OYEZ! OYEZ! BRIGG ONCE HAD A TOWN CRIER

Brigg folk today tend to keep in touch with friends & family and and pick up news through social media networks, email, mobile phone messaging and the internet.
But things used to be very different years ago, and the interesting picture above shows John Guilliatt, of Brigg, who was a town crier.
For centuries they toured town and village streets, ringing a bell, proclaiming Oyez! Oyez! and shouting snippets of news to inform the general public of important events or achievements.
John was a member of the Salvation Army and has its motif on his sweater.
The date of the picture is not known, but it may have been taken in the late 1940s.
Sending letters and postcards was the most-used method when it came to keeping in touch years ago - before email and other technology became widespread.
The picture below - perhaps taken in the early 1950s - shows Brigg's new postmaster Mr W. Robinson, left, alongside Mr E. Rose, who was retiring from this important post, based at the town's Bigby Street Post Office.
That was built in the 1930s and offered a full counter service, today provided at the rear of Martin's shop on Wrawby Street, though letter-sorting and parcels are still carried out in the building on Bigby Street.

Both pictures come from the extensive collection of the late Cliff Padley and are among a number of images recently passed on to Brigg Blog.
Cliff grew up in Brigg and worked in the town as a printer and later as a newspaper reporter with the Star newspaper.
A keen supporter of Brigg Town Football Club, he lived in Scawby for many years prior to his death.
Following the death of a king or queen, a Proclamation Day is held with a representative of the local council being the central figure. When this last happened (in February 1952) the proclamation was read to assembled townsfolk by the chairman of Brigg Urban District Council. But for centuries before that, the town crier might well have played a  part when one monarch died and another succeeded to the throne.