Telegram boys meet up 62 years on

The men shared their "extraordinary" memories over a drink

The last time the three men worked together, bread was rationed and Clement Attlee was Prime Minister.

A lot has changed in 62 years - but today, the smiles and the laughs suggest that Ron Hart, Alex Boothroyd and Davey Hughes were never parted.

The former telegram boys went their separate ways in 1947 when called up for National Service, but have been reunited in Mold, Flintshire.

Mr Hart said: "It was hard work, but they were good days."

The men were 14 when they started working at a post office in Birkenhead, Merseyside, during World War II.

Part of their duties included delivering telegrams to relatives of those killed in the war.

Alex Boothroyd, 80, from Wirral, said: "You had to deliver so many that it made no real impact on you at the time.

We're very fortunate to be in touch with each other, 63 years after we worked together as children Ron Hart, former telegram boy

"I went to one house and I knew what was in the telegram. I delivered it and the woman collapsed, there was a big crowd of people round her.

"She had been informed that her son was missing, presumed killed.

"A couple of days later I had to return with another one, and again, I knew what was in it.

"She was screaming at me but I said 'It's all right, it's all right,' and gave her the telegram saying her son was actually okay.

"She was crying in the middle of the road - she couldn't believe it."

Mr Boothroyd added: "There were about 300 of us telegram boys working at that time. We were like a little army.

"We had some extraordinary times. A lot of our former colleagues are no longer with us, so we're lucky to be able to meet up and talk about those times we shared."

Mr Boothroyd organised the reunion after learning his old friend Ron Hart was living in Mold.

The men remember their days as telegram boys fondly

All three were drafted into the armed forces at the age of 18 in 1947.

Mr Hart, 79, said: "It was hard work, but they were good days.

"There was a little back room in the building where we worked and we used to play two-halfpenny and hold initiation ceremonies for the new boys - we hung one up in a mail bag.

"We had to deliver telegrams in blackouts, complete darkness.

"We started our working lives together. We worked an eight hour day, six days a week and sometimes on Sundays.

"My first week's pay, I think it was 12 and six [ 12 shillings and six pence] for a 40 hour week."

He added: "We're very fortunate to be in touch with each other, 63 years after we worked together as children. It's fabulous."

Reliving memories with his two friends, Mr Hughes, 79, who also lives in Wirral, joked: "It's starting to sound like Dad's Army, isn't it?"

He said: "Those years had a tremendous impact on me. They were your formative years, but we never thought about it at the time."