When Sir Rowland Hill dreamed up the idea of the Penny Black it heralded a new age for Britain. Now people could, for as little as a penny, communicate with anyone else in Britain. The Post Office quickly grew to be a fast and efficient service. In some towns and cities you could receive four deliveries of post a day; it was not unusual for someone to send a postcard to a friend saying they would be "round for tea this afternoon" - safely knowing the postcard would get there before them. The Penny Black also encouraged people to learn reading and writing skills, resulting in a boom in literacy. At its peak, Royal Mail was delivering 20 billion letters a year (in 2004/5). Then came email, texts and other digital forms of communication. They have their place of course: fast, cheap and interactive. But they lack that personal touch. Who bothers to keep emails or texts? Indeed, they dissolve back into the ether after just a few years. Handwritten letters however, are a very personal form of communication and can be safely kept for years - even centuries. The clatter of the letterbox and a handwritten letter landing on the doormat will always triumph over the 'ping' of an email. 

Dinah Johnson has championed a revival in handwritten letters with the formation of The Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society. The Society aims to:

• To inspire people to write handwritten letters to each other.

• To unite letter writers in a bid to boldly cling on to the dying art of writing letters.

• To put the fun and meaning back into writing letters.

• To value the beauty of an individual’s handwriting.

• To encourage anyone and everyone to put pen to paper and send a letter to someone special.

• To gather together everything to do with handwritten letters in one place.

Why not join this quiet revolution and handwrite a letter today?