From the archives

With Tier 3 restrictions due to be imposed across London from Wednesday, the Postal Museum is having to sadly, temporarily close its doors.

That doesn’t mean the fun stops there, however, as our friends at the museum still plan to spread some Christmas cheer this December with festive activities available online for all the family to make this yuletide extra jolly.

And our friends have shared some great images with us too. Click here for five photos from the Postal Museum archives, showing Christmas as it was then. How times have changed!

Many of our Christmas traditions began over 150 years ago with the Victorians. They sent the first Christmas cards, introduced the Christmas tree to England and gave tokens of appreciation to their posties at Christmas.

Inspired by these traditions, online visitors to the museum can create their own Christmas tree greetings card to thank their postie at our busiest time of year. You can make more than one and give them to other keyworkers too - or someone else who has helped you this year?

Using materials and equipment that can be found around the home, why not get creative, plan a special delivery for colleagues and show your appreciation for our people this year.

Click here to download the Postal Museum’s ‘Thank your Postie’ activity sheet.

Online visitors can also discover the history of Letters to Santa, find out about the first Christmas Card and delve into Victorians’ postal gifting habits with free videos and blogs. Click here for more.

There’s also a virtual tour of Mail Rail on offer, giving a taste of the subterranean ride, which takes visitors back in time to the heyday of the postal railway. Visit www.postalmuseum.org/mail-rail-from-home.