Listen to Dear Granny Smith on BBC iPlayer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pcdpk/Book_of_the_Week_Dear_Granny_Smith_Episode_1/

Dear Granny Smith: A letter from your postman written by Roy Mayall and delivered by Philip Jackson; a heartfelt musing on the past, present and future role of one of the oldest British institutions, the Postie.

Episode 1

Why postmen used to have the best job in the world, and why it’s heading towards becoming the worst.

Broadcast:

1.
Mon 14 Dec 2009
09:45
BBC Radio 4 (FM only)

2.
Tue 15 Dec 2009
00:30
BBC Radio 4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pcdpk/Book_of_the_Week_Dear_Granny_Smith_Episode_1/

Christmas at the Royal Mail

Christmas is the most important time of the year for the Royal Mail. It is when the company comes into its own.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Christmas-at-the-Royal-Mail

Panorama: Can’t Deliver, Won’t Deliver

What is wrong with the Royal Mail? Panorama investigates the service that gets around 5,000 complaints a day, and asks if our once-proud postal service is failing its customers.

Reporter Vivian White’s bleak message is that 2010 will deliver yet more bad news for the Royal Mail, unless the posties and the bosses can get themselves sorted.

Credits

Presenter

Jeremy Vine

Reporter

Vivian White

Producer

Claire Burnett

Broadcasts

1. Mon 14 Dec 2009
   20:30
   BBC One (except Wales)
2. Mon 14 Dec 2009
   22:35
   BBC One (Wales only)
3. Thu 17 Dec 2009
   04:30
   BBC News Channel
4. Fri 18 Dec 2009
   00:00
   BBC One (except Northern Ireland, Wales)
5. Fri 18 Dec 2009
   01:00
   BBC One (Northern Ireland only)

Dear Granny Smith – best price

From the Guardian Bookshop

Dear Granny Smith

Roy Mayall
Our price: £3.99

RRP: £4.99

Publisher: SHORT BOOKS

Publication Date : 26/11/2009

Paperback

Usually despatched within 7-10 days.

ISBN: 9781906021979

http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781906021979

A Letter From Your Postman as delivered by Roy Mayall

By The Bard of Ely

From HubPages

“In Dear Granny Smith (A Letter From Your Postman) We join Roy as he vividly describes some of his working experiences both the good side and the bad side. We learn how a once happy traditional job is being spoiled by “modernisation” and “Team Talk” meetings in which nobody talks and there is no team…”

http://hubpages.com/hub/A-Letter-From-Your-Postman-as-delivered-by-Roy-Mayall

Dear Granny Smith – Book of the Week on Radio 4

Dear Granny Smith: A letter from your postman written by Roy Mayall and delivered by Philip Jackson; a heartfelt musing on the past, present and future role of one of the oldest British institutions, the Postie.

Episode 1

Why postmen used to have the best job in the world, and why it’s heading towards becoming the worst.

Broadcast:

1.
Mon 14 Dec 2009
09:45
BBC Radio 4 (FM only)
2.
Tue 15 Dec 2009
00:30
BBC Radio 4

Episode 2

The special relationship between the postman and his clients, and what it’s like to be up at the crack of dawn.

Broadcasts

1.
Tue 15 Dec 2009
09:45
BBC Radio 4 (FM only)
2.
Wed 16 Dec 2009
00:30
BBC Radio 4

Episode 3

Delivering letters is just the tip of the iceberg – how does the right letter end up in the right letterbox?

Broadcasts

1.
Wed 16 Dec 2009
09:45
BBC Radio 4 (FM only)
2.
Thu 17 Dec 2009
00:30
BBC Radio 4

Episode 4

The end of the team talk and the beginning of new-fangled machinery.

Broadcasts

1.
Thu 17 Dec 2009
09:45
BBC Radio 4 (FM only)
2.
Fri 18 Dec 2009
00:30
BBC Radio 4

Episode 5

The tale of Tom and Jerry and the big grey boxes.

Broadcasts

1.
Fri 18 Dec 2009
09:45
BBC Radio 4 (FM only)
2.
Sat 19 Dec 2009
00:30
BBC Radio 4

A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pcdpk

Not Nostalgia – LRB blog

My new book, Dear Granny Smith, describes the job of a postal worker 30 years ago, and compares this with the job today. Slightly unexpectedly, people keep referring to it as a nostalgic book, which wasn’t its purpose at all….

http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2009/12/03/roy-mayall/not-nostalgia/

Would ‘dear old postie’ strike at Christmas?

As I write my first batch of Christmas cards, I hover over who to send them to. Last year the early north winds of recession knocked out any corporate festive exchanges.

I rather miss the mass signatures from PR departments inside large, bland cards. Also lost, because of a Goldman Sachs-like terror of public retribution, were the photographs of beautiful, privately educated children enjoying long-haul winter holidays. All that remained were small charity cards bearing the cramped writing of elderly relatives.

According to December’s literary “gem”, Dear Granny Smith – A Letter From Your Postman by “Roy Mayall”, this returns us to the heart of the postal system.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23777570-would-dear-old-postie-strike-at-christmas.do

Train posties about the danger of dogs

Dog attacks on postal workers are on the rise. But, with the right information and employment conditions, most can be avoided…

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 December 2009 15.00 GMT

There’s a cliche about postal workers. It is a cartoon image of us being chased up the garden path by a ferocious dog, with the seat being ripped out of our pants. Unfortunately, like all cliches, the image has its basis in reality. Postal workers are often the victims of savage dog attacks.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/01/postal-workers-dogs

Granny Smith Also About Being Human

From Hellmail

30 November 2009 by Steve Lawson – © Hellmail.co.uk

Hellmail review of Dear Granny Smith

UK Postal News

Roy Mayall – Granny Smith Also About Being Human

CWU Members Split Over Further Strike Action

Royal Mail Quality Of Service Dips

Biggest Threat To Postal Services Is Already Here

Dennis Gilham Retires From Neopost

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