Leeds
Postcards was started at the end of 1979 by Richard Scott.
It gradually grew in the next few years until 1984 when
Richard Honey
and then I joined during the time of the miners' strike. We raised
£40,000 for the strike fund by publishing postcards for the
NUM and selling them via The Guardian in daily front page adverts.
With the
aim of getting more campaigns to publish postcards and make their
aims exciting and accessible we
worked alongside groups such as Anti-Apartheid Campaign,
Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign and Friends of the Earth
publishing hundreds of successful, beautiful, punchy cards.
In 1986
Leeds Postcards became a co-operative and by 1989 we had
expanded to six members and rented more units in Aire Street Workshops
in the centre of Leeds. Part
of our mission was to give information on the back of the cards
to tell people how they could get more involved with the issue featured;
to get publicity onto the high street. We also vanguarded the use
of environmentally friendly printing; using both recycled paper-stock
and soya based inks and recycled brightly coloured envelopes.
Unfortunately
by 1996, despite Leeds Postcards being the UK's longest running
co-operative and having survived the recession of the early nineties,
cash flow difficulties drove us to crisis point. The bank refused
to help and with pay frozen, the remaining members left. I
sold off as much as possible to pay off the debts and with skeleton
stock bought Leeds Postcards' title and I have been running
it as a one woman business since 1997.
By keeping
overheads low I have been able to consistently publish and distribute
to independent shops and outlets as well as Oxfam Bookshops
throughout the UK and through small distributors in the USA, London,
Holland and Germany. This enables me to do regular print-runs so
costs can be kept low and new cards can constantly be published.
Information
technology has certainly changed since Leeds Postcards started.
Issue politics are ideally served by the internet. Anyone can further
their contacts, understanding and knowledge with a click of a few
buttons. But there still is a massive gap between mass marketed
easy-selling postcards and those that might challenge, remind, or
protest; give a timely focus or a political punch.
Don't forget
to send any ideas art or inspiration for new cards and if you are
involved in a campaign and would like a postcard to raise funds
and awareness please get in touch. New cards, new interests are
Leeds Postcards life blood - no two are the same. Keep it
real. Thanks for your interest and ongoing support
btw Could
you help get Leeds Postcards on to Wikipedia? This unique piece
of political and cultural history is being denied an entry....could
you request or help? email christine@leedspostcards.com
thanks Christine
