Woman retires after 60 years of service at Terrington St Clement Post Office

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An 84-year-old woman who has worked at Terrington St Clement Post Office since she was 18 has retired.

Barbara Gilham took up a job at the Post Office in 1951, and finished her final shift on Friday, ahead of the service’s proposed move in the village. Mrs Gilham, who lives in Clenchwarton, said much has changed in the time she has worked there.

“I wanted to work in the village and not in town, so that was that.

Everything was so different, we had to stamp all the letters and we had to deliver and send telegrams.

“We also did family allowances as well, which were five shillings. “It’s certainly changed, that’s not the same as it used to be.”

But Mrs Gilham said there was one constant throughout her 67 years at the Post Office. “It’s always so nice to meet people, that’s what I will miss the most.” Her years of service were marked with cards, flowers and presents, she said.

Mrs Gilham had worked full-time for the Post Office, but in recent years she would just do Friday afternoons.

She said Terrington St Clement Post Office at Churchgate Way is due to close on Thursday. The service in the village, which is due to locate to Marshland News on Marshland Street, has been the subject of a local public consultation which ended last week.

The Post Office has said the move is part of the “ongoing modernisation” of its branch network. It says over the last five years more than 7,500 branches have been “transformed”. “We are confident that introducing a local style branch alongside a successful retail store is the most effective way to safeguard sustainable Post Office services in the Terrington St Clement community into the future.”