Messenger Girl

By Dorothy Cole

“Did you come here when you were little?” my grandaughter asked me. “Oh yes, but it was very different then,” I told her. “I used to be a messenger girl and there were two of us and we worked for the C.W.S. That means Co-operative Wholesale Society. It was our job to deliver letters from all the factories in Pelaw.

There was the Shirt Factory, the Drug and Dry Saltery Works, the Tailoring Factory, the Printing Works and the Cabinet Works. Every morning we travelled to each place to deliver the letters and then travelled to Newcastle on the train to deliver the letters all over Newcastle. This place, the Discovery Museum, was the main office building for the C.W.S. It had five floors and we had to deliver letters to every floor. We weren't allowed to use the lift. When we delivered the mail we had to pick up more to take back to all the factories in Pelaw. Other buildings we had to deliver to in Newcastle, all multi storey buildings, were on Newgate Street. This is now The Gate Leisure Centre. Down on the Quayside was the warehouse. That is now Malmaison Hotel. We also delivered to offices in Thornton Street and Waterloo Street. I believe these are now luxury apartments.  

We had to do this trip every morning. When we finished, if we'd any money we went to a small cafe, opposite the old Marlborough Crescent bus station. We could buy a freshly baked, still warm, buttered teacake and a cup of tea for 6d. Once we finished it was back to catch the train to Pelaw to deliver mail to all the Pelaw factories. Then it was time for lunch before we had to do it all again in the afternoon.”