SCARBOROUGH is known for its occasional rough seas, when the waters of the North Sea smash against the town's marine defences and erupt into the air.

But how spectacular is this wave (top), towering above the onlookers gathered at the waterfront to watch.

The photograph would have been taken, we think, some time in the 1920s. How do we know? Because it's a postcard - and on the back is the date when it was posted: July 29, 1929, at 2pm in the afternoon.

The card is addressed to a Mr and Mrs Holmes, of Butcher Terrace, York. "We are enjoying ourselves a treat - in fact, we neither of us want to come back again," says the note on the back. Sadly, we can't make out the signature. But the card comes from the collection of Peggy Sterriker. Peggy's father's name was Cecil Holmes and Peggy herself was born in 1925. So it seems quite plausible that this may have been a card send by Peggy's parents during a family break in Scarborough back to Peggy's grandparents in York.

Peggy is 91 now, and recently went into a care home. Her daughter Patricia Emmet found her mum's collection of old postcards when she was clearing out Peggy's house. And we've been running a selection occasionally ever since.

Today we focus on postcards from the North Yorkshire Coast - mainly Scarborough, but with a few from Filey.

York Press:

Donkeys on the beach, with the Sea Bathing Infirmary behind. Postcard posted in 1922

Today's batch focusses on Scarborough, and includes a wonderful photograph of donkeys on the beach with, behind, the old Sea Bathing Infirmary, where those with certain illnesses and ailments would have come to avail themselves of the waters.

There's a postmark on the back of the card showing it was posted on September 11, 1922. By that time, the sea bathing infirmary was already several decades old. An article about it written by one of its resident physicians, James Alexander, was published in medical journal The Lancet in its September 1852 edition.

York Press:

The Bathing Pool at Scarborough. Postcard posted in 1949

Other postcards from Mrs Sterriker's collection include a view of the bathing pool at Scarborough (above); a scene showing the south cliff and entrance to the Spa taken some time in the 1940s (gallery, top); and a couple of views of Scarborough castle (below). One of these latter cards, posted in 1910, shows a military parade coming down the steps from the castle, with what looks like the civic party watching from the sidelines.

York Press:

Military parade descending from Scarborough Castle, 1910

The other, posted in Jun 1905, shows St Mary's Church in the foreground and the castle walls lining the hillside above. A horse and cart are clopping up the steep road past the church towards the castle in the distance.

York Press:

St Mary's Church, Scarborough, wityh the castle in the background. Postcard posted in 1905