BRIGG MAIL TRAIN MEMORIES

Former Brigg man Cliff Turner - now living in New Zealand - has emailed us to suggest that Jack Clarke took charge of his Grammar School tuck shop in the late 1930s. 

Cliff says Jack had previously worked for W. B. Robinson, stationers, toy shop and newsagent - opposite  Dunn's shoe shop in Wrawby Street.  

"Jack met the mail train every morning to pick up the newspapers and then got the papers ready for the delivery boys," says Cliff.

Our recent picture of the house that's now been fashioned from the former tuck shop created plenty of interest - particularly among former Brigg Grammar School pupils.

The early morning mail train was still operating in the late 1960s  and probably well into the 1970s. From memory it arrived about 4.30am - presumably from Manchester where some national newspapers had presses. The direct route to Brigg was the former Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire railway mainline.

Cliff was a newspaper delivery boy in his youth, as were many other Brigg Blog followers. We thought we got up early to get to the shop before 7am to pick up the papers for our rounds. But it's easy to forget that people like Jack, and Winnie Cammack at Richardson's in Wrawby Street, had been up and about for hours by the time we arrived on our bikes to start work.

W H Smith also had a town centre presence, of course, the newsagent's shop having long since been converted and now housing Scalinis fish and chip shop/restaurant.

When Brigg railway station was at its peak, it had a proper news stand on one of the platforms - further enhancing our town's link with the world of daily newspapers. 

MORE ABOUT BRIGG CAN BE FOUND THROUGH THIS LINK

www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk/Brigg