Christmas 2012 Letterbox Hybrid

This cache has been archived.

Knagur Green: There have been reports that this cache is still there but the CO has given no indication that they wish to maintain it or re-enable it after they disabled it in 2015.

Due to no response from the CO after the request to maintain or replace the cache, I am archiving it to, stop it showing on the listings and/or to create place for the geocaching community

If you feel that this cache has been archived in error please feel free to contact me via message or email quoting the GC number concerned

Thank you for understanding

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Hidden : 12/21/2012
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

The cache is not at listed co-ords!!

Standing under the yellow cross look for the upside down traingle. Once spotted head into the hundred acre woods and search for the odd one out.

I thought that as it is Christmas to offer a rather unique type of cache for PE, A Letterbox Hybrid.

A Letterbox hybrid contains a stamp, a log book, and can contain a few swaps.

The idea is that you bring along your own stamp and stamp the cache log book and then use the cache stamp in your own log book.

The idea is to collect stamps from as many letterbox caches as you can. If you are not collecting stamps you can treat this as a normal traditional cache.

The stamp and stamp pad are to remain with the cache

As this is a letterbox cache I want to look at the history of the Christmas Postcard. Below is a traditional picture that is found on many Christmas Postcards.



The History of Christmas Cards

The custom of sending Christmas cards was started in the UK in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole. He was a civil servant (Government worker) who was very interested in the new 'Public Post Office' and wondered how it could be used more by ordinary people.

The First Christmas Card

Sir Henry had the idea of Christmas Cards with his friend John Horsley, who was an artist. They designed the first card and sold them for 1 shilling each. (That is only 5p or 8 cents today(!), but in those days it was worth much, much more.) The card had three panels. The outer two panels showed people caring for the poor and in the center panel was a family having a large Christmas dinner! Some people didn't like the card because it showed a child being given a glass of wine!
The first postal service that ordinary people could use was started in 1840 when the first 'Penny Post' public postal deliveries began. Before that, only very rich people could afford to send anything in the post. The new Post Office was able to offer a Penny stamp because new railways were being built. These could carry much more post than the horse and carriage that had been used before. Also, trains could go a lot faster. Cards became even more popular in the UK when they could be posted in an unsealed envelope for one halfpenny - half the price of an ordinary letter. As printing methods improved, Christmas cards became much more popular and were produced in large numbers from about 1860. In 1870 the cost of sending a post card, and also Christmas cards, dropped to half a penny. This meant even more people were able to send cards.

An engraved card by the artist William Egley, who illustrated some of Charles Dickens's books, is on display in the British Museum. By the early 1900s, the custom had spread over Europe and had become especially popular in Germany. The first cards usually had pictures of the Nativity scene on them. In late Victorian times, robins (an English bird) and snow-scenes became popular. In those times the postmen were nicknamed 'Robin Postmen' because of the red uniforms they wore. Snow-scenes were popular because they reminded people of the very bad winter that happened in the UK in 1836.

Christmas Cards appeared in the United States of America in the late 1840s, but were very expensive and most people couldn't afford them. It 1875, Louis Prang, a printer who was originally from German but who had also worked on early cards in the UK, started mass producing cards so more people could afford to buy them. Mr Prang's first cards featured flowers, plants, and children.

In 1915, John C. Hall and two of his brothers created Hallmark Cards, who are still one of the biggest card makers today! In the 1910s and 1920s, home made cards became popular. They were often unusual shapes and had things such as foil and ribbon on them. These were usually too delicate to send through the post and were given by hand.

Nowadays, cards have all sorts of pictures on them: jokes, winter pictures, Santa Claus or romantic scenes of life in past times. Charities often sell their own Christmas Cards as a way raising money at Christmas. Charities also make money from seals or stickers used to seal the card envelopes. This custom started in Denmark in the early 1900s by a postal worker who thought it would be a good way for charities to raise money, as well as making the cards more decorative. It was a great success: over four million were sold in the first year! Soon Sweden and Norway adopted the custom and then it spread all over Europe and to America.

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