Postman Mike given send-off by grateful residents

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http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/ ... ticle.html

ODESSA Park residents say postman Mike Hibberd is simply the best.

They were so touched by his service to them over the past 17 years that they felt they had to mark his retirement in a special way.

So they got ready to make a fuss of the 58-year-old, who has hung up his mailbag after 40 years in the job because of ill health.

The elderly residents live in a community of 25 static homes, off the A38 near Tewkesbury. They braved a chilly wind to wish Mr Hibberd all the best for the future when he called round for the last time.

They shook him warmly by the hand and presented him with £100 they had collected between them.

All of them agreed he had constantly gone beyond the call of duty.

Joan Simpson said: "He was always smiling, always happy, even though he was poorly.

"He was so conscientious and loved his work. He always had biscuits in his pockets for the dogs."

Pauline Jakeway said: "He was kindness itself. He would sometimes come in if it was cold for a cup of tea."

Mr Hibberd has been delivering the post to the park since it was created in 1991

Jane Matthews has been there since it opened.

She said: "If I was out and I had a parcel, he would put it through the window or leave it with a neighbour rather than take it back to the office."

Mr Hibberd lives in Margaret Road, Prior's Park, and his rounds were always in the Tewkesbury area.

He began his working life as a cobbler before switching to being a postman in 1967.

There was a one-year break in his service when he worked in a factory in 1971 but he soon missed life on the rounds and went back to it shortly afterwards.

He said he would miss the many people he had met through his job, which he has had to retire from because of lung problems and arthritis.

He said: "My head says keep going but my body says stop. I'd still be doing it if my health hadn't let me down."

He added that he had been "flabbergasted" at the kindness of his customers and work colleagues.

The Odessa Park presentation, he said, was the third staged for him since he decided to call it a day.