Post by Matt James on Apr 16, 2009 15:05:00 GMT
Telegram Messenger Boy During The War
I joined as a telegram messenger boy in 1942 , and we called ourselves Moppers, I started at Notting Hill in London. When I first started I wore an armband then later the uniform came and very smart it was with a well polished belt and peak cap, quite a contrast from my fellow Notting Hill Moppers , then when on to late duty when the post office supervisor had gone , All changed !!! the lads dived on me took my cap off and set light to the peak, several unmentionable things also occurred during the initiation ceremony , from then on I was as scruffy as the rest of the messenger boys
I learnt all the dodges, we were not allowed to ride together that was called wozzling, the golden rule was when delivering greeting telegrams to a war time wedding you deliver them at intervals, when you had 3 or 4 for the same wedding you sorted out the best man gave him one telegram and he gave you a tip then you rode around the block came back and gave him the 2nd telegram and got another tip this way you got 3 or 4 tips instead of just one
We worked hard 6 days a week and twice a month worked a Sunday making it a 7 day week , it was suppose to be an 8 hour day , but when I moved to Chiswick an 8 hour day was very rare. For instance if you were 7am to 3pm as you were thinking of leaving ,the supervisor said “where are you going there is this gram to deliver first, we also worked overtime after duty hours and got good pay packets ,some of the postman were envious of our earnings but we put in the hours for it
There was sadness in taking the telegrams with bad news around the poorer streets . A telegram Boy would arrive with the bad news and the women neighbours would follow you to the house to grieve with the young widows
All in all there was great comradeship with fellow moppers I missed that when in 1944 I transferred to the Post Office Telephone side
FRANK COOK
I joined as a telegram messenger boy in 1942 , and we called ourselves Moppers, I started at Notting Hill in London. When I first started I wore an armband then later the uniform came and very smart it was with a well polished belt and peak cap, quite a contrast from my fellow Notting Hill Moppers , then when on to late duty when the post office supervisor had gone , All changed !!! the lads dived on me took my cap off and set light to the peak, several unmentionable things also occurred during the initiation ceremony , from then on I was as scruffy as the rest of the messenger boys
I learnt all the dodges, we were not allowed to ride together that was called wozzling, the golden rule was when delivering greeting telegrams to a war time wedding you deliver them at intervals, when you had 3 or 4 for the same wedding you sorted out the best man gave him one telegram and he gave you a tip then you rode around the block came back and gave him the 2nd telegram and got another tip this way you got 3 or 4 tips instead of just one
We worked hard 6 days a week and twice a month worked a Sunday making it a 7 day week , it was suppose to be an 8 hour day , but when I moved to Chiswick an 8 hour day was very rare. For instance if you were 7am to 3pm as you were thinking of leaving ,the supervisor said “where are you going there is this gram to deliver first, we also worked overtime after duty hours and got good pay packets ,some of the postman were envious of our earnings but we put in the hours for it
There was sadness in taking the telegrams with bad news around the poorer streets . A telegram Boy would arrive with the bad news and the women neighbours would follow you to the house to grieve with the young widows
All in all there was great comradeship with fellow moppers I missed that when in 1944 I transferred to the Post Office Telephone side
FRANK COOK