Postmans trousers

Do you remember when postmen in Britain wore trousers?  Not just in the winter but all the year round. The material was a dark blue serge like most uniforms and the trousers had a red stripe down the sides of the leg.

I remember this very well as I was once given a

pair of postmans trousers to wear for school.  Not sure how old I was, probably about ten.  The war was on and there was clothes rationing and small boys wore out clothes faster than the coupons or money lasted, so second hand or hand me downs were the natural thing.

Those trousers though were just too far, but I had no choice.  Quite apart from the rough material it was that red strip down the side. 

 It took  a long time to get rid of that red stripe.  Day after day using school ink to cover up the red.

Eventually it seemed to fade into something less obvious but I was still aware of it.  The strange thing was that none one else seemed to notice it, but I did.  If I had had the nous to think about it then  I would have realised that we all wore a rag bag of mismatched clothing. And of course long trousers had the advantage of protecting legs during rough play.  But it was that red stripe!!

All that was left

When our grandmother Ada Rosetta Sadler died on her birthday at the age of 82,  the only items among her effects that related to her first husband were these.:

No photo,no letters from the front, no marriage certificate, just the scroll and a "Dead Man's Penny"

Ada Rosetta Feston was 25 years old, with  two daughters, one four years old and the other under three months when she was widowed. At first she did not know she was a widow.  Fred Feston disapeared into the mud of Flanders on 25th October 1917 during the third battle of Ypres, and was posted as missing.

Ada grieved for her lost husband but had to get on with life to provide for her children.  Eventually she remarried and perhaps it is not surprising that her former life had to be put to the back of her mind and that eventually all that remained in any physical sense were these two artifacts.

We have tried to honour the instruction on the scroll :

"Let those who come after see to it that his name be not forgotten"