Thirties post office recreated

Neston post office is being recreated in a musem

Hoarders who might be harbouring memorabilia from the 1930s are being asked to come to the aid of a museum in Bath.

A village post office from Wiltshire is going on show at Bath Postal Museum.

Staff are looking for ways to make it look as authentic as possible.

Neston post office was run from a front room

They are appealing for anyone with stamps, letters and other original items from the thirties to donate them for the display.

Matthew Charlton from the museum said: "We'd love to have an original 1930s till - that would be fantastic.

"Also things like bakelite telephones and any original packaging - they sold everything in the shop."

In the 1930s, Neston post office was a bustling hub of activity.

It was run from the front room of a house in the village.

When the nearby stone mines were taken over for war work during World War Two, hundreds of people came to live in Neston.

Arthur and Marjorie Cousins ran the post office

Arthur and Marjorie Cousins, who owned the post office, often stayed until midnight dealing with the extra workload.

"It was special to the area because there were more than 1000 workmen there during World War II who were building the ammunition dumps, so for a small post office it was incredibly packed," said Matthew Charlton

With the dawn of new technology in the 1960s Mr and Mrs Cousins decided to retire and, remarkably, the room was left untouched.

Recently was it dismantled and taken piece by piece to the postal museum in Bath, where it will soon go on display to the public.

"People who knew the post office at Neston who come to the museum should feel at home," said Mr Charlton.