Nostalgia: Royal Mail Darts, dominoes and a handless corpse in Chorley

Paul Topping, of Coppull, worked in the Chorley sorting office for 25 years and admits he loved every minute of it.

The 57-year-old particularly loved darts and dominoes presentation evenings and shares this photograph which was at the former Green Man pub, in Chorley, in 1984.

The picture features Paul Cottam, Andrew Price, Mayor Geoff Simons, Ryan O’Shea, Frank Allen, Brian Sutton, Paul Topping, Robert (Bob) Blake, Stanley Purcell, Thomas Blake and The Mayor’s wife Mrs Simons.

Paul says: “Working with the Royal Mail was the best job you can imagine in the 1970s and 1980s. We all had a laugh and ribbed each other.

“Every year there used to be an in-house darts and dominoes championship between the sorting office staff.

“There were also combined with the safe driving awards. After 10 years of driving without an accident, you would get a medal. The prize was nothing exceptional but people were proud to have got to 10 or 20 years without an accident in their vans.

“These social outings were an extension of work and we really enjoyed them. We were able to get the Mayor to come along as he worked for British Telecom, which was once part of the General Post Office.”

Paul adds the most memorable part of his job was watching the police when a handless corpse was discovered in Eccleston Delph in 1979.

He recalls: “I did many different rounds during my own time there. I still remember very well, that I was doing a delivery in Eccleston in October 1979 and wondering why police were all over the place in the village. It was when the handless corpse was found in a flooded quarry.

Paul adds his dad, Arthur, also worked at the Royal Mail and his brother, Stewart, currently works at the new sorting office in Friday Street, clocking up more than 65 years’ service between them.