Paper ‘boy’ keeps on going
ONE of Britain’s oldest paper boys has let neither lockdown nor advancing years get in the way of bringing news to his community.
Fighting fit after celebrating his 80th birthday last weekend and getting his first coronavirus jab, George Bailey was back out on his bike on yesterday, despite the chilly winter morning. The octogenarian woke up with night still shrouding Headcorn, his village in Kent, and headed out, as he does each day, to collect the papers.
“I keep saying every Christmas I’m going to pack it in,” the greatgrandfather told the Press Association. “I enjoy the summer, when you can wear shorts.
“If it’s raining, you get absolutely swamped with water,” he added. “I didn’t enjoy the last few days, when I had to come home and change my clothes.”
When he was 11 years old, Mr Bailey picked up a paper round, like many other boys his age, and he returned to the role a decade ago when the shop he delivers for, Oldfields newsagents on High Street, found it hard to recruit youngsters.