Jack Graham:
kevmac47:
Not quite what you would think, but still delivering the goods.
My wage was £4.7s 6d. per week. six days 0800 -1730, wednesday afternoon off. I worked through the winter of 1963 ( even until the present day one of the worst ever) Can you imagine a youth being allowed to do that now? HSE would have a fit. I often had to cross the river with the bike to deliver to the shipyard canteens at Walker and Wallsend. The basket weighed 40lbs I don’t know the weight of the bike but the only way to get it onto the ferry was to sit on the back wheel as I went down the ramp. It was even harder if the tide was out!!! Anyone who knows the area will know that the riverbanks are very steep so riding the bike when it was loaded (no gears) was pretty tough. I do quite a bit of cycling around that area now and even with my modern alloy bike with 27 gears the banks are quite demanding. I didn’t really start to grow into the fine speciman I am today
So if you delivered on a shop bike, you’ll know how the Hovis delivery boy felt pushing it uphill, but I do remember these bikes lots of shops had them in those days. :-“Old” Jack
Yes Jack the Hovis ad is a good reminder of the hills around the ferry crossing. 
To be fair though most of the deliveries were within about two miles of the shop and on reasonably flat ground. regards Kev.