Gerry Brooke looks back at the long life of ardent Kingswood socialist, communist and trade unionist George Massey.

The chances are you’ve never heard of George Massey, but he’s been a stalwart of Bristol’s trade union movement for some 76 years.

And now his memories, along with a history of the branch of the postal workers union for which he worked so hard all his working life, have been put into print by another union activist, Clevedon born Dave Chapple.

“I was trawling through the records of the Bristol branch, preserved at the Lawrence Hill office, and came across this Communist, rebellious rank and file committee dating back to the 1930s” Dave told Bristol Times

“One of the names, George Massey, rang a bell – one of my colleagues had mentioned that he was the oldest surviving link to the branch - and there he was, speaking in this minute book of 75 years ago.

“I took the book up to George in Kingswood and he started to tell me about all the characters.

“I realised then that he had a great memory of those times.”

Now 94, George is the oldest honorary member of the Union of Postal Worker (UPW) - Bristol Branch.

Born in Battersea Road, Easton in 1916, this son of a postman grew up in a three bedroom house which his father had bought with a family loan.

The Massey family had a history of active trade unionism.

“Before the First World War there was a Postman’s Federation and my father was active in that” recalls George.

“He later became chairman of the Bristol Branch of the Head Postman’s Association.

“He was old Labour - we took the Daily Herald and Reynolds News.

“ I got them to come to several meetings in the Colston Hall in the 1930s, addressed by (Bristol MP) Stafford Cripps”

In the 1920s Battersea Road was a cul-de-sac without a vehicle to be seen.

“We’d play cricket and football in the road - neighbours permitting - and if it got too tight we’d either go to Eastville Park of St George’s Park” recalls George.

He and his friends would also box, wrestle, play games and go for walks.

“What boys would do” he says, “But they knew I was a cut above them.

“I was always relatively tidy, with a good pair of boots and shoes.

“ I was never down at heel, and I always had a good meal inside my stomach.

“ I didn’t swear and I didn’t speak what is called Bristolese.”

Both parents, who were relatively well read, encouraged young George in his studies.

“ In 1922 I went to Greenbank Elementary School” he says.

“I should have gone to Easton Board School but Greenbank was considered “one above” - there was a pecking order.

“ I was usually top in English, composition and spelling and always top at geography - because I had an atlas at home” he recalls.

“I liked arithmetic and I was good at figures.

“But I failed the 11 plus - it might have been nerves.

“When I was 13 I became a senior prefect - and editor of the school mag - Greenbank Gazette.

George admits that he had one advantage over many of the other pupils in the locality.

“My parents always allowed me to go into the front room and do my studies with an electric fire on” he says.

George’s brother Howard, who contracted polio when he was seven, spent a lot of time both in, and out, of the BRI, which disadvantaged him.

“In 1935 or 6 they (my parents) paid for Howard to have a private education at Clark’s College in Whiteladies Road” explained George

“It stood him in good stead - shorthand, typing, accountancy, bookkeeping - he got a job with Keynsham District Council and it wasn’t long before he became assistant treasurer and then treasurer.”

The family attended Redfield’s Wesleyan Methodist Church where George, at the age of 13 or 14, became a Sunday School Tutor.

It was through the Minister, Harry Barker (“A Christian Socialist: a very devout sincere men” says George) that the lad met the radical Labour MP and later “Iron Chancellor” Stafford Cripps.

George would spend summer holidays with his Uncle Fred and Auntie Elsie at a 30 acre smallholding at Castle Combe which in those days was part of the extensive Beaufort estates.

His mother’s family had originated in the village of Badminton where the locals were still expected to curtsy or doff their hats as the landowning family passed by.

For amusement the family would go to the long gone Kings cinema in Old market.

“I’m old enough to remember the silents (such as) Ali Barber and the Forty Thieves and All Quiet on the Western Front” says George.

A pianist provided the accompaniment and when the National Anthem was played on the end of the show George’s father, a very strong Republican, would say, “We’ll stay seated.”

The family would also go to the Empire Theatre in Carey’s Lane on a Saturday evening, as well as seeing many different acts at the Hippodrome.

“One of the great things about the Hippodrome was the revolving ball suspended from the ceiling which extracted all the used air, so you never felt stuffy inside there” says George.

“I saw the World’s Strongest Man there, on the revolving stage.

But there were also amusements to be had at home.

“We had our first radio set in 1937” recalls George.

“My brother and I pushed our parents into buying a bloody good HMV 8 valve radio set.

“We (also) had Paul Robeson records (and ) Mary and I have gone along to the Methodist Central Hall, Old Market, to hear and see him.

“ I’ve shaken his hand. I forced my way through the crowd. He was a big bloke you know - I felt quite small.”

Getting out and about in the fresh air was very popular in the 1930s and George became a member of the Cycling Tourists Club (CTC) the Clarion Cycling Club and the YHA.

“ My first cycle tour was in 1935” says George.“Unlike the CTC the Clarion Club was socialist minded.

“We had a smashing holiday in Wales, put up a youth hostels, one shilling a night.

“We went across the River Severn on the Aust ferry. Six of us, all Post Office... right up as far as Anglesey.

“ A dozen of us would go out with the Clarion Cycling Club on a Sunday morning - just youngsters, sometimes a few girls.

“I’ve cycled up Tog Hill, I’ve cycled up Redhill. I’ve often cycled up Park Street.

“The steepest hill on those days, for this sort of thing, was Nine Tree Hill, which takes you to Cotham. That WAS difficult.

“My first bike was a Lee Francis, thirty bob (£1.50) second hand.

“It was a pre war bike: Dad got it from a postman who was a keen cyclist.

In 1935 I bought a Golden Sunbeam for 13 guineas (£13 and 13 shillings) a lovely bike, sit up and beg handlebars, pannier at the back.

“My wages then would have been about 25 bob (£1.25)”

“I joined the Post Office in July 1930 when I was 14 and the day after I joined the union” recalls George.

“From 1930 until the summer of 1934 I was a boy messenger, signing on at Small Street, Bristol

“There were 110 of us. In charge was a Head Postman and a good assistant inspector, Harry Plant.

“I was paid nine shillings (45p) a week.

“Monday to Saturday we worked 6am till 2pm, the early turn, or 1pm to 9pm.

“We didn’t normally work Sunday’s - but if we had to go in it was time and a half.

“Two evenings a week I went to Hannah More School - in training to pass the boy messenger’s examination when I was 16.

“They examined us on general questions - arithmetic, English and history,

“I took this exam and, for my sins, came out top boy in the country.

“If you passed you then became a postman.”

Like many of the pre war generation with strong socialist views George became a member of the Communist Party, only to be expelled in 1938 for opposing the Moscow Trials.

After rising through the ranks to become a sorting clerk and then a telegraphist, George Massey became, in the 1950s, a branch officer for the UPW.

He was then, despite all the brickbats, still a Communist, though he would later become disillusioned.

During World War 11 he had served in the RAF and married Mary, a telegraphist.

George organised regular collection during the long and bitter Post Office workers strike of 1971 and was a guest speaker at many of the rallies.

Then, in 1976, he became General Secretary of the National Federation of PO and BT pensioners.

If you’d like to read more about George Massey’s life as an active trade unionist, then Dave Chapple’s book, “Grasshoppers, Stonkers and Streight Eights” makes for an informative, if detailed, read.

The book also charts the influence of the Communist Party on the Post Office union, the troubles of the 1945 Labour government, the H bomb and the Cold War.

In short, it’s a slice of Post Office social history as viewed from the trade union side.

If you would like a copy (£12.00 each, post free) then please contact Dave Chapple at 1, Blake Place, Bridgwater, Somerset TA6 5AU. Phone: 01278 450562 or email: davechapple@btinternet.com