Our amazing readers - thank you!

Most posts on this blog are read by just over 400 or so regular readers, and many by several hundred more.  Some people have written that it is the first place they look every day - sorry if things were a little sparse last month!

Then there are the regular commenters who alert everybody to new stamps, or Post Office branch changes.  Others send information by email, and often when I am busy within or outside the office several people will write about the same eBay discovery.  Thanks to you all: often these are not individually acknowledged but I like to think that previous contacts and mentions reassure all contributors that their information is part of the foundation of the blog, and much appreciated by us and other readers as well.

As always there are what are known on internet forums as 'lurkers' - those who read and absorb but rarely have any news to contribute.  Sometimes these are our customers, sometimes they buy from post offices or Royal Mail, we don't know. Maybe they are not adding to the collections, but just like to read about stamps.

And then, out of the blue, there are letters, from people we don't know.

This letter came today from a reader who - as far as I have been able to find - last wrote to us in August 2012 about availability of Olympic Gold Medal sheets in Lincolnshire.

Eight years on, a wonderful piece of Lincolnshire postal history - these may be available for many years, or maybe only a few months.  Nice to have, so thank you JLB of Lincoln.

This letter was posted from the Mobile Post Office, serving sleaford which uses a self-inking-datestamp inscribed MORTON MOBILE.

The post office in the market town of Sleaford, population 17,500, at Greenhills convenience store in Southgate closed in February when, according to Post Office Ltd, "the lease expired".  A Post Office spokesperson said: "The lease where Sleaford Post Office is currently based is due to expire in February and the premises, which we do not own, will then be withdrawn for Post Office use."

The onset of the pandemic meant that a quick replacement was not possible, instead a short-term service was been provided from mid-February by the Mobile Post Office from Morton, 15 miles away but only for a few hours on Saturday mornings.

The Morton Mobile also serves small villages in the area, several of them for 4-8 hours on four days a week*.

Meanwhile the hunt for suitable premises and postmasters in Sleaford continues.  In the light of the litigation between past sub-postmasters and Post Office Ltd, known as the Horizon Trial, the quest might continue for some time.

For collectors of Horizon labels, the one from the mobile uses the Branch FAD 110444.

UPDATE 10 September

As noted in the comments, a temporary Sleaford PO has been opened with FAD 214501 at 18 Riverside, Southgate, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, NG34 7PD

 

My further thanks to JLB who has sent this letter posted on the last day of operation of the Morton Mobile at Sleaford.  It continues to operate at other locations - see comments.

 

 

* UPDATE 18 November

We now have more accurate information on villages served:

MORTON (Bourne, Lincolnshire) 

Castle Bytham, Grantham; Buckminster, Grantham; South Witham, Grantham (2 stops); Colsterworth, Grantham; Corby Glen, Grantham; Wymondham (LE14), Melton Mowbray. 

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