OCTOBER 9 marked the United Nations World Post Day, writes Stephen Wainwright.
Despite electronic communication truncating the volume of letters that are now sent, the UN still considers the postal service a "critical element in the global ecosystem, transcending borders to connect people, businesses and governments."
The St Helens post has changed dramatically since the days of William Woodstock.
He was the town's first and, for a time, only letter carrier after a government Post Office had been established in St Helens in 1852.
There were then only around 6,000 letters to be delivered each month, but William had a huge territory to cover, working seven days a week.
Advert in the St Helens Star on November 15, 1973(Image: Supplied)
And he tramped the streets for over 38 years, never having a day off until finally rheumatism forced him to retire at the age of 70.
William does not appear to have estimated how far he had walked in his letter-carrying career.
But when postman Alf Critchley from Lingholme Road retired in 1947, after almost half a century's service in Rainford and St Helens, he reckoned he had walked the equivalent of twelve times around the world.
Unlike today with the postie delivering letters through a combination of walking and driving a van, the postmen of the past could be sacked if caught hitching a lift.
They even had to make a delivery on Christmas Day.
In fact many people in St Helens deliberately waited until Christmas Eve before mailing their parcels and cards so they would arrive at their destination on the morning of the 25th.
One compensation for the poorly paid postman at Christmastime was the receipt of Christmas boxes.
But often these came in the form of alcohol with the inevitable consequences!
And so a campaign attempted to persuade people to donate money to the postman instead of booze.
The free drinks also extended well into the New Year and in January 1883 the Prescot Reporter described how a postman at Crank had lost his job after getting drunk:
"The residents at Crank and that district have fallen victims to another, and very unusual, form of postal irregularity.
"On the 9th instant the Crank postman left St Helens at the usual early hour, to accomplish his morning delivery.
"Unfortunately he got drink.
"By what means is not known; but it is highly probable that it was given him by people anxious to mark their appreciation of his services, at New Year's time.
"The result was that the poor fellow was found drunk at four o'clock in the afternoon, with about forty of his letters undelivered."
The postal milestones during the 20th century included the abolition of the Sunday delivery in 1921 which displeased the Liverpool Echo, who wrote: "There are some to whom a Sunday without letters has always seemed to be unthinkable."
Another milestone was the two-tier postal system, which was introduced in August 1968.
The Post Office promised to deliver fivepenny first-class letters within 24 hours and 4d second-class letters a day later.
Dogs have always been the worst enemy of postmen - St Helens Reporter, November 17, 1939(Image: Supplied)
However, there were many gripes about the new arrangement, with the St Helens Women's Conservative Association declaring that first-class simply meant slow delivery and second-class very slow.
And Billinge Council's Finance and General Purposes Committee were most upset, with Councillor Hall scathing about the two-tier post, saying: "It is nothing except blackmail.
"I would like everyone in this country to boycott this system."
A Post Office spokesman did not help by insisting that the second-class mail would not be deliberately delayed – just "intentionally deferred"!
Then there was the postcode introduction which affected St Helens in late October 1971.
All 49,000 households were sent a letter informing them of their own postcode and a mobile van manned by Post Office staff was stationed in the market area to educate the public on the change.
But you have to give the Post Office credit for their sense of humour, as their postcode information notices in newspapers bore the headline "Now You Can Tell Us Exactly Where To Go"!
Stephen Wainwright's latest book, "The Hidden History Of St Helens Volume 5," is available from the St Helens Book Stop and The World of Glass and online from Amazon and eBay with free delivery.
Price £12.
Volumes 1 to 4 are also still available.