7pm GMT Tuesday 18 March
For all of the 19th century and three quarters of the 20th century, if you lived in rural Britain, on each day you could rely on three things:
The sun would rise in the east and set in the west, and your post would be delivered on foot.
Rural post men and post women guaranteed a daily delivery, and as we know from English literature, often more than once a day. Much of rural Britain would have been walked by postman and postwomen carrying the Valentine’s card, the Christmas greeting, the letter of condolence, the invitation to tea. Some deliveries would have involved a 20 mile journey, with ‘posties’ treading paths into the landscape.
Alan Cleaver, a former journalist and more recently a walking guide book author has a long-held fascination in handwritten letters and how they have been delivered. The Postal Paths, his new book coming in April , celebrates and honours the endeavour of the rural postal delivery service.
Every path tells a story: stories of loyalty, determination, valour, chivalry, courage and downright doggedness.
Join us for this pre-publication Walking Writers’ Salon, and if you have proudly worn or still wear the distinctive postal uniform, we would like to offer you a complimentary ticket – please fill in the form below to claim it.
Walking Writers Salons are hour-long events in which you will get to meet a Walking Writer and learn from them how they weave writing and walking, and how they interpret their surroundings. Each Salon will include a discussion with the author, inviting questions from the audience, and may include a multiple choice quiz in which a winner will receive a prize.
Feature image credit: Ian Cylkowski on Unsplash
“Postie” complimentary ticket – please tell us where your postal round is / was
Related
The Postal Paths: Rediscovering Britain’s Forgotten Trails and the People Who Walked Them
Seeing the hills, the crofts, villages and ruins only tells half the story. The people who worked, walked, lived and died here are the other half. Postal paths span the length and breadth of Britain – from the furthermost corners of the Outer Hebrides to the isolated communities clinging to the cliffs of the Rame
Your project deeply resonates with the performance I am preparing: a 350 km walk where I send a daily postcard captured with an augmented reality compass and GPS coordinates. Sent digitally, it will then be printed and physically exhibited in a gallery, materializing the trace of the journey. Fascinating to see how walking and the postal gesture intertwine across time and space. Thank you for this beautiful exploration!
That sounds a lovely project. I look forward to hearing more about it.