Lyneham postman hangs up sack after 40 years

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Forty years after being hired as the temporary post master at RAF Lyneham, Sid Skull stamped his last letter and retired yesterday.

Mr Skull, 67, of Bradenstoke, celebrated his retirement yesterday with family and friends from the air base.

The dad-of-two was originally asked to work temporarily at the post office on the base while the previous post master was ill, but ended up staying for 40 years.

He said: "It is very strange to be retiring.

"I think it hit me when I handed the keys over to the new post master.

"They are what you guard with your life because nobody else has the keys to the safe or the door, so to be giving them to somebody else was very strange.

"I think I will miss the personnel the most, and meeting new people.

"This is a very different post office because I did not have little old women coming in to collect their pensions, my customers were RAF personnel and MOD staff.”

Mr Skull found himself in the post office business when he and his mother took over the Bradenstoke branch in 1965.

"We were running the post office and the shop when the man at the post office on the base was taken ill,” he said.

"They asked me to take over temporarily and I never thought I would still be here 40 years on.

"It is one of those things that slowly grows and changes on you the longer you stay."

When the previous post mast died, Mr Skull formally applied for the job and took the position permanently in October 1969.

Mr Skull has witnessed several major changes in the industry as he worked through the introduction of the decimal and metric systems, as well as the computeristation of the post office.

"Things have changed dramatically over 40 years," he said.

"Ten years ago the post office was computerised and I knew I had to get used to it if I was going to stay.

"I went out and bought a computer for the house and I went down to the village hall to enrol on some courses.

"Then I was ready when the computers came."

Away from work Mr Skull enjoys gardening and researching his family history - two things he plans to spend more time on.

Several years ago he arranged a family reunion with 80 members fo the skull family.

As a leaving present he was presented with a framed print of two Hercules aircrafts by station commander Mike Neville.