Post by Matt James on Apr 16, 2009 15:04:38 GMT
I was a telegram messenger boy at Lyndhurst Hampshire from December 1944 untill 1947 when I transferred to the Post Office Engineering Department as a youth in training.
Lyndhurst is a rural office in the centre of the New Forest, There were only two Telegram Messenger Boys to provide a 6 ½ day service on bicycles and on two afternoons each week we had to cover Minstead and Ashurst offices, which were about 3 miles distance in different directions
I remember delivering missing in action telegrams, as it was the only time we were told the contents , We were never allowed to be idle between calls we had to fold and send back to a cleaning depot dirty bags
We also had to trim the string off the lead seals used to seal the bags, and send the seals back to be melted down .Another job was sending the parcel and letter labels back to the originating offices for reuse
A couple of things I remember I was the only telegram messenger boy on duty during the afternoon we had to cover the Ashurst area, I delivered one telegram and returned to the office after a 10 mile round trip to find another one for the same address, So I took a telegram pad and envelopes and after delivering the second telegram I phoned the office to see if there were any more in the area, hoping the clerk would dictate them to me unfortunately the Postmaster answered the phone, my motive took a bit of explaining.
A lady at Lyndhurst used to have cat fish delivered by express delivery, by the time it reached the office it used to smell awful, so we used to tie the parcel behind the saddle to escape the smell as we cycled, I remember the cycles we rode had beaded edge tyres which enabled us to remove a tyre and mend the puncture and replace without using tyre leavers.
I served in the Post Office Telephones and British Telecom until retirement in 1991, In total 46 years service
Hoping you will find some interest in my story
Please see photograph below taken outside of Lyndhurst Post Office Hampshire in 1909 the telegram messenger boy on the right standing holding the cycle is my father (William Charles Howells (known as Bill) who retired in 1953 aged 60 years old who spend all his working life as a postman at Lyndhurst
G.HOWELLS
Lyndhurst is a rural office in the centre of the New Forest, There were only two Telegram Messenger Boys to provide a 6 ½ day service on bicycles and on two afternoons each week we had to cover Minstead and Ashurst offices, which were about 3 miles distance in different directions
I remember delivering missing in action telegrams, as it was the only time we were told the contents , We were never allowed to be idle between calls we had to fold and send back to a cleaning depot dirty bags
We also had to trim the string off the lead seals used to seal the bags, and send the seals back to be melted down .Another job was sending the parcel and letter labels back to the originating offices for reuse
A couple of things I remember I was the only telegram messenger boy on duty during the afternoon we had to cover the Ashurst area, I delivered one telegram and returned to the office after a 10 mile round trip to find another one for the same address, So I took a telegram pad and envelopes and after delivering the second telegram I phoned the office to see if there were any more in the area, hoping the clerk would dictate them to me unfortunately the Postmaster answered the phone, my motive took a bit of explaining.
A lady at Lyndhurst used to have cat fish delivered by express delivery, by the time it reached the office it used to smell awful, so we used to tie the parcel behind the saddle to escape the smell as we cycled, I remember the cycles we rode had beaded edge tyres which enabled us to remove a tyre and mend the puncture and replace without using tyre leavers.
I served in the Post Office Telephones and British Telecom until retirement in 1991, In total 46 years service
Hoping you will find some interest in my story
Please see photograph below taken outside of Lyndhurst Post Office Hampshire in 1909 the telegram messenger boy on the right standing holding the cycle is my father (William Charles Howells (known as Bill) who retired in 1953 aged 60 years old who spend all his working life as a postman at Lyndhurst
G.HOWELLS