The contents of a letter that reached its destination 100 years late will be revealed at a history talk later this month.
In February, it emerged that Crystal Palace theatre director Finlay Glen, of Hamlet Road, had received a letter that was sent in 1916.
The mysterious note, which would have been written as The Battle of the Somme was getting underway, grabbed international headlines.
And now, local historian Stephen Oxford will reveal the full contents of the letter, at an event, at 7.30pm, on Thursday, April 20, at the Upper Norwood Library.
The event is being organised by The Norwood Society and visitors can expect to learn more about the history underpinning the letter.
The letter is from Christabel Mennell, daughter of a tea merchant, to Katie Marsh, wife of the local stamp magnate Oswald Marsh, and hints at an argument between the pair.
Christabel is understood to have sent the letter while holidaying in Bath and mentions feeling “quite ashamed of myself after saying what I did”.
She also says she had been “miserable here with a very heavy cold”.
The correspondence could shine a new light on the relationships between two of the area’s most prominent Georgian families.
People have speculated over why the letter took so long to arrive, with some suggesting it had spent over a century hidden somewhere in a sorting office.
The envelope has a stamp from the Sydenham sorting office, which was operating for over a century before it closed down in 2018.
Some people believe the letter was found while the office was being cleared out and somehow made its way back into mail circulation.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said at the time: “Incidents like this happen very occasionally, and we are uncertain what happened in this instance.
“We appreciate that people will be intrigued by the history of this letter from 1916, but we have no further information on what might have happened.”
Entry is £3 on the door or people can buy a ticket through this link.