From glass blower to MBE-awarded postman, Richard Lethbridge has had a remarkable 43-year career
Richard Lethbridge has retired in his role as a postman serving parts of rural North Devon
A long-standing postman who received an MBE from the late Queen Elizabeth II has delivered his final letter. Richard Lethbridge aged 66, has been involved with the Post Office since 1982, doing rounds around Umberleigh, High Bickington and his home of Chittlehamholt.
Richard left South Molton Community College in 1974, and found early employment at Dartington Glass where he stayed for seven years.
“I wanted a career change,” he said. I had been learning to be a glass blower, but it didn’t really materialise, and I didn’t pick it up very quickly, so I was only there handing glass from one person to another.
“I took redundancy in the recession, and as my mother was already working as a part-time post lady at Chittlehamholt, she gave me the heads-up about another part-time job at Umberleigh sorting office. I applied for it and was successful, and then the following year, one of the full-time postmen, Frank Hookway, retired. I was lucky enough to step into his shoes, and that career has lasted me 43 years, from 1981.”
When Richard first started his round, the post used to arrive via train from Exeter with stops at Crediton, Eggesford Station, Chulmleigh and to him and three others delivering at Torrington and South Molton at Umberleigh Station at around 3.45 am.
“I was glad I was part of that network as not many postmen can say they’ve handled mail from the train,” he said. “Then things got more modernised, and I don’t think it was for the better as they now have to start at later times, for example.”
Richard was awarded an MBE in 2002, following a campaign by residents in High Bickington, where he had done his rounds since 1994.
“Since 1994, they had fixed duties, so we had to stay in one round, so I chose there,” Richard explained. “I got to know the customers, they got to know me, and they treated me like a family friend and as more than a postman. Some people can say they love their jobs, and I was one of them.
“I used to get out on the road at 9.30 am and would finish by 4pm. Every so often, they’d have coffee mornings, and I would drop in to those.
“Then, in 2002, a few people got together and thought I was worthy of an MBE award. They wrote to the powers that be, and Queen Elizabeth II gave me the honour in 2002 for the service I provided to the customers. They thought I was worthy, and it was a great occasion and the highlight of my career. I can’t imagine many other postmen have an MBE for services to the Royal Mail.
“Now that I’m retired, I will miss the people, colleagues, and banter at work. I could have carried on, but you have to look at the other side of the coin about having some free time in your retirement and the time you’ve got left.
“People have told me on my round that people will miss me. I got some very nice cards with some notes, including £100, and said I could do what I wished with, so I must have been valued. Then somebody gave me £40, which was £10 each year.
“It is a good feeling to know how much I was thought of. I have also hosted a cream tea for the villagers in the shop, and they made all the scones,” he said.
He gave advice to anyone wanting to work as a postman saying ‘it’s still a good-ish job’ saying: “It’s very demanding these days. It’s not as easy as it was.”
He said he would spend his retirement dancing on the high-seas: “I’m very much into ballroom dancing so a lady friend of mine and I are hoping to go on a five-day dancing cruise which involves Cherbourg, Brugge and the Netherlands.”
