Post runs in the family
Retired postman Paul Wood and members of his family have spent over 300 years employed with the Royal Mail.
Heritage reporter Kerry Mc-Queeney spoke to him about his working life, including the time when he was bitten by a corgi while delivering letters to the Queen.
Paul Wood owes a lot to Britain's postal service. Not only did it provide him with gainful employment for 40 years, but it also played a part in the moment he first came into the world. Paul said, "My dad was my mum's postman, That's how they met. If it hadn't been for the postal service 1 might not be here, so you could say they helped deliver me". Some would say being a postman was in Paul's blood. The 66-year-old became a telegram boy at the tender age of 15, following in the footsteps of his father, Reginald Frank Carrington or 'Chippie' Wood.
Paul admitted it was the promise of a motorbike that made up his mind. In the 1950's telegram boys rode motorbikes. He was delighted when he was told he would be based in central London but was dismayed when he discovered telegram boys in the city rode push-bikes instead.
Before mobile phones, urgent messages were sent by telegram and could be delivered within an hour. However people came to associate telegrams with bad news, especially during wars and conflicts. When I first started the Suez crisis is happening in Egypt. He lost count of the number of times he knocked on a door and the woman answering it went white before he had delivered the message.
After two years Paul landed the enviable job of delivering mail inside Buckingham Palace.
He said: "I never actually met the Queen or Prince Phillip, but I frequently saw Princess Anne and Prince Charles, who behaved just like normal little children. "They would say; "good morning Mr Postman, do you have any letters for us?'. I enjoyed my two years there, even though one of the Corgis bit me. "I still have my Buckingham Palace uniform. It's moth-eaten but I can't bring myself to throw it away. It still fits too."
His aunt, two of his children and his daughter's partner all went into the postal service. Between them and Paul's father Chippie, the family have clocked up an impressive 300 years with the service.
Paul said, "My dad became a telegram boy in 1910 at the age of 14, based at the Thornton Heath sub post office. His first few years as a postman were spent in Croydon. "My mum was living in Silver-leigh Road in Thornton Heath. In those days class was an issue and my grandma was disgusted that her daughter was going out with a postman. She would never let him in the house with his uniform on." In 1925. after a stint serving in the First World War, Paul's father was part of the first wave of postmen chosen to drive the new Purley Way manufactured Trojan cars to deliver mail. He continued as a driver for 30 years.
Things have changed so dramatically over the last 15 years. If you wanted to communicate with somebody you would write a letter, the ordinary man in the street did not have a telephone, certainly not a mobile phone or email."