Postie delivers last letter after 53 years

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Postie delivers last letter after 53 years of first-class service

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http://www.bicesteradvertiser.net/resources/images/4277881.jpg?display=1&htype=0&type=mc3 AFTER 53 years of first-class service Kidlington postman Michael Sheehan will be delivering his last letter on Friday.

The Shipton-on-Cherwell resident has worked in the village sorting office for 50 years, after starting his career as a telegram messenger boy in Oxford when he was just 15.

But after finishing work on Friday he will be putting his feet up for a well-earned retirement.

Mr Sheehan, who lives with his wife Anne, 63, said: “I started out as a young boy cycling around Oxford to deliver telegrams. Nobody else in my family had worked as a postman before but it was just a good way to earn some money.

“After three years I began working as a postman in Kidlington and have been living there ever since.”

The 68-year-old briefly left the village to work in Tackley as a delivery van driver for 10 years during the 1990s, but returned to Kidlington to work at the Sterling Road sorting office. He has mainly delivered letters to the Green Road and Lyne Road areas of the village.

After working for so many years as a postie, Mr Sheehan said he had seen many changes in the job.

He said: “Everything is done automatically now.

“When the letters come in now they are always in order for you to collect but it wasn’t always like that.

“We have to get people to sign for mail on electronic machines now, which are obviously a bit less reliable than when we wrote details down on a piece of card.”

Postman David Hogg has worked with Mr Sheehan in Kidlington for the past 31 years.

He said: “It is like the end of an era.

“Not many people in any job would be able to go the distance like that.

“I’ve known Michael for a long time and I just hope he is going to enjoy his retirement.”

Mr Sheehan has two daughters, Julieanne and Mary, and the latter said: “For my dad to have lasted so long in the same job is amazing and it’s such a massive achievement.

“We’re all so proud of him but it is good that we’ll be able to spend more time with him now that he is retiring.”

Royal Mail spokeswoman Val Bodden said: “Michael has truly proved his worth as a dedicated postman after 53 years of working for Royal Mail.

“We will all be sad to see him go and we wish him all the very best for his retirement years ahead.”

Mr Sheehan said he would be sad to leave his job after so many years but it would be nice to avoid early-morning starts.

He said: “I suppose what has kept me going is having to look after my family.

“The kids have grown up and I’ve needed to earn extra money to support us.

“Because of the way jobs are now with many people taking short-term employment, I doubt there will be many more people working in one job as long as I have.

“I don’t know how I’m going to fill the time now I’ve left, but I’m sure I will mow the lawn as much as I can.”