Web Page No 2568

30th March 2019

1st Picture. The Village post office in Essex

2nd Picture. The Village Cottages

 3rd Picture. Main Road between the Villages

4th Picture. Modern Postman

The Postman

Over the last Christmas period I started to think about the postal service. Whilst at school and college I was one of the many part time postmen employed at Cosham Sorting Office.  I was lucky, only once did I have to go out on deliveries, the other times I was out in a large van delivering parcels and packets to the residents of Paulsgrove, Wymering, Drayton and Farlington.

Which brought me round to thinking of the old traditional postman, and I do not mean the Singing Postman Alan Smethurst. I remember our postman at home always smart, pushing his bike around and always had a smile on his face.

My godmother lived in a tiny village in Essex where, for many years, father was the Squire and they all lived in the ‘big house’. Neither she nor her brother ever married. She was a typical maiden country lady and he was a much-decorated retired Royal Marine who served in both World Wars and became the village postman after he left the service. The Post Office was a job he loved. I can see him now in my mind’s eye standing there with his ruddy weather worn face in his immaculate blue serge suit, with shiny buttons and his medal ribbons. White shirt, black tie, cap with brass badge and very shiny boots. His job consisted of delivering all around the village twice or maybe three times a day, except Sundays when he had duties as church warden in the parish church of St. Peter.

He actually never managed the three deliveries a day, and very often not the second either because he cared about the people on his round or walk. If he delivered a letter to a house and nobody in that house could read he would stop and read the letter to them and then in a couple of days’ time he would go back and write the answer for them. If one of the villagers wanted to send something, maybe knitting wool, firewood or eggs, he would take them on his round as a favour and drop them off. For the elderly and infirm he would do their shopping, run their errands and in many cases pick up their pensions for them. If something needed mending, and he could do it he would. He really was the messenger for the village. Martin, (he was always known as Brub a short form of brother) died in June 1960, then his sister sold up and moved to Hampshire.

I look out the window now and wonder if we will get a delivery at all today or in the next few days. Ours is an urban round and is what is called an overtime round and if no Postman wants overtime we do not get any mail.

But the dress code is far from smart these days. Whatever the weather our postman is dressed in trainers and socks, shorts and shirt and a dayglow tabard with no hat!

I might be old fashioned but I do yearn for the days of the smart postman in his serge uniform.

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Peter

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On this day 30th March 1960-1965.

On 30/03/1960 the number one single was Running Bear - Johnny Preston and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 30/03/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was The Dickie Henderson Show (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 30/03/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 30/03/1963 the number one single was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 30/03/1964 the number one single was Little Children - Billy J Kramer and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Earthquake hits Alaska.

On 30/03/1965 the number one single was The Last Time - Rolling Stones and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.