Active Retirement Club discover history of postal services

The lack of a town-centre post office is a hot topic in Westbury. Members of the Active Retirement Club (ARC) were therefore keen to learn more about the history of postal services, and Ann King of Trowbridge gave a well-researched insight to the subject.

Her presentation ranged from the early days of riders carrying royal documents from London to the shires, to the advent of the railway network. Important in this development process were the local city of Bath and the key points on the A4 through Wiltshire. 

The siting of postal services in shops and inns is not a new idea. Before stand-alone post offices came into being, reflecting the importance and volume of written material, sending a letter involved carrying it to a local “pick-up” point for onward transmission by coach. 

One such pick-up point in Dorset dates from 1804 and could have been a postal point for Jane Austen’s letters to her sister Cassandra, a correspondence that has delighted Austen fans for the detailed light it throws on a special relationship.

Those were the days when letters were the only means of communication over a distance – the days before telegrams, telephones, and e-mail. Yet the ability to share ideas and information over a distance has always been a key part of the modern world, however it happens. Moving on is part of the process.

The next meeting of ARC will be a quiz – hopefully fun as well as interesting – and will take place at the Horse and Groom on 13th November, 10.30am for 11am. It will be followed by a pub lunch if anyone wishes to stay on.

Find out more at www.arcwestbury.club.

Report by Kay Millard