•The arrival of a telegram was always greeted with a mix of alarm and expectation. For certain, whatever the message it had to be important to be delivered by the young man buzzing down your road on a red BSA Bantam motorbike. Meet the first delivery riders at Lydney photographed in 1951 (from the left), Jack Long, H.V. Bartlett, Ron Gwynne and Gerald Probert. Standing: mechanic M. Dunn, Inspector A.W. Wyatt, head postmaster R.S. Porter and assistant postmaster A.L. Board. The card is from the Roy Close Collection.
