Post by Matt James on Apr 16, 2009 17:03:44 GMT
I worked as a Messenger Boy [Postman Composite] at Hanley Head Post Office in Tontine St. Hanley for just over Two years.
Joined the GPO in 1956 mainly because of an advert in the local newspaper which was advertising Messenger vacancies, at the time I was unhappy in my previous job working for a Ceramic Tile Slabbing Company making Fireplace Surrounds.
When I was interviewed by the GPO I was very pleased to find out that the pay was just over ?3.00 per week which was quite an improvement on the ?2.00 which I was previously getting, also I was able to ride a Motor Bike which is something at my young age that I really wanted to do.
At the time there were eighteen Messenger Boys delivering Telegrams to all the Potteries Towns of Longton, Stoke, Fenton, Hanley, Burslem and Tunstall together with all the outlying villages surrounding the city. We served the city of Stoke on Trent which had a population of about 250,000 people.
Here are the messengers boys that I use to work with:-
Peter Johnson, Pat Lynch, Peter Edwards, John Shufflebotham, Mick Beardmore, Joe Gething, Brian Hulse, Barry Akers, Keith Purton, George Lawton, Bill Turner, John Edwards, Gordon Wood, Gerald Ormsby, Graham Higgins, Derek Baskeyfield, Ken Heary and Pat Hunt.
We worked a three shift pattern during the period 0800 to 2000 hours Monday to Friday and 0800 to 1800 hours on Saturdays.
When I first started I had the use of a Cycle but only delivered to the Hanley Town Centre, later I was issued with a BSA Bantam 125cc and training was given by an Instructor who followed the learner riders in his Morris Minor Van.
In the worst weather conditions Motor Bikes were taken off the road and vans were used for the Telegram Service, messenger boys would sometime accompany the Postman delivery driver or were employed on indoor work threading lead seals which was a regular practise at the Office.
During inclement weather it was very difficult to keep your hands and feet warm often two pairs of gloves and Socks were worn and the radiators were always full of clothes drying out.
On rainy days we would be absolutely drenched and although we had waterproofs it didn?t stop the rain seeping through I used to keep a spare set of clothing in my locker. The wetness also made your legs blue with the dye coming out of the rough serge uniform trousers.
Telegrams arrived by tube from the upstairs telegraph Room and the PHG in charge would list and sort them and then instruct the messengers which area they were going to deliver. The system was quite fair as it gave everyone an equal amount of journeys unless you had an individual who was slow of course.
Our PHGs in charge were great we had Bill Lear who was a real Gentleman and Ernest Cook an ex soldier who was firm yet very fair in his job. I had great admiration for both of them.
There were quite a few traffic accidents and I can remember several Motor Bikes being wrote off. My first accident was just below Basford Bank at Etruria, I had just gone over a humpback railway bridge and a car had stopped to let an ambulance through to a side road. Needless to say I was going too fast and I hit the rear bumper and went straight over the car landing on the bonnet. The driver seemed amazed as he sat there watching me, the ambulance stopped and took me straight to hospital, shaken but not hurt I was duly discharged the Motor Cycle however was a complete write off. Needless to say I was given a Blameworthy verdict.
Some of the messengers were fanatical about their Motor Bikes and tried to increase the appearance and speed of their machines. Often the baffles were taken out of the silencers to give a louder noise and experiments with carburettors often occurred trying to adjust the regulatory needles to increase the speed. I am not sure if these sort of actions were beneficial or not but the mechanics were not very happy about the messengers doing this sort of thing.
Most of the messengers use to be issued with the dreaded P18b. [ Disciplinary Form ] This was given for the simplest of irregularities which always started with ? Please Explain Why? the messengers would often get together to try and find the most suitable answer for the reply. Obviously the supervisory staff was well aware of these practises but the messengers always tried to stick together as there was a sort of camaraderie between us.
In between delivering Telegrams we would play darts and a few of us were very good players. We never seem to miss the treble twenty with three darts, it just goes to show practise makes perfect, the amount of time we spent throwing darts would sometimes be three hours a day especially on slack days.
It was quite an experience some days when delivering to large firms where there is a large amount of women. Once whilst delivering a telegram to the Simplex company I had to walk through a factory floor to the manager?s office where about two hundred women were employed I was wolf whistled and shouted at by the woman I was worried to death that they were going to get me and a few of them actually chased me out of the building. I use to get the same sort of treatment at a few of the Pottery firms.
We use to get plenty of tips especially when delivering telegrams to weddings or party celebrations, according to the rules/regulations we should not accept them but these tips were often thrust into your hand.
Every week all Messengers had to attend educational classes for one day at the Wedgwood Institute Art College in Burslem. From what I can remember we had a variety of subjects Art and Crafts, English, Maths and Geography. I could never understand why these Day Releases or Subjects were compulsory for us especially as we had only just left school. We enjoyed the day off from work and often met up with all the girls from the Telephone Exchanges who were also on Day Release from Vale and Trinity Exchanges.
Met my wife through the Wedgwood College and we did our lessons together I was 16 and she was only 15, at the time she worked at the Trinity Telephone Exchange as a Telephonist.
Towards the end of my Messenger service I was given trial Postman duties at the main sorting office at Leek road Stoke this was to get the experience for when I reached 18 when I would be transferred to adult duties.
I was subjected to the most difficult delivery duties by the Inspectors often carrying heavy loads of Totes [Football Pool Coupons] or doing double Delivery walks on second delivery.
I really enjoyed my messenger service and in 1959 I was called up for National Service where I was posted to Herford in Germany BFPO 15 for two years and guess what! another two years on Motor Bikes as a Despatch Rider delivering messages and leading convoys with the Royal Corp of Signals.
The only problem was the Motor Bikes we were issued with had no suspension which was a bit uncomfortable to say the least.
Finally completed my Royal Mail service in 1991 after 34 years through ill health.
Joined the GPO in 1956 mainly because of an advert in the local newspaper which was advertising Messenger vacancies, at the time I was unhappy in my previous job working for a Ceramic Tile Slabbing Company making Fireplace Surrounds.
When I was interviewed by the GPO I was very pleased to find out that the pay was just over ?3.00 per week which was quite an improvement on the ?2.00 which I was previously getting, also I was able to ride a Motor Bike which is something at my young age that I really wanted to do.
At the time there were eighteen Messenger Boys delivering Telegrams to all the Potteries Towns of Longton, Stoke, Fenton, Hanley, Burslem and Tunstall together with all the outlying villages surrounding the city. We served the city of Stoke on Trent which had a population of about 250,000 people.
Here are the messengers boys that I use to work with:-
Peter Johnson, Pat Lynch, Peter Edwards, John Shufflebotham, Mick Beardmore, Joe Gething, Brian Hulse, Barry Akers, Keith Purton, George Lawton, Bill Turner, John Edwards, Gordon Wood, Gerald Ormsby, Graham Higgins, Derek Baskeyfield, Ken Heary and Pat Hunt.
We worked a three shift pattern during the period 0800 to 2000 hours Monday to Friday and 0800 to 1800 hours on Saturdays.
When I first started I had the use of a Cycle but only delivered to the Hanley Town Centre, later I was issued with a BSA Bantam 125cc and training was given by an Instructor who followed the learner riders in his Morris Minor Van.
In the worst weather conditions Motor Bikes were taken off the road and vans were used for the Telegram Service, messenger boys would sometime accompany the Postman delivery driver or were employed on indoor work threading lead seals which was a regular practise at the Office.
During inclement weather it was very difficult to keep your hands and feet warm often two pairs of gloves and Socks were worn and the radiators were always full of clothes drying out.
On rainy days we would be absolutely drenched and although we had waterproofs it didn?t stop the rain seeping through I used to keep a spare set of clothing in my locker. The wetness also made your legs blue with the dye coming out of the rough serge uniform trousers.
Telegrams arrived by tube from the upstairs telegraph Room and the PHG in charge would list and sort them and then instruct the messengers which area they were going to deliver. The system was quite fair as it gave everyone an equal amount of journeys unless you had an individual who was slow of course.
Our PHGs in charge were great we had Bill Lear who was a real Gentleman and Ernest Cook an ex soldier who was firm yet very fair in his job. I had great admiration for both of them.
There were quite a few traffic accidents and I can remember several Motor Bikes being wrote off. My first accident was just below Basford Bank at Etruria, I had just gone over a humpback railway bridge and a car had stopped to let an ambulance through to a side road. Needless to say I was going too fast and I hit the rear bumper and went straight over the car landing on the bonnet. The driver seemed amazed as he sat there watching me, the ambulance stopped and took me straight to hospital, shaken but not hurt I was duly discharged the Motor Cycle however was a complete write off. Needless to say I was given a Blameworthy verdict.
Some of the messengers were fanatical about their Motor Bikes and tried to increase the appearance and speed of their machines. Often the baffles were taken out of the silencers to give a louder noise and experiments with carburettors often occurred trying to adjust the regulatory needles to increase the speed. I am not sure if these sort of actions were beneficial or not but the mechanics were not very happy about the messengers doing this sort of thing.
Most of the messengers use to be issued with the dreaded P18b. [ Disciplinary Form ] This was given for the simplest of irregularities which always started with ? Please Explain Why? the messengers would often get together to try and find the most suitable answer for the reply. Obviously the supervisory staff was well aware of these practises but the messengers always tried to stick together as there was a sort of camaraderie between us.
In between delivering Telegrams we would play darts and a few of us were very good players. We never seem to miss the treble twenty with three darts, it just goes to show practise makes perfect, the amount of time we spent throwing darts would sometimes be three hours a day especially on slack days.
It was quite an experience some days when delivering to large firms where there is a large amount of women. Once whilst delivering a telegram to the Simplex company I had to walk through a factory floor to the manager?s office where about two hundred women were employed I was wolf whistled and shouted at by the woman I was worried to death that they were going to get me and a few of them actually chased me out of the building. I use to get the same sort of treatment at a few of the Pottery firms.
We use to get plenty of tips especially when delivering telegrams to weddings or party celebrations, according to the rules/regulations we should not accept them but these tips were often thrust into your hand.
Every week all Messengers had to attend educational classes for one day at the Wedgwood Institute Art College in Burslem. From what I can remember we had a variety of subjects Art and Crafts, English, Maths and Geography. I could never understand why these Day Releases or Subjects were compulsory for us especially as we had only just left school. We enjoyed the day off from work and often met up with all the girls from the Telephone Exchanges who were also on Day Release from Vale and Trinity Exchanges.
Met my wife through the Wedgwood College and we did our lessons together I was 16 and she was only 15, at the time she worked at the Trinity Telephone Exchange as a Telephonist.
Towards the end of my Messenger service I was given trial Postman duties at the main sorting office at Leek road Stoke this was to get the experience for when I reached 18 when I would be transferred to adult duties.
I was subjected to the most difficult delivery duties by the Inspectors often carrying heavy loads of Totes [Football Pool Coupons] or doing double Delivery walks on second delivery.
I really enjoyed my messenger service and in 1959 I was called up for National Service where I was posted to Herford in Germany BFPO 15 for two years and guess what! another two years on Motor Bikes as a Despatch Rider delivering messages and leading convoys with the Royal Corp of Signals.
The only problem was the Motor Bikes we were issued with had no suspension which was a bit uncomfortable to say the least.
Finally completed my Royal Mail service in 1991 after 34 years through ill health.