They say life wasn t meant to be easy and I was beginning to agree so.  So I started to explore possibilities of other employment. One was the Post Office so I wrote applying for a job and got and interview with the Assistant Head Post Master, Mr Jack Goods. I knew him through the Brights, but he didn t recognise me at the interview. He told me that there were something like 100 applicants already for a postman s job and said he didn t think I stood a chance. Then he suddenly remembered me. Aren t you the young chap living with the Brights? he said, I thought you looked familiar. And weren t you a regular in the Navy? Yes I was  I said. Well then, that puts you to the top of the list!. He showed me through into the writing room and introduced me to the duty Overseer, who set me a written test paper and a time to complete it in. Somehow I completed it and passed! The Overseer told me as he showed me out of the building that I would be hearing from them.  I left feeling quite pleased with myself, thinking I might be getting somewhere at last.  It took six months before I did hear from them, (dead man shoes, no doubt)!

I arrived at Petersfield Sorting Office at 8am Tuesday 20th November 1956, clutching my letter of appointment.  I was introduced to the Assistant Inspector, Mr Les Chapman, who was in charge of the sorting office.  He was quite a short little man but sprightly and not like his predecessor Bill Hardy, my friend Roy Hardy s father. He handed me over to Jim Knight, a postman, I knew quite well, who lived in our road and was also cousin-in-law to Vi Bright.  Years later, after his own wife died, he married Vi. Jim was the New Entrant Tutor.  He gave me tuition on postman s work, showing me the rule books, how to sort letters, etc. and getting me to sign the  Secrets Act . The General Post Office as it was then called was part of the Civil Service, making me a civil servant. I remained with Jim for the rest of the week on tuition.  The following week I was given three days tuition on No.7 Delivery by another postman and then left to do it on my own for the remaining three days of that week. It was very hard to sort the letters into the correct boxes quickly enough within the allotted time you were given, and for the first few days I was constantly running late. I was also being bullied by the Assistant Inspector for being slow. Although it rankled with me quite a lot I wasn t going to let him get the better of me.  However, he did in the long run, and he continued to do so throughout the four years I remained at Petersfield.  I wasn t alone.  There were a few of us and in particular one Dave Walker.  Chapman (the Assistant Inspector) withheld his uniform for about six months, probably thinking Dave wouldn t complete his probationary period; but he did!

Probation was for the first six months, then you were Temporary Postman for the first year.  The second year you moved up to Postman in Line and finally promoted to Postman. This was linked to an incremental pay scale of three years.  The first few years you were in a reserve group, which meant you did a different delivery each week and it wasn't until Thursday when the Assistant Inspector put it up on the duty roster for the coming week that you knew which duty you were on. This made it difficult to plan out your social life. All the time you were on cycle deliveries you could be sure of an early turn starting around 5am to 2pm Monday to Saturday.  Every third Sunday  you would have to work 4pm to 8.30pm. You got paid extra for that. In those days we worked a 48hr week.

Sometimes we were sent out to the small rural sub-offices as we acted as their reserves against sickness, holidays and vacancies.  This we didn t mind. At least we were out of Chapman s way.  It did mean you were doing a split duty, starting at 5am to 11am then 2pm to 6pm, getting back home around 6.30pm Monday to Friday. On Saturday we did two deliveries 5am and 3pm one straight after the other one.  You were supposed to stay out between 11am and 2pm but we cycled home and back again, making sure Chapman didn t see us or he would have stopped out daily subsistence which accounted to approximately 36 shillings per week.  Nevertheless, we all enjoyed working out in the sticks.  It was less formal and more related than in the Petersfield office.  The sub postmasters let you smoke and gave you a cup of tea while you prepared your delivery. Talking about tea; your customers sometimes gave you tea.  While on tuition with the regular postman out at East Harting we were given a cup of tea each afternoon by an old lady and sat outside on a small bench to drink it. 

When it came for me to do this delivery on my own I continued to enjoy my afternoon cup of tea.  One afternoon it was raining and I didn t really want to stop for tea, but before I could get past the cottage the old woman shouted to me to come inside for my tea. Well, I d never seen anything like it in my life.  Inside the room I saw black greasy walls and ceiling, no doubt partly due to the oil lamps and oil cooker they used! Sitting by a small open fireplace sat an old greasy man smoking a broken old pipe and spitting every so often into the fire. On a hob in the fireplace sat a boiling pot.  I had some doubts that his accuracy in spitting into the fire was that good!  Dad have you finished with your cup?  There was a noise from the old man, which probably meant he had! She tipped out what remained in the cup and poured out what was going to be my lovely cup of tea, of which I had drunk many previously! I immediately felt sick and said so, apologising as I left. I made a large detour of the cottage for the remainder of that week.

After about two years on cycle duty I was put into the driving group after passing my test at the second attempt. That meant more early-late split duties and night work, but not in any order again as I was in the reserve driving group. Now my social life was well and truly up the creek.

In the meantime I applied for an acting PHG (Postmaster Higher Grade) vacancy that was advertised on the notice board and to my astonishment I was accepted and sent to Bletchley on a two week s course. This course was solely to do with indoor work, learning the other side of the sorting office, which meant a small step up the ladder.
Acting up on this new job was a  as and when required  state of affairs and then only temporary.  It was used to cover annual leave, sickness and vacancies.  This was the way the GPO covered all ranks up to Postmaster and was used as the vehicle to promotion.  This wasn t always convenient for the acting officer, especially being mid week.  Still it was what you had to do like it or not!  There were three postmen that acted to PHG, of which I was one, and there were six permanent PHGs at Petersfield.  When a vacancy occurred on that upper grade they would of course select the best one and not necessarily the senior one, so you were always guarding your back.

I found life a little tiresome: all work with no social life to speak of. I had dropped down to one allotment and I found that tiresome as well.  When I did find a girlfriend Vi always managed to find fault with her and kept putting me off, which was beginning to worry me!

As a family, when Lincoln was alive, they had taken to old time dancing on Saturday nights.  I was eventually persuaded to go, so when I came out of the Navy when Lincoln was so ill I would escort the two girls to the dance and back again. After Lincoln died Vi came along as well, so naturally I would partner her in a few dances, which over time increased in number. Then it began to seem that she didn t like me dancing with other girls, which created a few problems between us and we had words.

It was now 1959 and I had been living with the Brights for over five years and seeing that the girls were now out to work and both had boyfriends I didn t see the need for me to stay.  At the same time the GPO was surveying the PHGs jobs in Petersfield and decided to reduce them down to five. There was a vacancy though because one of them had been promoted to an Assistant Inspector in Brighton. This meant that the next vacancy could be ten years away when Pinkie (Albert Pink) retired. In fact he died about twelve months later, but how on earth was I to know that?

Harry Coleman, one of the three acting PHGs went to Guildford as a PTO (counter clerk).  Harry had already passed his exams for PTO and was only waiting for the PHG vacancy.  I applied for a transfer, either to Portsmouth-Southampton or Guildford whichever came up first.  So that would only leave Norman Kimber on the acting list.

I waited six months before my transfer came through and it was to be Guildford. I now had to tell the Brights that I had been transferred to Guildford. Vi already knew about the transfer but up until then hadn t mentioned it. (Mr Knight no doubt?) It was to take place on the 1st Jan 1960.  Vi was furious with me and gave me a dog s life from then on, and that only confirmed what I had felt for some time, and I was glad to go to get me a life!

Mentioning Albert Pink reminds me of the Sunday collection around Liss I did back in the summer of 1959 by van. I started at 2.30pm and did a small collection around Buriton near Butser Hill and returned with it to the sorting office.  Then with several large bunches of keys I started out on the Liss collection.  I tied a parcel bag by the  D  rings at each corner, to the inside of the van so I could throw the bundles of mail I collected into the bag easily.  I also put in a bundle of string for tying up the bundles of mail after collecting the letters from the letterboxes. These had to be  faced up  which meant all the letters faced the right way up.  All the boxes were timed which meant you would need to give a relief clearance of some of the heavy boxes on your way round.  In other words this meant you didn t do the collection as the laid down GPO route, which wasn t to be altered for some reason!  Ignoring this I was travelling down this narrow lane which had been recently resurfaced with large tarred stones and as I was nearing the bottom I saw a large figure lying face down in the middle of the road.  A bicycle was in the ditch at the side of the road. I stopped the van and went over to look at him. He was unconscious. I turned him over onto his back and saw he had worn most of his face away on the road. After trying to clean him up I managed to drag him to one side of the road. I ran across to the first cottage and knocked on the door.  A woman answered it who said she was sorry she couldn t help me as she was all alone.  I ran a little way up the road to a manned railway crossing and asked the keeper,  Can you phone for an ambulance mate, please?   This phone is for railway business only and can t be used for anything else! , he replied. God only knows what my reply was to him! So I ran back to my van and the man.  I managed to turn the van around, opened and stayed the rear doors back and tied string around the door handles to make a loop to cradle his legs in.  By now he was coming round and with a little help from him I got him into the van. I drove very slowly up the road to the other junction and turned right. Just a few yards along this road lived Dr Kurr.  I deposited him easily there and continued with the collection.

By this time I was very late and very, very angry.  I arrived back at the sorting office and waiting with both hands on his hips, was Pinkie. Where the hell have you been?  he said. I then began to relay my story to him and when I had finished he said,  Right then, lets have a look at your van son. What for? I said. Just let me have a look? , he said and when he had examined the van he said,  Well that s alright; now phone up the police and tell them what you ve told me. When I put the phone down he told me to go into the retiring room and have my meal break.  I poured out my tea into a cup, picked it up and shook it all over myself. I continued shaking like that most of the night. Then I realised for the first time that they all must have thought I had run this poor chap over!  I started to worry and did so for some time.

Submitted by Bert