Turned out nice again for Scarborough’s saucy seaside postcards

Once no seaside holiday was complete without the cards and their politically incorrect jokes about mother in laws, nagging wives, skimpily dressed big-busted blondes, and hen-pecked husbands. Now they are set to become a firm seaside favourite again after Yorkshire firm Bamforth re-launched its uniquely British brand of humour in Scarborough.

The seaside town has become the first to stock the cards that Bamforth will be blitzing holidaymakers with in the coming year both in the UK and abroad.

The initial print run will be for 300,000 cards for UK distribution. But orders are also flooding in from all around the world from the Outer Hebrides to Australia. It is the first time in years that Bamforth has targeted the British seaside resorts that were once the firm’s “shop window” for nearly a century.

The artwork for the 54 “new cards” actually dates from the early 1950s and some have not been seen on the display racks for more than a quarter of a century.

For 25 years, many have been only available to collectors prepared to pay large sums over the internet. Now anyone can buy them for 50p.

Originally based at Holmfirth, the Bamforth collection ended up under the wing of former Scarborough rival postcard firm ETW Dennis.

When the Dennis factory gates closed for good Leeds-based businessman Ian Wallace found thousands of the old Bamforth cards lying around in cardboard boxes, hopelessly out of order, with many missing.

Over the years, he has been painstakingly rebuilding the archive, often turning to 
private collectors to fill in the gaps.

Now the Bamforth images are enjoying a new lease of life on mugs, egg cups, toasters, T-shirts, sticks of rock, and boxes of sweets.

The brand is also looking forward to a huge future online with mobile phone and other applications in development to market the images world-wide and introduce them to a new generation.

“We are putting Bamforths not just on postcards but on phone apps and mouse mats – but postcards are still the basis of where it all began,” Mr Wallace said yesterday.

“We just want people to carry on laughing. Bamforth did not have a go at anyone – they had a go at everyone and still are.

“There are some firm favourites in the collection and some hilarious images which have not been seen for many years but are just as topical today as when they were created.”

The cards were unveiled to the public at a gift shop run by Teddy Sulman, 73, whose family 
has sold the cards for 55 
years.

He said: “The secret of their success is they have always stayed just on the right side of public taste so while there have been rows about filthy postcards they have never been Bamforths.

“Obviously, there has been a big decline in the volume of all postcards sales and this year has been particularly sensitive because of the large increase in postage.

“But we are still selling them and they are still making people chuckle.”

The new issue of cards includes work by classic Bamforth artists such as Arnold Taylor. He joined Bamforth as an apprentice, rose as an illustrator, and died in his 80s after ending up as a director and share-holder.

Among the first to browse through the new cards were 
Dave Lambert, 68, and his wife Linda, 59, of Irton, near Scarborough.

Mrs Lambert said: “It’s great to see them back. It cheers you up on a dull day. We just stood there having a laugh at them.

“They take us back to our childhood and we need some light relief in today’s situation. We are from an era where we do not text or email and a postcard means a lot.”

Mr Lambert added: “They are not offensive. We used to see them as kids and spend twenty minutes reading through them all outside the shops.

“Now we can buy them and send them to our kids,” Mr Lambert added.