Spalding area postman Marcus Pell on his memories of delivering our mail for over 34 years - and the dog that would collect the post from him on his rounds

From the Border Collie who would meet him at the end of its owner’s drive to collect the post, to delivering mail to a ship at Fosdyke Bridge, Marcus Pell’s job has brought him lots of memories.

“We have had over the years some strange delivery points if the house had no letterbox, such as old gas ovens, and pairs of Wellington boots!” he said.

This year, he can’t believe he has been in the industry for 34 years. While some systems may have changed, he still loves the job and cherishes the friendships he has built up over that time. And he points out that there are some colleagues who have been in the job even longer than him.

“I started at Gosberton Post Office,” Marcus (56) said. “It was in 1986 and I was 22-years-old. The post office was in the back of the Co-op. The post would come in from the Spalding Sorting Office and there were a few of us working together sorting it into road names and odd and even numbers and then we’d pick up our mail.

“I’d get on my bike and I did so many miles. It would not all go in one bag so I’d go to Bow Gate and down the Quadring Road into Lowgate, then do another loop down Boston Road and around Gosberton. I’d do about 17 miles a day.”

Marcus, from Cowbit, explained that he originally took the job to cover the maternity leave of another worker, called Sylvia. He left his full-time job at Fyffes Monro in Spalding, selling horticultural products.

“I knew there was a good chance Sylvia would not come back after maternity leave and we all got moved into the Spalding Sorting Office part-time and then to full-time,” he said.

The Spalding office was previously based on the corner of The Crescent and Spring Gardens.

“We would start there at 4am and then start in Gosberton at 6.30am, working six days a week, Monday to Saturday,” said Marcus, who still works at the sorting office now in Pinchbeck.

“I got to know people and they got to know me. I remember a lady in Lowgate had a Border Collie called Bradley who would come and take the mail from me. He’d come to meet me at the top of the long driveway.

“We used to deliver to a ship at Fosdyke Bridge called the MV Jonsue. It was a training ship; but seemed strange as you could either walk up the gangplank or down to it depending on whether the tide was in or out.

“In Spalding I became best mates with a local lad called Gary (Rawlings). We’re now brothers-in-law as he married my wife Claire’s sister! They met while we were all playing badminton together.”