Cumbrian author searches for last surviving rural postal workers who delivered mail on foot

Alan Cleaver is appealing for surviving rural postal workers or their families to get in touch with him Credit: ITV Border

A Cumbrian author is appealing for any surviving rural postal workers or their families to come forward.

Alan Cleaver from Whitehaven is writing a book celebrating their contribution to communities and mapping the old routes before they are forgotten.

Mail deliveries on foot ended with the introduction of vans in the 1970s.

But before then postmen and women often carried out dangerous journeys six days a week, including on Christmas Day, to deliver and collect mail and medicines to hard-to-reach homes.Alan Cleaver said: “I walked a couple on a basic level.

"They are nice walks, but at the same time, I was recalling the history that postmen and women did and the great characters they were and the stories and the anecdotes that you found en route.

"I thought it was an important piece of social history to find out more about and record”

Anyone with a story either about themselves or a family member can get in touch via Twitter @thelonningsguy or email alanjcleaver@gmail.com.

He’ll even accept letters and doesn’t mind how they get delivered.

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