10 /1 ISSN 1470-2037 Suffolk - Norfolk - Lincolnshire - Huntingdonshire - Hertfordshire - Essex - Cambridgeshire EASTERN ANGLE Cambridgeshire - Essex - Hertfordshire - Huntingdonshire - Lincolnshire - Norfolk - Suffolk Volume 10 March 2010 No. 1 Bulletin Editor Barry R Reynolds 74 Edgecomb Road STOWMARKET Suffolk IP14 2DW Tel: +44 (0)1449/613319 Mobile 07950427905 E-mail [email protected] Website: www.freewebs.com/eaphsc Stowmarket Carnival Jubilee Mail March 2010 PDF Creator - PDF4Free v2.0 http://www.pdf4free.com 10 / 2 EAST ANGLIAN POSTAL HISTORY STUDY CIRCLE President Chairman Vice Chairman Paul Green John W J Copeland Gerald Daldry Secretary Treasurer Auctioneer Peter Day Barry Reynolds Peter Day 17 Heywood Road 74 Edgecomb Road 17 Heywood Road DISS STOWMARKET DISS IP22 4DJ IP14 2DW IP22 4DJ Tel: 01379 643907 Tel: 01449 613319 Tel: 01379 643907 Table of Contents Stowmarket Carnival Jubilee Mail 1 Table of Contents 2 Date of Next Meeting 2 Editor / Treasurer Notes 2 Roundup of Postal News of East Anglia 3 Office Closures and Openings 4 Condition 9 Access Mail 5 Registration Labels for East Anglian Bases in WW II 6 Newport / Saffron Walden Cancel Query 8 Stowmarket Bag Label 9 EAPHSC Stock Items 9 New Post Office at Hitchin 1962 10 Manningtree & its Sub-Offices – Part 3. 11 Sub-Office Datestamps of Norfolk – Parts 29, 30 &31 18 Date of Next Meeting March 13th 2010. Annual General Meeting and ‘Bring & Buy’. Your opportunity to dispose of your surplus material with immediate gains and to perhaps find the elusive items you have been searching for. Please give some thought to volunteering for the post of Secretary. Also required are your ideas for the season’s programme, dates, and meeting venues. This meeting will be held at the Community Education Centre, Childer Road, Stowmarket IP14 1PP. Please arrive at 2pm for a prompt 2.30pm start. Editor / Treasurer Notes First the bad news: I am very sorry to have to report that one of our long standing members, John Harrison, died either after or during a holiday in Tenerife in early January or late December. I invite anybody who knew John to provide an obituary for publication in our next issue. Our condolences go to John’s wife and family. Now the good news: We congratulate long standing member Alistair Kennedy on his elevation to Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London. A sincere welcome to new member Ron Elbourne of Wetherden, near Stowmarket. Ron’s area of study is around Mid Suffolk. I have to apologise to those who sought to see Eastern Angle on the website in pdf format, Unfortunately the link was broken resulting in an inability to see the file. Hopefully by the time you read this all will be well and members will be able to see the publication in full colour and print off a copy if required! The December issue I have uploaded as a Microsoft .doc file. I will be pleased to receive members’ observations on the two types of file as the .doc is much larger than the .pdf file. Ó East Anglia Postal History Study Circle PDF Creator - PDF4Free v2.0 http://www.pdf4free.com 10 /3 Roundup of Postal News of East Anglia Contributed by David Taylor Smith and Ed. GENERAL Mail on Sunday 23.08.09. The pedalling postie looks set to go the same way as many village post offices and the early morning delivery. into the history books. Royal Mail is to phase out nearly all of the 25,000 British-made bikes used by postmen and women across the country because they can’t carry enough mail or travel far enough. Instead, postmen and women will be expected to travel to their patches in vans – and deliver their letters and parcels from trolleys made in China. Unions fear the move is a precursor to Royal Mail closing local delivery centres and cutting the hours of staff. The £450 bikes are still used on a quarter of routes – but under the new plan only 500 will survive. They are made by Stratford-upon-Avon-based firm Pashley Cycles, which has supplied them since 1971. A spokesman for Pashley said: ‘We expect our arrangement with Royal Mail to end imminently’. Royal Mail thinks the bicycles are ineffective because postmen sometimes have to do several rounds to deliver all the mail. Under the plan, being tested in Cambridge, Plymouth, Durham and Lincoln, up to three postmen will deliver mail across a wide area before driving their van to another location. It will mean workers will no longer have to return to base to collect more items but could also signal the end of neighbourhoods having their own dedicated postman. Some postmen will be given a four-wheel pull-along trolley, while others on rounds with steep hills will get battery-powered ones. It is believed that Royal Mail will extend the scheme nationwide, although some postmen will be allowed to keep bicycles on rural routes. ESSEX Braintree & Witham Times 12/11/09. A public consultation is taking place to reopen Orsett Post Office. The post office at 10 High Road, Orsett was closed on 20th August this year because the postmaster resigned. A six week consultation process started on Wednesday, 11th November and closes on Wednesday, 23rd December The consultation proposes new opening hours for the post office from 6am to 9.30pm. The proposal includes the change of location to 41 High Road in Orsett, 150 yards away from the previous one. Customers will experience extended opening hours and a wider entrance for anyone with mobility constraints. Essex County Standard 15.11.09. Pownell Crescent TSO (32 Berechurch Road) which was shut under a nationwide review is to reopen at the end of the month. The branch, in Colchester, was one of five to be closed in the area as the Government sought to reduce subsidies. Defiant councillor Dave Harris lead the protests against the closure - and is now jumping for joy that the post office will be reopened. Mr Harris, who collected more than 1,000 signatures against the post office being axed, said: "I am absolutely over the moon and am so glad that Essex County Council has listened to public opinion and worked to reopen this post office." The post office will be run from Hitesh Stores and Newsagents by Harendra Patel, whose father Arvind previously ran it. NORFOLK Eastern Daily Press 11.11.09. Beeston Post Office which was successfully saved by residents last year was closed ‘temporarily’ on Thursday 5th November ‘following an audit’. Debbie Noakes and her husband and parents have run the PO Stores for the past 13 years. Norwich Evening News 03.09.09. Poringland Post Office, in Shotesham Road, closed suddenly last week due to “circumstances beyond the control of Post Office Ltd”. The branch, which also doubles as the Poringland Shopper store, is still closed, with no word on whether it would be reopening any time soon. Caroline Milton, parish council March 2010 PDF Creator - PDF4Free v2.0 http://www.pdf4free.com 10 / 4 clerk, said they only received notice of the post office closure yesterday but had not been told anything else.“ Following the sudden closure of the post office on Friday, a spokesman said: “We understand that the people of Poringland will be concerned about the future of post office services in their area. Customers can be assured that we will be able to continue to work hard to find a solution that will provide a post office presence in the area”. 04.09.09. Former subpostmaster of a Poringland Post Office which has closed without warning is offering to step in to run the business once more. But Abdul Basit, who was subpostmaster between 2006 and 2007 but left in controversial circumstances, said he wanted to take control again to make sure the village was not left without a vital resource. Mr Basit said his contract as subpostmaster had been terminated by Post Office Limited at the end of 2007. 29.09.09. Spixworth Post Office closed its doors early last Tuesday afternoon without an explanation or warning and has not opened again since. The mystery closure left families in the village stunned and today Reverend Andrew Beane, vicar of Spixworth, Crostwick, and Horsham St Faiths, has called for an explanation as to why Spixworth is still without a post office. A Post Office spokeswoman said: “We're very sorry that this post office has temporarily closed for reasons beyond our control and we are working hard to find a solution as we are committed to continue providing post office services to our customers in the area." 23.10.09. People in a village north of Norwich who are fighting for the return of their post office have collected 1000 signatures on a petition in just over a week. Spixworth Post Office shut suddenly without notice on Tuesday, 22nd September Since then pensioners have been forced to travel several miles to the nearest post offices in Norwich, Newton St Faiths or Coltishall. A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: “We are committed to reopen it, and we will restore services there as soon as possible. The closure was not something that we wanted to happen.” Norwich Crown Court heard on Monday that subpostmistress Tara Murphy stole more than £11,000 from the post office over a period of a year. Murphy, of Crostwick Lane, Spixworth, admitted theft from the post office. She was jailed for eight months, suspended for a year, and ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work. She was also made to pay £350 towards prosecution costs.