IN response to last weeks’ letter from Mr Belson regarding paper boys, I too was a paperboy during the Second World War for the paper shop in Chapel Lane which at that time was just along from Steven’s the Butcher.
As I was the only one with a bike I got the round furthest from the shop, which was Fryers Lane, West Wycombe Road, Southfield Road and Middlebrook Road. I was paid five shillings a week, half a crown to save and half a crown to spend.
Paper bags were very much lighter then due to war restrictions, most papers consisted of only two or four pages.
School leaving age at that time was 14-years-old, when I started work for J.W. Cubbage, so I must have been 12–13 years when doing the paper round.
I have a letter my father wrote to the BFP regarding paper delivering before the First World War which he did for Childs in Oxford Road. His round was West Wycombe Road through to Piddington which he did on foot.
Ken Tranter, Hicks Farm Rise, High Wycombe
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