Some Happy Memories PDF Print E-mail
Written by Hilda McAdam   
Saturday, 09 January 2010 18:07
Some Happy Memories from the folk who worked at the Post Office

One of the great characters remembered as being a postman was Hugh Clark.  Hugh was well liked in the village and when he retired, he took a job as lighthouse keeper at Little Ross, near Kirkcudbright. Unfortunately, in 1960, when people came to the island to visit him, they found that he had been murdered.
(see http://www.kirkcudbright.co.uk/Places/murderat.htm for the details).

Hugh was followed as postman by Anthony Candlish.  In 1947 the roads had all been blocked for weeks with a big snow.  On the day that the snowplough had got through to try and pen the road to Carsphairn, which had been completely cut off, Nora Little and Anthony filled up the post van with all the mail, as well as bread and milk, etc., and started off for Carsphairn.  Nora remembered that they came to a bit of the road that was not really passable, but all the roadmen were working there and they came over and lifted the post van right up and carried it over the bit that was proving difficult.

In 1957, Gordon Candlish took over as postman and remembered one particular day.  It was during the big snow in 1963.  He was making his way up the Fingland road, but the snow was so think that he had to follow the snowplough, manned by Tommy Gordon and Curtis (Courty) McAdam.  Making their way up to Trotson, they came across Hodgkinson’s float, (the knackery lorry), which was coming from Knocksting.  The float had slipped off the road and somebody had been sent to phone for help.  Another Hodgkinson’s lorry arrived, this time a flat wagon, to try and pull out the float, but unfortunately this too slipped off the road and got stuck.  So another call was made, this time to Frank Clark from Moniaive, who managed to winch them both back onto the road.  Gordon was waiting in the post van further along the road.  The lorry driver saw him and said, “There’s the b… post van, I’ll have to move over to let him pass”.  He started to move and landed straight back in the ditch from whence he had just been pulled.  What he said then was unrepeatable!