Very sad “news†indeed
however, the warning in black and white has been there for some time especially since it ceased to be an “evening†paper.
The Herald Express is part of my formative years when back in the 1960 s I helped my grandfather deliver papers when the delivery fleet was Morris Minor vans and an Austin A60. That was when the Herald Express was above Fleet Street (opposite Rockhey s) in Braddons Hill Road West. Those days of a part-time unofficial vanboy delivery assistant were before the compulsory wearing of seatbelts (there were none) before elf and f in safety, before political correctness
and indeed before England won the World Cup. Interestingly, almost directly above the old H.E. premises, Scotland Yard in 1968 finally caught up with and arrested Bruce Reynolds (leader of the Great Train Robbery gang) at a property in Braddons Hill Road East. That was one collar "Slipper" didn't get.
When we rode around in the van delivering, grandad would suddenly say, “Roll one up and unwind the window.†I thought, I m only nine, I don t smoke. Then as we passed the policeman on signal duty at Abbey Gates and/or the GPO roundabout, grandad would say, “Pass it out now!†They had octopus arms them signal duty officers. They still managed to wave their arms at the traffic while another arm collected the paper and tucked it inside the tunic. One day at Castle Circus heading back to the main office, grandad said, “Roll one up and unwind the windowâ€ÂÂ. I thought the nearest policeman is at the roundabout so as I tapped the newspaper on the door in readiness, a member of the public suddenly approached the moving van and the paper was gone! I said is he an off duty copper ? Grandad just winked. Years later it all made sense as I discover grandad's a freemason.
A favourite delivery run on a Saturday was the “buff†run - delivery of the football paper
including the trip down to Kingswear and placement of the bundle on the pontoon for collection to Dartmouth. I featured in the buff on numerous occasions in later years as a large portion of it covered write ups from the previous week s local games. I ve still got some copies of the buff from 1971 to 1975 but sadly not from before that time.
R.I.P. Herald Express. From a nostalgic viewpoint you will be missed.
