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The Postcard

A postcard bearing a high-definition glossy real photograph. It was published by Upton's Bazaars of Folkestone.

The card was posted Canterbury using a 1d. stamp on Friday the 13th. August 1926. It was sent to:

Mr. C. A. Baldock,
56, Montague Road,
Hanwell,
Middlesex.

The pencilled message on the divided back of the card was as follows:

"Folkestone,
13/8/26.
Here we are.
Yes, I did turn up, I
was there first!
Romo & I are waiting
in a fish & chip shop
for our dinner.
See you Saturday.
Kind regards to May,
Frank."

Folkestone - Gateway to the Trenches

During the Great War, Folkestone was known as the Gateway to the Trenches because of the vast number of troops who set sail for the Western Front from the harbour.

Between 1914 and 1918, an estimated 8 million troops passed through Folkestone on their way to war.

A memorial arch now stands at the top of the hill above the harbour where boats awaited the troops.

So many men failed to return that the steep downhill street leading down to the harbour (formerly known as Slope Road), is now named Road of Remembrance.

Commemorations in Folkestone marking 100 years since Great Britain entered the Great War were organised by Shepway District Council and the charity Step Short, which is named after the order given to the marching men to shorten their stride as they progressed downhill to their destiny.

Lou Gehrig

So what else happened on the day that Frank posted the card?

Well, on the 13th. August 1926, Lou Gehrig hit two home runs off of fellow baseball legend Walter Johnson in the same game. Jack Fournier in 1914 was the only other player ever to do so.

-- Lou Gehrig and ALS

On 19th. June 1939, his 36th. birthday, Lou was told at the Mayo Clinic that he had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

However at his wife Eleanor's request, the gloominess of the prognosis in terms of symptoms and life expectancy was kept from him.

To this day, the rare condition of ALS is commonly referred to in the US as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

-- Lou Gehrig's Retirement Speech

On the 4th. July 1939 Lou gave his famous retirement speech. Here is the major part of it:

"For the past two weeks you have been
reading about the bad break I got.

Yet today I consider myself the luckiest
man on the face of the earth. I have been
in ballparks for 17 years, and have never
received anything but kindness and
encouragement from you fans.

Look at these grand men. Which of you
wouldn't consider it the highlight of his
career just to associate with even one of
them for a day?

When the New York Giants, a team you
would give your right arm to beat, and
vice versa, sends you a gift - that's something.

When everybody down to the groundskeepers
and the boys in white coats remember you with
trophies - that's something.

When you have a wonderful mother-in-law
who takes sides with you in squabbles with
her own daughter - that is something.

When you have a father and mother who work
all their lives so that you can have an education
and build your body - it's a blessing.

When you have a wife who's been a tower of
strength and showed more courage than you
ever dreamed existed - that's the finest I know.

So I close in saying that I might have got a bad
break, but I've got an awful lot to live for.
Thank you".

The opening part of the speech was quoted in the 1993 film 'Sleepless in Seattle'.

-- Other ALS Sufferers

Other sufferers of ALS include Stephen Hawking (1942 - 2018 ) and David Niven (1910 - 1983).

-- The Death and Legacy of Lou Gehrig

Lou died in the Bronx aged 37 on the 2nd. June 1941 without knowing that, 27 weeks later to the day, the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbour and awake a sleeping giant.

Lou may be gone, but he is far from forgotten - in 1969 the Baseball Writers' Association of America voted Gehrig the greatest first baseman of all time.

in 1999, nearly sixty years after his death, he was the leading vote-getter on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, chosen by fans.

A monument in Gehrig's honour, originally dedicated by the Yankees in 1941, currently resides in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium.

The Lou Gehrig Memorial Award is given annually to the MLB player who best exhibits Gehrig's integrity and character.

Fidel Castro

The day also marked the birth, in Birán, Cuba, of the revolutionary and politician, Fidel Castro.

Castro died in 2016.

HANWELL
Source;
Digital Expression UK (2025)

HANWELL STATION
Source;
Digital Expression UK (2025)

HANWELL STATION
Source;
Digital Expression UK (2025)