Aunt Sally and The Rising Price of Stamps

I recently came across some photographs of my Aunt Sally.Here she is, in my old kitchen.


Each year the village of Tetney would hold a Scarecrow Festival. It attracted huge crowds of people and was a great fund-raising event which brought together the various factions of the village. As ever, there were a few who wouldn't join in, but we didn't miss them.

There would be a Flower Festival at the church, Cream Teas in the Village Hall, events on the Village Green and the Playing Field, Horse Rides, Open Gardens, Tug Of War, Tombolas, Raffles, Craft Stalls, etc, etc.

As with most villages there were the Village Hall people, the Mother's Union, the Church people, the Women's Institute, and somewhere in the middle were the village people. We all worked together,

but there were undercurrents...Midsummer Murder scenarios were never far away!

The idea was for every household to make a scarecrow or two and display them in their gardens. Then the public would walk around and view them before being asked to vote on the 'Best in Show' ... and to spend their money on the many other attractions we had provided to empty their pockets, purses and wallets.

We had decided to do good old Aunt Sally and Worzel Gummidge. I think we were rather more successful with our attempt at Aunt Sally than with poor Worzel. This is how they should have looked...

This is how Aunt Sally and Worzel appeared in the TV programme

...but this is how poor Worzel ended up

..unfortunately I don't have a photograph of Aunt Sally in all her finery. The scarecrows were left out for the rest of the week and gradually the village returned to normal. Coffers had been filled, squabbles and resentments would fester ready for the next fundraiser.
I also came across a huge pile of old letters. I'll do a post about the letters another time, but it is the price on the stamps which fascinated me today, especially given the enormous price rise which is about to hit us.These letters date from the late 1960's when the cost of sending a letter was 4d.That is four old pence, as it was pre-decimalisation!
The cost of a first class stamp is set to rise to 60p - that is 12 shillings, pre decimalisation - 144 old pence.I wish I could get out of the habit of converting back to £ s d!