Handwritten letters

Yes, I do and they are appreciated (I think).
We have several relatives who are well into their 90's and they appreciate a 'proper' letter.
During the first lockdown the friends I would usually see became pen-pals instead because we felt letters were more special than Zooms. I still correspond with some.

I'm not a stationery geek though, just Basildon Bond.

When my nieces and nephews were younger they used to like to have a letter through the post and they would enjoy writing back, however, now they would rather text so I do not have anyone to write to, a shame as I do like stationery.

Yes, I write handwritten letters from time to time but I don't use a fountain pen - too many bad memories of horrid leaky pens at school. I sometimes use a 'notelet' rather than plain paper.

I still have lots of nice stationery and a couple of good fountain pens, but rarely use them. My handwriting is now too messy as I do not have a good grip, so it is safer to use my laptop. ( I also have a record of what I wrote.)
But I like the idea,

Definitely. I have a cupboard full of proper notepaper and envelopes, and I like the feel of them. If am abroad I always head for proper stationery shops to treat myself, Italy in particular has a beautiful handmade writing paper, I can't remember the name but the white is so white, like porcelain.
I use a proper fountain pen, usually blue ink as I wasn't too keen on black when I tried. I think your personality oozes from the page with a fountain pen.
Notelets are nice for everyday messages.

Yes I do, cards also and thank you notes.
I dislike those computer generated ‘round robins’, full of news of people you don’t know and never will.
A handwritten letter is lovely.

There’s only one person I send letters to now, a former neighbour in her 90s. I’m fairly hopeless with a fountain pen these days (bent fingers = much smudging) so it’s a biro for me, sadly. I do miss writing with a nice fountain pen but I even mess up Christmas cards if I try to use one. All other correspondence is via email. Maybe just as well given the price of stamps!

Around 30 years ago I ordered lots of beautiful parchment-type A4 paper and matching envelopes for my business and still have a ream and loads of envelopes left. The colour is peach with a slight watermark pattern. I may consider writing some letters, but I'm not sure I have the patience to write by hand any more. An alternative is to use a lovely font like Bookman Old Style (Italic), Bradley Hand (Bold) or Lucinda Calligraphy. Then print the letter, but you do need a printer of course. Not everyone has one these days.

Written cards...never a letter...must be 40 years since I wrote a letter? ...
.I'm 58 ..... think I may have used a fountain pen at school maybe....but can't remember doing so

Decent writing paper and fountain pen for letters of condolence and thank-you letters after invitations to weddings, dinners, etc. Nowadays it's mostly letters of condolence. But I use my fountain pen daily just to keep it in trim.

If you haven't used your fountain pen for a while, does anyone wash it through with tap water or will that cause problems?

I always used to handwrite all my letters. I now unfortunately have very arthritic hands so my once lovely writing (other peoples comments not mine) tends to be a scrawl so for anything but the briefest note I usually type. The one exception is a condolence letter which I always write by hand and make as legible as possible.

I send letters - particularly to my granddaughter (7) who writes back. I like to use nice writing paper.

However, my handwriting is awful - it always was - and I write my letters on the computer. I spend a lot of time choosing a nice font (although for the DGD it is usually a clear sans serif as she is not a practised reader yet.) I format the page carefully, using colours and adding little illustrations.

For letters to others, which often include photos, I use plain white A4 printer paper so as not to distort the colours of the photos. But here, too, I choose fonts and colours carefully and look at the print preview several times before actually printing out.

To older relatives and for birthdays, special occasions, or just short notes, I use notelets, of which I have a huge collection. I have to adjust the paper format to odd sizes so that the text fits on the page, but again, I format with care and make it as attractive as possible. I did my secretarial training in the 1970s and we learnt a lot about how to arrange things on a page. The computer has made it all so much easier, as has the standardisation to A4 and A5 sizes. (We learnt on foolscap and quarto, but also A4)

After looking at my Christmas cards, which I did by hand this year, I think it is only polite and respectful to use the computer and print letters, notes and greetings cards in such a way that the recipients can read them. To be honest, I was quite ashamed of my handwriting on my Christmas cards.

As I said, most people I am writing to are either very young or quite old and I want to make it as pleasant for them as possible to read what I've written.

JackyB How fabulous! I appreciate all you're saying about fonts and paper sizes etc. as I have done masses of desktop publishing myself, but not letters. Apart from leaflets, flyers, booklets and newsletters my first love is family history, writing up people's stories with photos or pictures included. I agree the advent of computers in the 1990s made it all possible. Being able to choose a font and word process the text was just amazing! I do faff about changing my mind when I write, so hand-written or type-written text didn't suit me very well. I always thought of something better and wanted to change the words. Youngsters who have only known computers don't know how lucky they are.

That reminds me. I have been planning to write a letter to each of my children and grandchildren, to be read, after I’ve gone, but I haven’t got round to it. Must start…

I should have added Christmas and birthday cards.

Only hand write cards now. My thoughts gallop ahead of my fingers which can’t hold a pen steadily. If the intent is for the recipient to read what I have written a keyboard is the only option. A shame, I used to enjoy penning a chatty letter as I did when we married 54 years ago and my lovely ma in law lived too far away for an easy visit.

I used to love hand writing letters to distant friends but found it time consuming so I buy pretty little cards that cover any occasion now.

I'm afraid not. Letters were used in the day when long distance phone calls were very expensive. Now I can pick up the phone whenever I think of someone and have a nice chat with them, or even facetime if I choose.

I do have nice stationary and a fountain pen, although we never used one in school. I do send cards and thank you notes sometimes, but no actual letters.

crazyH

That reminds me. I have been planning to write a letter to each of my children and grandchildren, to be read, after I’ve gone, but I haven’t got round to it. Must start…

CrazyH, my mother did this, before she’d succumbed to dementia, and since she’d had it for many years by the time she died at 97, it was lovely to read it - it was like having our real mother back. By then she’d been ‘lost’ to us for years.
You’ve reminded me that I must do the same.

It must be decades since I hand-wrote a letter, or anything but a shopping list or birthday card.

So it’s maybe 20 years ago now, but when I was doing OU courses, I had to train myself to write (legibly!) for long periods - 4 essays to hand-write in a 3 hour exam!

I had to practise hard, and my hand actually ached at first - I was so unused to it.
I dare say I’m just as unused to it now - no extended writing since that final exam.

Yes I still hand-write letters and have a collection of nice quality writing paper and notelets. I have several fountain pens (one from my school days and a lovely Mont Blanc) and a number of dip pens with bottles of ink in several colours. I too like to write to my grandchildren and I add little illustrations in the margins.

I greatly value notes and letters written by my Mum and grandparents. To see their handwriting is like hearing their voices again.

When I was at school we had handwriting lessons in an italic script style and I still try to write like that. But just recently, following ill health at Christmas, my hands are a bit shaky so my handwriting is awful. My New Year letters (which should have been Christmas letters) have all been printed from the laptop.

I write regularly to two friends and occasionally to a few others. I enjoy using nice cards and paper but don’t use a fountain pen any more.

Oh yes, and postcards to quite a few who appreciate them, including grandchildren.