Postcard of the Month: October 2026
/The Lake, Littlehampton - a postcard to Berlin
The Lake, Littlehampton is a view of the circular pond to the east of the harbour entrance, and probably part of an earlier course of the river.
At one time it was used in oyster harvesting and called The Oyster Pond. By the time of this early 1900 card it was The Lake, used for model boating and some water based events during the annual regatta. Later views refer to it as The Ornamental Pond, suggesting that previous more active use was discouraged.
This card, by Davidson Brothers of London and New York, was posted in 1913 from Clapham, S.W. London to Fraulein Margeurite Hawak of Tempelhof, Berlin. The sender was Albert Holdaway. This was at a time when Germany was regarded with suspicion by many for her growing militarism, seen as a threat to her neighbours. The text is in rather poor German, and a translation indicates that it was setting up a pen-pal relationship with this recipient so any sinister purpose seems unlikely.
Research provides a likely identity for the sender to be an Albert Holdaway, born 1889 in London, who lived in Brighton in 1911 and was an electrical technician. Much later he was in Portsmouth working in the dockyard as an electrical instrument maker. He died in Worthing at the age of 97.
The text on the card mentions his interest in the customs of other countries and particularly the music of German composer, Paul Lincke (born in 1866). The composition Berlin Luft from his operetta Frau Luna became the unofficial anthem of Berlin (according to Wikipedia).