BBC Rewind: Postman delivers Fens Christmas mail by boat

Archive footage has shown how postal workers sometimes used to swap the roads for waterways.

A BBC News report, originally broadcast on Boxing Day 1951, followed postman Bill Mortram.

He used a boat to travel from Welney, on the Norfolk-Cambridgeshire border, through the Fens, to deliver his mail during the festive period.

The narrator said it was usually a "dry land route", but on some occasions he could complete his round in half the time on water.

The Welney Wash naturally floods every winter and often leaves drivers with a long diversion.

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25 December 2023