Do you ever hand write letters or know anyone who does?

I have all the letters my parents sent me over the years - some really funny. When they died I found the letters I sent them - lovely to reread. When I had a significant birthday my best friend copied all the letters I sent her when we were in our 20s (she lived in another country). It was like reading a diary.

These days I only write letter when sending condolences.

I don't write letters often..when I do write to someone I actually enjoy it - providing I'm not in a rush. It's much better to receive a hand -written note than an email. More direct and personal. Emails are quick but they lose a lot

I wrote letters at Christmas, and probably will to one elderly family friend this year.

I write 2 letters at Christmas every year to a couple of friends. We don’t have any other contact just a Xmas card and a letter once a year.

My DDs live abroad, so I write letters to them from time to time, especially for birthdays/ Christmas. I send postcards when I’m on holiday. I also always write something in Christmas cards, although I’m beginning to wonder why I bother, when an early in December-posted card didn’t arrive until well into January!!

I write to two dear friends. One is 82 and the wife of my dad's best friend (both dad and his friend died long ago). She remembers things about my family that few, if any, others, do. That is very special to me.
The other is a 91 year old woman who lived in the same village as us when my children were growing up.
Both of these connections are precious to me and warm my heart.

I still write letters as my thoughts flow so much more freely when I write .I find typing so jarring especially when writing a letter that needs to be meaningful .I also have very good hand writing and enjoy calligraphy .I have a selection of pens and beautiful writing paper .Last year i wrote a letter of thanks to all the people who attended my fathers funeral and the resonance from that was just wonderful .
While clearing other my parents home last year I found all the letters that i had written to my mum as a young woman .It was amazing to read them all and remember that person I once was .

I and my friends still write as does my husband, but we're over 60. My daughter (30s) still does on occasion. I also email and text, which sometimes - with the inclusion of photos - is better, but I still love to receive a well-written letter. Unfortunately the cost of postage is getting prohibitive while society just absorbs the cost of social media, which is what email, insta and fb are after all.

@MrsMoastyToasty 🤣 so true

This is such a lovely thread. I don't know the last time I received a handwritten letter ☹️ I will still have all my old cards and letters in a box somewhere because I never bin things like that. I think your friend sounds lovely op, like a proper old school gentleman.

I wrote a letter to the DVLA last week, as I needed to return my V5 document with a covering letter. It was quicker to hand write it and post it all back, than open up my laptop, write a letter, realise the printer isn't connected, connect the printer realise I have no ink in the cartridges, go to the shop and buy more, insert the new cartridges, scream at the printer when it has a hissy fit, waste several pages while it gets its act in gear and finally print my letter off and put a signature to it!

I was only thinking very recently that it is a shame no one really writes letters anymore. I used to write many when I was younger and still wrote to my very elderly gran until she died last year. I also always write with a fountain pen.

@church

Also, writing a letter is an art. It's not dashing off a few lines where you can delete or cut and paste. You have to plan it. I often plan my letter whilst I walk the dog or do the washing up. It's a lovely way to stay in touch.

I agree with that. It really is an art and so much more personal than a quickly cobbled together text or email, and yes, you have to think and plan which is also an art.

My stepdaughter does from time to time. She is early thirties and is a busy professional. Obviously she spends a lot of time useing a keyboard, to the point of being tired of it, so writing a letter to myself or a friend is a nice change for her.

I wrote letters still. I use a fountain pen and have personalised stationery. I love it; writing a letter requires an hour of calm reflection whereas a text takes seconds.

I have boxes of letters I've saved from school/university years when we all wrote letters to one another. Sometimes we'd see each other all day at school, go home and write a long letter, and then hand it to your mate before class, mad really 😂 Loads of letters and cards from old boyfriends too, fun (and a bit cringey) to look back on!

I don’t write letters and haven’t done for years.

My mil, who is tech savvy re WhatsApp, texting and emails, used to write letters to my sons when they were at uni. They have kept them all.

A few times a year, two of my close friends will send me cards ‘just because’, with a nice message written inside. It’s lovely to receive them. The last one I got said on the front ‘Let’s go somewhere and judge people’. Perfect.

@OuchAndAbout . Your hand made cards must make receiving one of your letters really special. I have a friend who always makes me a birthday card and it's without fail my favourite.

Gosh yes, I remember writing paper sets. I had a floral one, and one with a little labrador puppy in the top corner!

My dad's cousin worked in some kind of publisher/printing company, and they would make the offcuts into writingpads, the type that was glued on one edge. For decades my family sent letters written on very distinctive (to me) lavender coloured sheets!

My handwriting was always too big for the A5ish size of letter paper. Though getting multiple pages of a letter was always a delight!

Do you remember when making your own in Microsoft.. Word? Publisher? was suddenly all the rage? Printed out cards that were sheets of A4 folded, too,

I guess if you fancy doing so, making your own writing paper on Microsoft and printing it on some nice paper with matching envelopes would still be a very welcome gift.

You've made me reminisce about my teens and early twenties, when letter writing was still "n" and i exchanged letters with my friends - some of whom lives 20+ miles way, and sometimes when we went to university. My parents wrote to me there too, even though we also spoke on the phone. I bet I have cleared them out and I'm sad about that.

I don't write proper letters any more, but I do try to send a notecard or postcard every now and again. Partly it's sharing handmade cards to my friends who are also art and crafty and who will appreciate them, and partly just because those who I occasionally send a nice notelet to appreciate getting something nice through the post every now and again. It's only reciprocated by a few of them, but I get why it's not more of them and I don't mind - it's a dying art, and who really has the time to buy a nice notecard, write it, buy stamps and remember to go to wherever there is a post box? However, I have decided to still try to continue to send every now and again, just because I enjoy making people's life slightly brighter. I avoid resentment by not making myself write long newsy content and by being deliberately inconsistent and only sending when I fancy doing it.

I have tried to be better at sending birthday cards too, as that feels like a dying art and it's nice to get them. I get VERY few of those, and not from friends who I don't see in person. I do think that's a bit of a shame.

My mum - late 70s, still exchanges letters with her school and college friends. It's in addition to phone calls. I think it's lovely.

I've been getting rid of unnecessary paperwork over the last few months. The last lot to go through is the letters pile, which I was going through earlier today. Reading some of those letters took me right back to the times they were written, what was going on in my and the writers' lives, what was going on in general. Some bits were hard to read, some made me laugh out loud. They've stayed in my thoughts as I've gone about my business today.

If we only communicate via screens we will have nothing to reminisce over with a cup of tea on a wet Saturday morning, thirty years hence.

My best friend and I have both spent our lives traveling the world for work, living in various countries but never the same one at the same time. We've always kept in touch by letter.

We're both retired now and living about an hour apart in the West country and still write to each regularly. We meet up once a month and use other methods of communication but old habits die hard. The pleasure of receiving a hand written letter never fades. You can sit with a cuppa or glass of wine and savour it.

Also, writing a letter is an art. It's not dashing off a few lines where you can delete or cut and paste. You have to plan it. I often plan my letter whilst I walk the dog or do the washing up. It's a lovely way to stay in touch.

I guess it will probably die out with my generation.

I still write to old school friends and distant relations who I've not met in person for decades. They likewise write back. I really don't like personal texts/emails for anything more than quick confirmations of dates/times or quick "catch up", i.e. a quick "how are you". I think text/email is too impersonal for any decently long communications.

I'm still in written communication every few months with a friend from primary school, and I'm 60 and not seen her face to face for 30 years. Over that time we've both got married and had kids (we both managed long journeys to each other's weddings), she moved abroad twice, got divorced, now living with a new partner, her kids are now married and she's got a couple of grandchildren. We're still "best friends" as we know everything about each other's lives, and if we met up, we'd go straight back into being best friends as we were decades ago. We both write relatively long letters to each other, plus Xmas and birthday cards including a long personal letter and we still send photos of family and family occasions etc to each other. We never text nor email, I don't know her mobile number nor email address, and we aren't "friends" on any social media. All our communication is by hand written letters. It makes our distant friendship feel special - a lot more special than if we'd stopped writing and just kept in touch by random texts or emails!!

I also hand write other letters, such as letters upon bereavements, births, marriages, etc of distant friends and family, even where we do have text/email conversations otherwise.

I love writing, and have several lovely ink fountain pens that I used in several different colours, along with some very "posh" writing paper.

I found before Christmas that one can't buy nice sets of writing paper and envelopes any more. I wanted to give some to a fellow letter writer. I suppose it's available online, but the postage would be quite high.

A box of writing paper and envelopes used to be a good alternative to bath stuff if you wanted to give a present.

My 10 year old dd writes to her friends! I haven’t done for a few years but it’s a lovely thing.

I still write letters to a few people who don't use e-mail. I send e-mails, but don't text, other than for brief messages such as 'train delayed' or 'Got home around 8.00. Hope you had good journey home'. I detest the fiddly little on-screen keyboard on a phone.

I still have bags full of letters I received from family and friends pre e-mail. I resist getting them out to read, because I know once I start it will consume the whole day.

Historians and biographers of the future won't have the letters and diaries that historians studying the 20th century and earlier have. Same with photographs. How many people actually curate and organise their digital photos and make arrangements for what will happen to them?

Oh I love to receive a proper letter.
I'm older and used to have pen friends as a child. One was a girl who's family emigrated to Australia in 1966 and we still write once a year.
I also exchange letters once a year with a cousin and an old colleague.
Unfortunately due to rheumatoid arthritis I can't actually hand write any more but I do type and print a proper letter when I could easily email or WhatsApp.

I have a huge box of letters my mil and fil wrote to each other during WWII when he was away for 5 years. I haven't read them and probably won't.