Number 23, High Street, Highworth was the famous Highworth Post Office run by Mrs Mabel Stranks. The layout of the Post Office that the Auxiliers would have discovered consisted of the main counter, the sorting office and a switchboard room. There was a 100-line manual switchboard used to call the number Highworth 85 to reach Coleshill GHQ.
In the mid 1950s when Mabel retired, her son Edward became the Post Master and moved the business to 5 Sheep Street, near the Market Square, as which time the High Street building became known as the Old Post Office.
Recently the building has been completely refurbished, with the ground floor layout basically the same arranged for commercial purposes and the first floor residential. The new owner kindly gave C.A.R.T. permission to put up a display board in the central hallway explaining the historic link with Auxiliary Units. Pictures of the unveiling are shown below with our own Bill Ashby, and BBC Points West coverage can be seen here:
Role | Name | Posted from | until |
---|---|---|---|
Coleshill Staff | Mrs Mabel Annie Stranks | 1940 | 1944 |
Runner | Miss Grace Eeies | Unknown | 03 Dec 1944 |
Runner | Edward Jefferies | 1940 | 1944 |