My Paper Round

A Memory of Old Coulsdon.

I worked as a paper boy at Newby's in Taunton Lane. I got up at 5 am and went to the shed behind the shop to sort and mark-up the papers. I then did 2 rounds before school for 6/- a week per round and 5/- for the marking up; a princely sum in those days. The rounds were hard work, particularly on Fridays when The Coulsdon & Purley Times and Advertiser came out. The weight of newspapers on the crossbar of a bike and the hills, Taunton Lane, Waddington Avenue and the Glade leading down into Caterham Drive, kept a young lad very fit. It's worth bearing to mind that most houses had newspapers and comics delivered and, with the exception of the Daily Mirror and the Daily Sketch, virtually all the newspapers were broadsheets.