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Last updated 2nd May 2012
The Post Office Vehicle Club
celebrates fifty years since its foundation in the summer of 1962. It was originally formed purely as a
society devoted to the recording of current operations in the fleet of the
General Post Office (GPO). Over
the years, it has recorded events associated with the demise of the GPO and the
emergence of The Post Office Corporation; the demerger of British Telecom from
the Post Office in 1981 and a myriad of other changes in recent years that have
impacted on vehicle operations. To
mark this milestone, and with the kindness of The British Postal
Museum & Archive (BPMA), we are holding a Vehicle Gathering at its
Museum Store at Debden, near Loughton in Essex on Saturday 15th
September 2012.
Debden houses most of the large Royal Mail collection of preserved
vehicles (28 trucks and vans, 8 motor cycles/mopeds, one electric bicycle, two electric
trucks and a large variety of bicycles, tricycles and a pentacycle), as well as
postboxes, postal mechanisation machinery and other memorabilia. We hope with a good turnout of visiting
preserved vehicles to assemble the largest gathering of preserved Post Office
vehicles at one event. Only
limited light refreshments will be available during the rally, and there are no
recommended catering establishments in the immediate vicinity of the Museum
Store. There is no admission
charge to the event but a small donation to the BPMA to support its work in
preserving Britain’s postal heritage will be welcomed.
In addition to the vehicles, there will be a
number of presentations on horse-drawn vehicles, GPO vehicles from 1962,
memories of a postman-driver and a viewing of some of the archives held by the
Club, throughout the day. The
Museum Store is at Unit 7, Imprimo Park, Debden Industrial Estate, Lenthall
Road, Loughton, Essex, IG10 3UF.
It is adjavent to Transport for London’s Underground Station at Debden
on the Central Line (Central
London 30 minutes). It is close to
junction 5 of the M11 and there is limited free parking adjacent to the store.
The vehicle entry forms are now available
from our Archivist Mark Skillen on markskillen@btinternet.com
or by telephoning 01433-670200.
The
June issue of Diecast Collector includes a sixteen-page supplement on
models of Post Office Vehicles. The
Club stocks models of Post Office vehicles, please e-mail POVehClub@aol.com for our current models
sales list. During 2011, the Club
assisted Royal Mail and Corgi to produce four authentic 1:43 scale models of
Post Office mailvans over the years.
They comprise:
1967
Ford Anglia van SMG 887F, 1970 Morris Minor van SLJ 430H, 1963 Austin A35
prototype and 1952 Morris-Commercial J LUU 804.
They
are available direct from Royal Mail by phoning 08457 641 641.
- Our latest
book is entitled PRESERVED VEHICLES of the General Post Office and
successors: Sixth edition - 2011, it lists all known surviving
vehicles in preservation. Detailing over 1,500 such vans, lorries and
two=wheelers in preservation, they are detailed in a 128 page A5
perfect-bound book with a further twenty pages of colour photographs of
some of the more interesting such vehicles. Available at £12.00 (including postage and
packing) from POVC Sales at 124 Shenstone Avenue, Norton, STOURBRIDGE,
West Midlands, DY8 3EJ or
from the Club stand at Amberley at £10. Please make cheques payable to the “Post Office Vehicle
Club”.
- POSTBUSES
1998-2009 details all the postbuses supplied since 1998, the current
position with the withdrawal of postbus routes and much other
information. 60 pages
including 29 colour photographs of all the types of 2005-2009 postbuses.
Priced at £5 from POVC Sales at 124 Shenstone Avenue, Norton, STOURBRIDGE,
West Midlands, DY8 3EJ. Please make cheques payable to the
“Post Office Vehicle Club”.
- The
earlier books on postbuses are also available: British Bus Publishing has
published the POSTBUS HANDBOOK.
136 pages with details of vehicles and routes at £12.50. In addition, we have published two
earlier updates, POSTBUSES 1998-2004 and POSTBUSES 1998-2006. Each update is priced at £5. All four (Handbook and three
updates) together are priced at £22 from POVC Sales at 124 Shenstone
Avenue, Norton, STOURBRIDGE, West Midlands, DY8 3EJ.
Please make cheques payable to the “Post Office Vehicle Club”.
- A recent publication is titled Royal
Mail Network. 64 pages in
A5 format with 21 colour photographs, it lists and illustrates Royal
Mail’s current trunking operation known as Network. Available at £5.00 (including
postage and packing) from POVC Sales at 124 Shenstone Avenue, Norton,
STOURBRIDGE, West Midlands,
DY8 3EJ. Please make
cheques payable to the “Post Office Vehicle Club”.
- “G.P.O. Vehicles 1946-1969: A Concise
Guide”, this book now in its third edition summarises Post Office vehicles
in the period from the end of the Second World War to the creation of the
Post Office Corporation in October 1969. This was the period when GPO vehicles were registered
in complete registration series.
The book has 148 pages (including 20 pages of contemporary colour
photographs) in A5 perfect bound format. Available at £10.00 (including postage and packing)
from POVC Sales at 124 Shenstone Avenue, Norton, STOURBRIDGE, West
Midlands, DY8 3EJ. Please make cheques payable to the
“Post Office Vehicle Club”.
- Now available is the reprint of POST
OFFICE STORES AND TELEPHONE VEHICLES. The third edition includes an extra eight pages of
colour photographs bringing the story up to date to 2005. Available at £9.95 (including
postage and packing) from POVC Sales at 124 Shenstone Avenue, Norton,
STOURBRIDGE, West Midlands,
DY8 3EJ. Please make
cheques payable to the “Post Office Vehicle Club”.
- Still available is ROYAL MAIL in the
Trucks in Britain series.
This hardback book is a photographic history of the mailvan in the
United Kingdom from the late 19th Century through to its
publication in 1995. Eighty
pages including a colour section.
Available at £13.95 (including postage and packing) from POVC Sales
at 124 Shenstone Avenue, Norton, STOURBRIDGE, West Midlands, DY8 3EJ. Please make cheques payable to the “Post Office Vehicle
Club”.
- To bring
the story up to date, we have the MAILVAN HANDBOOK published by British
Bus Publishing. 112 pages of
photographs of mailvans between 1981 and 2005. Available at £13.25 (including postage and packing)
from POVC Sales at 124 Shenstone Avenue, Norton, STOURBRIDGE, West
Midlands, DY8 3EJ. Please make cheques payable to the
“Post Office Vehicle Club”.
- Other
publications are available, please e-mail POVehClub@aol.com for our list.