Photograph of school children sorting the mail, 1942
School children sorting the mail
Finding number: POST 56/14, ref: 285992
This photograph shows school children in Reading sorting through the mail during the Second World War. One challenge faced by the Post Office, like all other employers, was tackling the labour shortages that resulted from mass conscription.
The ethos in the Post Office during the war was to "stand firm and carry on" (POST 56/173, 1941).
The folder to which this photo belongs also contains photographs of staff sorting mail during black-out conditions and of workers at a telephone exchange continuing with their work with their gas masks close to hand. Many of these are official photographs produced to show that Post Office was continuing to work despite adversity.
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