New Year Honour for CWU member

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CWU member Phil Leason says that he was completely surprised to receive an MBE in the New Year Honours list.

Phil, who works at Royal Mail’s customer service centre in Stoke, was nominated for the award by the company, in recognition of his decades of service as a local councillor, magistrate and charity fundraiser.

“I didn’t know anything about this until I got a letter in November from the Cabinet Office and I was gobsmacked when I opened it,” said Phil.

The letter told him that his name was being passed on to the Queen for the Honour and that he should not mention this to anyone until the publication of the List.

A major factor in his nomination was the tireless charity work he has undertaken, which has involved two visits to India as part of the Rotary Club’s organised assistance with the World Health Organisation’s efforts to eradicate polio.

As a long-serving member of Stone Town Council in Staffordshire, Phil has also served two terms as mayor and during his time as a Stafford Borough councillor, Phil has also been deputy mayor of the borough.

“I’m very proud of my home town and also very proud to work for Royal Mail,” Phil says, adding that his work colleagues were quick to offer their congratulations, and that they had also good-naturedly “cut out the letters ‘MBE’ and stuck it above my desk.”

Phil will be visiting Buckingham Palace to collect his MBE within the next few months.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward added his best wishes to Phil, saying: “Congratulations on this Honour, which recognises Phil’s excellent work in his community on behalf of others.

“Many of our members work extremely hard for all kinds of good causes and it’s wonderful to have this recognised.”