Derek JamesA special thank you to all Evening News readers who have helped to put a smile on the faces of deaf children in Norwich and the rest of Norfolk in recent years.Derek James

A special thank you to all Evening News readers who have helped to put a smile on the faces of deaf children in Norwich and the rest of Norfolk in recent years.

The amount of money we have now raised for the Norfolk Deaf Children's Society by selling your picture postcards stands at a magnificent �14,036.65.

That's the amount of cash collected by selling your old picture postcards.

I pass them on to postcard experts Michael and Sylvia Porter who sell them to customers all over this country and aboard. Think of a subject and the chances are they will know of someone, somewhere who is a collector.

The Porters have several people collecting on their behalf and have now raised more than �78,000 for the society.

Every penny raised goes to buying the latest equipment and to making life a little easier for deaf children in the city and county.

'We sincerely thank everyone for their help and hope they will continue to support us next year,' said Michael.

Bundles of picture postcards, old and new, have been arriving at Prospect House since I first asked you to send them my way. A lot have been delivered in the last couple of weeks.

'It doesn't matter what kind of cards they are, someone, somewhere is collecting them,' added Michael.

'We couldn't carry on supporting the wonderful work which the society does without your help,' he added.

'We are grateful for all kinds of postcards. Old, new, British, foreign, used and unused,' said Michael.

If you have any cards you don't want then why not help the deaf children by sending them my way.

You can drop them off at Prospect House at the top of Rouen Road with my address on or give me a call on 01603 772420 and I will arrange for them to be collected.

The Norfolk Post Card Club meets at Trowse White Horse on the second Wednesday of each month at 7.30pm.

The emails of yesteryear

Postcards have been around since they were first licensed by the Post Office in 1894. Most were plain with an inky Post Office stamp and it wasn't until 1902 with the introduction of the divided back for a message and an address that pictures on the front became more widespread.

They were the emails and text message of their day - keep people in touch with each other and spreading the news.

And the delivery service knocked spots off the one we are offered today.

You could write a card in the morning and it was delivered just hours later. There were as many as five or six postal deliveries a day

And if there was a disaster, photographers made sure postcards of the event were on sale as soon as possible…such as the 1912 floods in Norwich.

Did You Know?

On this day in Norfolk of 1165 there were reports of an earthquake which was severe enough to ring church bells and 'throw people to the ground.'

On this day in 1788 the first consignment of convicts from England arrived in Australia, at Sydney Cove.

On this day in 1828 the Duke of Wellington became Prime Minister.

On this day in Norfolk of 1845 high tides and gales wrecked ships off the coast and at least seven lives were lost off Great Yarmouth.

On this day in Norfolk of 1884 a violent thunderstorm wiped up gales which caused major damage and blew the 'fliers' off Lakenham Mill. They landed 200 yards away.

On this day in 1905 the world's largest diamond was found in South Africa. The Cullinan Diamond weighed more than one and a quarter pounds.