted about the festival site for people to find.

It got me thinking that at difficult times of the year, like Christmas or Valentine’s Day, leaving little letters about the place you live might just make all the difference to someone’s day, so I wrote a little card and put it on a fence to be found. I don’t know who did but someone found it because it wasn’t there the next day.

I wondered if it might be a nice thing to do for our birthday week which also falls over half term, just to bring a bit of happiness to a tough time. Definitely please wash your hands before writing any, and I’m going to write this on each of the envelopes to be completely on the safe side:

I WASHED MY HANDS BEFORE WRITING THIS. PLEASE DO WASH YOUR HANDS TOO AFTER READING!

Leave them somewhere they’ll be found like a park bench, in a public building, on a fence, at a train station, or somewhere similar. Pick a dry day if they are going to be left outside.

IDEA NUMBER 3: Write a Letter to Someone Special

Perhaps the best way to help celebrate our 3rd Birthday is simply to find a quiet moment and write a letter to someone special to keep the art of letter writing truly alive. Why not cast off all the electronic devices (not forever – I like them too) and have a little intimate moment with a friend or loved one via pen and paper and words on a page, away from all the distractions.

I’m always torn because it’s lovely to see what you’ve done in a tweet or post but we could try not to, and delight in that secret feeling that your letter and all the contents is just for one other person. The only validation will be that the recipient will receive it and without a doubt love it. What do you think?

IDEA NUMBER 4: Cake!

What is a celebration without cake! At some point in the day on 26th October raise a cuppatea (or something stronger or both) together with a slice of cake to toast our 3rd Birthday.

We could even have our very own THLAS GBBO if anyone was feeling particularly enthusiastic. I’m wondering what to try and make this year. The first birthday cake was quite a success but the second I’m not so sure about. It tasted nice but titter ye not, it was meant to be a postbox! So cake Number 3!? I’m no cake designer but if you fancied making a letter/post-themed cake to share (as in a photo) that would be amazing. Biscuits would work too! Just for a bit of fun.

So there you have it. In the absence of a physical get together and any special events they were just some ways we could feel connected on our Society’s 3rd Birthday.

Hope you can join us.

Dinah

7 thoughts on “It’s Our 3rd Birthday on 26th October!

  1. Joan Walker says:

    Hi Dinah congrats on your third birthday next Monday of the Handwritten letter society shame things can’t go as planned but nothing seems to right now! Stay safe.
    How do you get to join it?
    Thanks Joan Walker
    ? Rainbows member

  2. Angela says:

    I’ve been inspired by your idea to write to a random stranger and I’ve written to an elderly lady who asked me to post a letter for her a couple of weeks ago – hope it raises a smile :0)
    Happy birthday!

    1. D1nah_ says:

      Hi Angela, That’s lovely to hear! Thank you so much for taking part in our birthday celebrations. They definitely will raise a smile. Warm wishes, Dinah

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