Back in 1994, I went to north Wales to see the miniature steam trains \u2013 I was a fan of railways. On a platform at Rhyl station, I noticed the painted outline of a postbox \u2013 it was all that remained of one that had stood there since the late 1800s.<\/p>\n
It turns out it had been vandalised, set alight and chucked in a skip. I asked the station manager if I could see it and he jokingly said: \u201cGive me 20 quid and you can take it away with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I replied, \u201cI\u2019ll give you 20 quid, if\u00a0you can give me a receipt for it.\u201d That\u2019s\u00a0how it all started.<\/p>\n
Now, I\u2019ve got postboxes from all over the place, which I keep in my postal museum<\/a> on the Isle of Wight. With 260, it\u2019s one of the biggest collections in this country. I\u2019ve got boxes from East Mey in Scotland, Truro in Cornwall, Cork in Ireland and even one from Hong Kong.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not allowed to have a favourite, that would be like having a favourite child, but I do have some amazing ones. One of the standouts looks like a giant tin of baked beans. It came from the old Heinz factory in Park Royal, London: they had their own post office and postbox branded with the Heinz logo.<\/p>\n My collection started in earnest when I wrote an article about my first acquisition for a specialist magazine. After that, a couple of people came to\u00a0see the postbox. One visitor asked if\u00a0I was going to start collecting. He\u00a0said: \u201cI know a bloke who wants to get rid of some in his garden.\u201d I\u00a0thought, why not?<\/p>\n double quotation markI\u2019ve got postboxes from all over the place<\/p>\n Another visitor said, \u201cI know a stonemason in east London. He\u2019s had a\u00a0pillar box in his garage for years. I\u00a0think he wants to get rid of it. Would you like it?\u201d Again: why not?<\/p>\n I\u2019ve since travelled thousands of miles to collect them. Before I retired, I used to travel around the country for my job as an electrician, occasionally photographing postboxes along the way. Sometimes I\u2019d meet local postal workers who helped me track down old ones. Royal Mail keep a host of items in storage yards before they scrap them. My reputation is such that when they\u2019re having a clear-out, they get in touch with me. I\u2019ve met some fantastic people through the group. We\u2019re from all walks of life: there are electricians, builders, self-employed business people, but once we get together we\u2019ve all got a common interest.<\/p>\n double quotation markThese things have kept connections between families far and wide<\/p>\n I\u2019ve also lost some very dear collector friends over the years. Sometimes I end up with parts of their collections. A friend in Somerset left me some of his boxes when he passed. Another, a former postal worker in Cowes, died suddenly and his wife gave me his postboxes. Without them, I wouldn\u2019t have got anywhere.<\/p>\n I started my museum in 2006, because I needed somewhere to store my collection. Before that, I kept it in various sheds in the hope that one day I could display them. Now, anyone can make an appointment to visit. My\u00a0wife and I have entertained people from the occasional walk-in to parties of 90.<\/p>\n We lost our local postbox last Christmas \u2013 it was attached to a telegraph pole and Royal Mail deemed it unfit for use. Now we\u2019ve got to walk a mile to the nearest postbox, which is great fun for the elderly people here. Royal Mail is also rolling out 3,500 solar-panelled postboxes across the country \u2013 some will replace the classic ones we\u2019ve come to know.<\/p>\n The way things are going, though, we probably won\u2019t be sending many letters in 10 years\u2019 time \u2013 I don\u2019t see modern boxes lasting more than 50 years. I suppose it\u2019s progress, but these things have been on our streets, keeping connections between families far and wide.<\/p>\n I\u2019d like to keep my collection going for as long as possible, but if anything were to happen to me or my wife, I\u00a0presume it will get cast to the four winds. You would love to think that somebody would take over, but I can\u2019t see that happening. So while I\u2019m still here, I\u2019ll enjoy showing people around.<\/p>\n As told to Xaymaca Awoyungbo<\/p>\n
I joined a club called the Letter Box Study Group<\/a> for people who are interested in the history of not just postboxes but Royal Mail in general. I\u2019ve become the go-to person to find out the details about postboxes. Send me a\u00a0photograph of one and I\u2019ll tell you everything you want to know about it.<\/p>\n