Letterboxing Anniversary In USA

Hello everbody,

My name is jackbear, and I am a letterboxer in New York State, USA. April 2008 marks the 10th year of letterboxing in North America. We mark this time because of the famous Smithsonian article from April of 1998 that first made the public aware of your great tradition.

I am the host and producer of a small project called "Letterpod", the letterboxing podcast. You can find it here: http://letterpod.podbean.com

In the next episode of the Letterpod, we will be doing a special anniversary show. I have read alot about letterboxing in England, and have talked to a few of Englishmen and women about it already, as well as americans who have letterboxed in Dartmoor. I myself, have been letterboxing for the last five years, which is certainly modest compared to the lengths of time you all have been in some cases.

The purpose of this post is to ask for your assistance. I will be reveiwing some history for our listeners. I want to make sure I represent your hobby in England without error.

Can you describe to me some of the main differences you see between letterboxing in England, and the North American letterboxing pastime?

Also, what are some of the core principles that all letterboxers internationally should follow?

Lastly, what are some funny nuiances that English letterboxers face that American letterboxers might not?

Thanks for your help!

jackbear

Most of the principles of letterboxing can be found in these pages. Letterboxes are not sited in historical or man made objects like walls =- letterboxes are sited in areas where there is free access for all concerned and should not be sited in a dangerous area like the edge of a quarry/cliff.
If a letterbox is sited on private land it has to be done with the permission of the landowner

The biggest thing for the letterboxers is the Meet - this is where many fellow letterboxers get together and swap stamps stories and this event takes place twice a year when the clocks change.
The biggest diference I can see from the Dartmoor letterbox and the US boxing is apart from the distances involved is that Geocaching seemed to evolve from the letterboxing and is now a worldwide phenominom.

The funniest nuiance that happened to me was meeting a lot of brownies had finished letterboxing for the day, and their leader was taking them home and a few of them were miserable as sin not because they hadn't enjoyed the day out boxing but for the fact that they had been out and collected enough stamps to reach their personal total tally of 99 and could not find that elusive last box to reach the 100. We had stopped to talk as one does. The group leader was explaining their plight but my eyes were constantly drawn to these three girls in particular who really looked so disappointed and downhearted. I said to them I could fix their problem only if they smiled. They asked me how - I said smile first and you will see... after a couple of forced smiles I produced my traveller. Normally when I reach such a large group I dont normally take my traveller out because it can take so long for everyone to take copies. but on this occasion I couldn't resist making someone happy.

On another occasion I was out with a few friends it had been a hard days walking and we were coming back to the car when we encountered a film crew making a short film about letterboxing. The film crew wanted us to perform for them as a letterboxer would... At this stage we had had enough of boxing for the day and immediately went into a mischievious mode we went into a friendly quarrel squabbling about which direction to go in.... needless to say we didn't go any further than the cutting room floor!

However the best part of the day is to end up in a pub and mull over the day with a few beers inside of you!

Hi,
Having been letterboxing in England for 17 years and living in the states for 10 years where I did do some letterboxing. (Now back in the UK and letterboxing every chance I get) I would be hapy to talk to you more about it, in fact when I lived in Lancaster Pa. I was interviewed by the local paper who ran a 2 page article in their living suppliment in the Sunday paper on leterboxing. Please email me and we can talk forther.
Al