Telegram boys ???.

[samboy]

HI gang.

                Does anyone on here remember the telegram boys that used to ride round on little motorbikes delivering

                 usually bad news. More often than not to tell you that someone in the family had died. 

                 I remember them well. Perhaps i should change my user name to oldsamboy.

[Walker570]

Yup, little red motor bikes and smart uniforms. You dreaded one pulling up infront of your house.  This was a time when your telephone...if you had one...was only three numbers and if you wanted to call someone you went through a local exchange where the lady would plug you in.  Our number was Polesworth 327 remember it well, dial 0 for the exchange.   Those porcelaine pot insulators on top of the phone poles where also very tempting for a young lad with a catty.  I wouldn't do such a thing now would I ?

[wisdom]

I think they were puch mopeds.Like you say very smart uniforms.

There were  lot of them too

[ditchman]

20 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Yup, little red motor bikes and smart uniforms. You dreaded one pulling up infront of your house.  This was a time when your telephone...if you had one...was only three numbers and if you wanted to call someone you went through a local exchange where the lady would plug you in.  Our number was Polesworth 327 remember it well, dial 0 for the exchange.   Those porcelaine pot insulators on top of the phone poles where also very tempting for a young lad with a catty.  I wouldn't do such a thing now would I ?

mine was Bilderston 288.............

 

think they were 98cc Excelsiors one up and 1 down

[mossy835]

when i was a young boy, i used to walk past the main post office in town, and see them come out of the yard.

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, yes I can remember them,  and that quite motor cycle the police had that would sneak up on you if you were loitering about the village, 🤔😁

[samboy]

2 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, yes I can remember them,  and that quite motor cycle the police had that would sneak up on you if you were loitering about the village, 🤔😁

Did we not call them noddy bikes. I think they were Velocettes.

[marsh man]

29 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Yup, little red motor bikes and smart uniforms. You dreaded one pulling up infront of your house.  This was a time when your telephone...if you had one...was only three numbers and if you wanted to call someone you went through a local exchange where the lady would plug you in.  Our number was Polesworth 327 remember it well, dial 0 for the exchange.   Those porcelaine pot insulators on top of the phone poles where also very tempting for a young lad with a catty.  I wouldn't do such a thing now would I ?

We didn't see many telegram boys as I don't many of the folk in our village could afford to send a telegram and word of mouth on the grapevine travelled quicker than the speed of sound .

What we did have on the corner of the street which might have been of interest with you been a ex policeman was a  Blue police metal dome with a telephone inside that the public could use in a emergency and if memory is correct it had a Blue light on the top .

[steve s×s]

4 minutes ago, samboy said:

Did we not call them noddy bikes. I think they were Velocettes.

Yes They were known as noddy bikes in my area west Yorkshire /North Yorkshire border, they had a clear plastic wind shield with Police written on it, in fact there was a mill at the side of river wharfe that for a while made the wind shields, iam a mine of useless info😂

[johnphilip]

My pal used to do it as a young lad in the early  60s 

[butchdickason]

The motorbikes used by the Telegram lads that I remember in Dover were BSA Bantam's.

[Gordon R]

Quote

Did we not call them noddy bikes. I think they were Velocettes.

Velocette LE OHV horizontally opposed 200cc water cooled twin.

[mossy835]

22 minutes ago, butchdickason said:

The motorbikes used by the Telegram lads that I remember in Dover were BSA Bantam's.

 

 

yes they were.

[amateur]

14 minutes ago, Gordon R said:

Velocette LE OHV horizontally opposed 200cc water cooled twin.

Side valve 150cc, then upgraded to 200cc. AFAIK not used by the telegram boys, but the later GPO bikes were indeed BSA Bantam 125/150/175.

The Valiant was the 200cc OHV

Edited October 7, 2021 by amateur

[oldypigeonpopper]

44 minutes ago, butchdickason said:

The motorbikes used by the Telegram lads that I remember in Dover were BSA Bantam's.

Hello, I had one, was all blue and shiny , think it had a fish tail exhaust, those were the good old days in the 1960s 🤔😁

[30-6]

When I was 11 years old, 1969, the postmaster in our local post office used to give me 1 shilling (5p) to deliver telegrams for him.

[Gordon R]

Quote

Side valve 150cc, then upgraded to 200cc

I stand corrected. 🙂

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the K.O.S. Club!   

[Robden]

Yep. I grew up in the East end of London and they were, Velocettes, BSA Bantams.

The "proper" police bikes were usually Triumph Saints, which were quite lowly geared, earning them the acronym SAINT...Stop Anything In No Time.

Bloody hell I must be old. I remember the Wolseley 4/44 police cars with a bell just above the front chrome bumper.

[enfieldspares]

My grandmother's was Mareham-le-Fen 242 and my late father and mother's went from Kirby Muxloe 131 to Kirby Muxloe 3131 to Leicester (0533) 393131 to Leicester (0116) 2 393131 over the course of near sixty years. Thank Heaven for push button dialling! Imagine dialling 0116 2 393131 on a rotary dial? Making the call in 2021 would now take longer than the call itself!

Edited October 8, 2021 by enfieldspares

[johnphilip]

2 hours ago, Robden said:

Yep. I grew up in the East end of London and they were, Velocettes, BSA Bantams.

The "proper" police bikes were usually Triumph Saints, which were quite lowly geared, earning them the acronym SAINT...Stop Anything In No Time.

Bloody hell I must be old. I remember the Wolseley 4/44 police cars with a bell just above the front chrome bumper.

We had a Wolseley 4/44 in the late 50s , beautiful  looking car . And still look good to this day , when you see them are rallies .

[Vince Green]

15 hours ago, wisdom said:

I think they were puch mopeds.Like you say very smart uniforms.

There were  lot of them too

Bantams in my time. I thought it must be the best job in the world getting paid to ride round on a motorbike all day

[Walker570]

Yep Bantams back then.

14 hours ago, Gordon R said:

Velocette LE OHV horizontally opposed 200cc water cooled twin.

Learned to ride a motor bike and passed my tests on a Noddy then within 4 months I was sitting astride a Triumph 650 blue lights two tones all singing and dancing thenks to the superb rider traing course at Staffordshire Police Traing College. Saved my life so many times.

 

[100milesaway]

20 hours ago, butchdickason said:

The motorbikes used by the Telegram lads that I remember in Dover were BSA Bantam's.

Is the correct answer,at least around the Saddleworth area. From Auntie.

Edited October 8, 2021 by 100milesaway
Addition.

[100milesaway]

6 hours ago, Walker570 said:

Yep Bantams back then.

Learned to ride a motor bike and passed my tests on a Noddy then within 4 months I was sitting astride a Triumph 650 blue lights two tones all singing and dancing thenks to the superb rider traing course at Staffordshire Police Traing College. Saved my life so many times.

 

Yes i remember the police vellows, they had a completely encased engine and were normally grey at least around the Saddleworth areas. From Auntie.