Duns postie provides first class service

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Rural community know they can rely on Ian

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A DUNS postman delivers a first class service to remote areas of the Lammermuir Hills come rain, shine - or snow!
Despite the weather hitting headlines this week and snow across the UK causing many services to grind to a halt, the people of Longformacus and the surrounding areas are safe in the knowledge that postie Ian Drummond will do everything he can to get their letters to them.

And if they are struggling to get to a shop, he'll often take them a pint of milk or a loaf of bread too!

Ian's cheerful face has become a firm favourite among the residents living in remote houses or farms in the hills around Duns and in to East Lothian, a round he has worked for the last eight years. And it's not difficult to understand why.

"Sometimes conditions up there are bad with the weather, but you do your best for your customers, you do your best to get their post to them," Ian says.

"It would need to be really bad if we had to give up. I know the people up there well, they worry if I'm not there, they'll phone and ask where I am!"

Ian, who has been a postman for 22 years, admits he doesn't just simply deliver letters to the people on his round.

"The people up there don't really change so I've got to know them, I've had the same customers all the way through," Ian explains.

"You look after them because they're elderly and there's no public services up there, they've not all got cars.

"The mobile phone service is poor out there too. If the weather is bad or they can't get out they'll get in touch and ask me to bring some milk up for them, things like that."

But it works both ways - Ian is never short of a cuppa on his way around the houses, with the kettle often on for his arrival.

"They see me coming up the path and tell me I'm having a coffee!

"I check that they are alright, I don't just shove the letters through the letter box, I'll often look in on them to see they're ok. It puts my mind at ease, making sure they are alright, because I'm sometimes the only person they might see from day to day."

In fact Ian is so helpful to those who live on his round there is a standing joke at the sorting office that during the summer months he carries a lawn mower with him in the back of his van to give their grass a trim!

Ian says he doesn't go that far, but adds: "You have got to respect your customers because you don't know when you'll need their help! I have been known to get stuck near one or two of the farms and need a tow out!"

Despite the increase in e-greetings people still send Christmas cards, and the preference for traditional seasons greetings makes December the busiest part of the year for posties.

But after 22 years as a postman, Ian insists he still enjoys his work. Speaking to The Berwickshire News this week after completing his round in sub-zero temperatures and inches of snow and ice, Ian says: "After 22 years I have got to say I enjoy it.

"This is definitely a busy time for us even without the bad weather but it's a team effort in the office to get the mail out.

"There's a lot of work where we're all involved, we all muck in and get it out."

And Ian's hard work and dedication to his rural customers over the last eight years has certainly not gone unnoticed.

"He's a most kind and helpful person," says Sheila Pate of North Bye Park, Langton.

"He's really wonderful for our community, especially up in the hills and he's so cheerful."

Mrs Pate believes that Ian's regular visits are very important to the people that live in these remote areas, particularly those who are living alone.

"He comes in all weathers, he's just super," she says.

"I think we are very fortunate to have him, long may our wonderful rural post man continue."

[Lincox]

Truly a genuine postie. But if hes going to the shops to get milk and bread, sipping a cup of coffee, tea at many of the drops, how the hell is he finishing on time, does he book docket. Is he getting grief from management. If not, give me a job in the Highlands.