s well as being a great source of old photographs, postcards can also provide an useful insight into the opinions of visitors to our city. A few candid words will quickly betray their thoughts, giving us the objective view of a neutral observer. It is also interesting to study the handwriting, the sentiments and the humour used by folk in decades gone by.

1948: The Grove - only pretty area in town!

hat a difference a war makes! This postcard was sent at a time when our city was still recovering from the traumatic times endured during the Second World War, especially since the Blitz. The war had ended three years before, but reminders of it were everywhere one looked, and the comment made by the sender of this card - which might have sounded harsh at any other time - was probably quite typical of the general sentiment back then.

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Postcard text: This view is of the only pretty area in the town. Will send a more typical one later.

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The text above was, of course, referring to a small wooded area known then as "The Grove", a place now more commonly recognised as the entrance to the War Memorial Park, at the junction of the Leamington and Kenilworth Roads.

I wonder which postcard this sender had in mind back in 1948? When she says she'll send a "more typical one later", she might have seen this postcard on the newsagent's shelf, as portrayed in the Blitz section of this website. Coventry's inhabitants had learned to have patience though, and would witness many changes throughout the next two decades.

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