Post by Matt James on Apr 13, 2009 15:02:54 GMT
The Second World War was at its fiercest faze following the D Day landings inMay1944 when in July of that year I applied to join the Post Office as a telegram boy. Late July I was called for interview and written test with 5 or 6 other 14 year olds. How is it that I still recollect the blank map of the UK handed out to hopeful youngsters together with a list of towns/cities with instructions to indicate their whereabouts on the blank map.I was the lucky one to be offered the job and started a long career at the tender age of 14 years and 28 days.
At 9.0am on Saturday 2nd September 1944 I entered the office of the Inspector situated in the main Post Office yard. There I was met by Mr Arthur Williams Asst Inspector who set about introducing me to Post Office procedures and oversee my signing of various papers including the Official Secrets Act. I was then measured for my uniform which included standing on tip toes on the height measure in order to achieve the minimum height of 5 feet.
So began a career which was to span the next 44 years with a starting pay of 11/6p plus 6/9p war bonus and 1 shilling for cycle cleaning, making a grand total of 19/3p a week in old money. Thank goodness for tips received when delivering good news. Speaking of tips I remember delivering a telegram to a local dance band leader in the Lakefield area informing him that he had won several hundred pounds and my reward was a crisp white �5 note. My feet did not touch the bicycle pedals for many a day.
In the years of the war the sight of a telegram boy sent shivers into the heart of those numerous women who had family members serving in the Armed Forces. It was part of the job to deliver telegrams notifying next of kin that a loved one had either gone missing in action or had been killed on active service. I remember well the delivery of two telegrams, one to James Street and the other to Holme Terrace (later renamed Regalia Terrace) but I will refrain from disclosing house numbers .The telegrams stated that loved ones had died, one in Europe and the other in the far East.
There was very little in the way of street lighting during the war and ,such as there was, it did not include the area outside built up areas. In Furnace for example lighting ceased at the Square and Cwmbach Road was in complete darkness. Bicycles, as with cars had the upper part of their main front light(s) covered during this period, so late afternoon or evening travelling was quite scary to a young lad of some 14 years of age. I still recollect one late afternoon being sent to a farmhouse some distance up the steep country road leading from the Farriers Arms Inn .There was I a young lad of 14 pushing my bicycle which was almost as big as me, up this hill in complete darkness except for my cycle half lamp. Looking back, such an experience was quite frightening and even after traversing the downhill to the Farriers as if the devil himself was behind me; there was still a long haul in utter darkness, along Cwmbach Road to Furnace Square. Please bear in mind the old
Post Office cycle only had a one speed gear and it was some years later that the 3 speed gear was introduced.
When the war ended in Europe (VE Day) the rejoicing in the area fronting the Post Office and into the nearby gardens by hundreds of people, young and old, reflected personified happiness. In my excitement ,I lit a large firecracker whilst standing in the Post Office yard and threw it high in the air.(the cracker was courtesy of our American friends stationed in Peaples Park).To my horror the missile arced in the air and sailed through an open window at first floor level into the ladies toilet. The loud scream of a female member of staff is one that can still be heard by myself some sixty plus years later. Poor Betty Hopkins, as she was then, suffered burns to her neck, scorching of hair to her head and a ruined blouse.
That evening a tearful young lad of 14 visited Betty Hopkins at her home in Cedric Street to apologise profusely for my stupid action and thankfully before leaving I had been forgiven. Alas the story did not end there, because on my next day in work I was called to the office of Mr D J Thomas. Had it not been for the fact that my father was a serving soldier still stationed abroad and a postman in Llanelli pre-war, my time in the Post Office would have ended the day after VEDay. What a tragic loss to the Post Office that would have been!!!!??. Some time later Betty married a Greek sailor and became Mrs Tuchella ( spelling is doubtful)
.The docks, and in particular the North dock was extremely busy with ships carrying coal and timber before, during and after the Second World War. This dock in particular was a popular swimming spot for large numbers of youngsters with a swim starting point at the small beach near the main gates and ending at the pilings at the opposite end with a rest, if necessary, at the buoy in the dock centre.Afavourite diving fete was off the pilings or dock side but one young lad named Collin James, also a telegram boy during his early years ,would climb to the top of one of the crane jibs some 30 feet or more higher than the dock water and in he would dive, hitting that water with a small splash. I am not aware of any other such diving from this height at the docks.
The winter of 1946/47 was one of extreme weather conditions including sub zero temperatures and deep snow drifts throughout the district.We were 7 or 8 telegram boys at this time and although the use of cycles was out of the question during the dreadful weather, the delivery of telegrams in the town area continued .How times have changed between then and today. The snow at the earlier date was several feet deep but I still managed to travel from my Dafen home to the Head Office in John Street as , from their homes, did my fellow telegram boys. On the day I commenced to type this part of my story approximately 2 inches of snow fell in Llanelli and caused serious disruption and resulted in the closure of several schools - lucky pupils or teachers.?.
So on and on until November 1947 I pedalled my bicycle, often to Bwlch y Gwynt and Machynis, an easy ride over the flat terrain, before hanging up my cycle clips, I progressed to the strange redundant rank of Sorting Clerk and Telegraphist in the Llanelli sorting office as a young man of 5ft9ins. - A lot taller and perhaps a wiser young man than that of September 1944.
So began a long and successful career spanning the next 40 years. From the days of a young 14 year old to retirement as Head Postmaster Hereford in 1988 completing a full circle by returning to Llanelli with my late wife Doris.
Gerald Barton
At 9.0am on Saturday 2nd September 1944 I entered the office of the Inspector situated in the main Post Office yard. There I was met by Mr Arthur Williams Asst Inspector who set about introducing me to Post Office procedures and oversee my signing of various papers including the Official Secrets Act. I was then measured for my uniform which included standing on tip toes on the height measure in order to achieve the minimum height of 5 feet.
So began a career which was to span the next 44 years with a starting pay of 11/6p plus 6/9p war bonus and 1 shilling for cycle cleaning, making a grand total of 19/3p a week in old money. Thank goodness for tips received when delivering good news. Speaking of tips I remember delivering a telegram to a local dance band leader in the Lakefield area informing him that he had won several hundred pounds and my reward was a crisp white �5 note. My feet did not touch the bicycle pedals for many a day.
In the years of the war the sight of a telegram boy sent shivers into the heart of those numerous women who had family members serving in the Armed Forces. It was part of the job to deliver telegrams notifying next of kin that a loved one had either gone missing in action or had been killed on active service. I remember well the delivery of two telegrams, one to James Street and the other to Holme Terrace (later renamed Regalia Terrace) but I will refrain from disclosing house numbers .The telegrams stated that loved ones had died, one in Europe and the other in the far East.
There was very little in the way of street lighting during the war and ,such as there was, it did not include the area outside built up areas. In Furnace for example lighting ceased at the Square and Cwmbach Road was in complete darkness. Bicycles, as with cars had the upper part of their main front light(s) covered during this period, so late afternoon or evening travelling was quite scary to a young lad of some 14 years of age. I still recollect one late afternoon being sent to a farmhouse some distance up the steep country road leading from the Farriers Arms Inn .There was I a young lad of 14 pushing my bicycle which was almost as big as me, up this hill in complete darkness except for my cycle half lamp. Looking back, such an experience was quite frightening and even after traversing the downhill to the Farriers as if the devil himself was behind me; there was still a long haul in utter darkness, along Cwmbach Road to Furnace Square. Please bear in mind the old
Post Office cycle only had a one speed gear and it was some years later that the 3 speed gear was introduced.
When the war ended in Europe (VE Day) the rejoicing in the area fronting the Post Office and into the nearby gardens by hundreds of people, young and old, reflected personified happiness. In my excitement ,I lit a large firecracker whilst standing in the Post Office yard and threw it high in the air.(the cracker was courtesy of our American friends stationed in Peaples Park).To my horror the missile arced in the air and sailed through an open window at first floor level into the ladies toilet. The loud scream of a female member of staff is one that can still be heard by myself some sixty plus years later. Poor Betty Hopkins, as she was then, suffered burns to her neck, scorching of hair to her head and a ruined blouse.
That evening a tearful young lad of 14 visited Betty Hopkins at her home in Cedric Street to apologise profusely for my stupid action and thankfully before leaving I had been forgiven. Alas the story did not end there, because on my next day in work I was called to the office of Mr D J Thomas. Had it not been for the fact that my father was a serving soldier still stationed abroad and a postman in Llanelli pre-war, my time in the Post Office would have ended the day after VEDay. What a tragic loss to the Post Office that would have been!!!!??. Some time later Betty married a Greek sailor and became Mrs Tuchella ( spelling is doubtful)
.The docks, and in particular the North dock was extremely busy with ships carrying coal and timber before, during and after the Second World War. This dock in particular was a popular swimming spot for large numbers of youngsters with a swim starting point at the small beach near the main gates and ending at the pilings at the opposite end with a rest, if necessary, at the buoy in the dock centre.Afavourite diving fete was off the pilings or dock side but one young lad named Collin James, also a telegram boy during his early years ,would climb to the top of one of the crane jibs some 30 feet or more higher than the dock water and in he would dive, hitting that water with a small splash. I am not aware of any other such diving from this height at the docks.
The winter of 1946/47 was one of extreme weather conditions including sub zero temperatures and deep snow drifts throughout the district.We were 7 or 8 telegram boys at this time and although the use of cycles was out of the question during the dreadful weather, the delivery of telegrams in the town area continued .How times have changed between then and today. The snow at the earlier date was several feet deep but I still managed to travel from my Dafen home to the Head Office in John Street as , from their homes, did my fellow telegram boys. On the day I commenced to type this part of my story approximately 2 inches of snow fell in Llanelli and caused serious disruption and resulted in the closure of several schools - lucky pupils or teachers.?.
So on and on until November 1947 I pedalled my bicycle, often to Bwlch y Gwynt and Machynis, an easy ride over the flat terrain, before hanging up my cycle clips, I progressed to the strange redundant rank of Sorting Clerk and Telegraphist in the Llanelli sorting office as a young man of 5ft9ins. - A lot taller and perhaps a wiser young man than that of September 1944.
So began a long and successful career spanning the next 40 years. From the days of a young 14 year old to retirement as Head Postmaster Hereford in 1988 completing a full circle by returning to Llanelli with my late wife Doris.
Gerald Barton