Britain's oldest sub-postmistress retires from post office

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Britain's oldest sub-postmistress retires from post office in Portree on Skye

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WHEN Anne Gillies first started working at her local post office, instant mass communication meant sending a telegram, the mail was delivered by horse and cart, and customers still left whole chickens on her counter to dispatch.
Now, more than 60 years later, Britain's oldest sub-postmistress is set to stick her last stamp as she prepares to retire from her job.

Throughout a career spanning seven decades, Ms Gillies, 84, has helped the people of Skye to forward their messages through ever-advancing technologies.

When she took up her position at Staffin post office in post-war Portree in 1948, the mail was still being delivered by horse-drawn carriage.

Ms Gillies, then a young woman of 23, had been helping out with part-time work when the sub-postmistress died suddenly.

And so, as her natural replacement, Ms Gillies was thrust into the role. Little did she expect that she would still be there some 61 years later.

"I was already helping out at the post office as holiday relief, and I was thrown in at the deep end," she recalled yesterday.

"I didn't think much about it at the time; it was just something that happened. I certainly didn't think it would last this long."

Ms Gillies said her busiest days were when a former islander was getting married on the mainland, and locals would crowd into her shop to send their best wishes to the newlywed couple by telegram. "We used to have over 100 telegrams going off in a day."

Among the major changes she has witnessed are the introduction of computerised systems.

"The computer was just something else to learn; I didn't think too much about it," she said, before explaining the ethos that has pleased generations of customers. "You just get on with it. At the end of the day, you're just providing a service to people."

Naturally, not every transaction was as ordinary as a birthday card.

"We used to get a lot of people coming in to post chickens to Glasgow," she said. "They'd just bring the chickens in with a label on the leg, with the feathers still on, and we'd post them off for them."

On her retirement at the end of this month, Ms Gillies will hand over the reins of Staffin to her daughter, Fiona MacDonald.

Like her mother all those years ago, she has been providing a helping hand in the post office in recent months.

Only time will tell if another generation of the family will record such outstanding service, but Ms Gillies predicted, whatever changes lie ahead, the postal service will continue to be vital.

"The post office is just as important here as it was in 1948," she added. "It's still just as important to the local community."

Lachlan Gillies, a retired fisherman who has lived in Staffin all his life, paid tribute to the sub-postmistress he has come to know as a friend.

"We have all been very lucky and very proud to have Annie as our postmistress," he said.

Mr Gillies, who is no relation to Anne, added: "She's always had a very winning way with the public and is highly respected throughout the community."

The Post Office has presented Ms Gillies with a long-service award.

Andy Bayfield, the network support manager for Scotland, said: "Ms Gillies has seen so many dramatic changes in her time running the post office, but throughout it all she has always had one focus in mind, which is providing the best service possible to her customers."

TECHNOLOGY TAKES ITS TOLL

ONE of the earliest forms of long-distance communication, more than 82 million telegrams were sent in the UK in 1913. However, the advance of technology saw the medium ebb away and by 1981 the service was no longer the preserve of Royal Mail, becoming part of British Telecom. Throughout the 1990s, an era when the mobile phone allowed text messages to be sent cheaply and quickly, several gimmicks were introduced to keep the telegram alive, including the WeddingGrams.

The service was taken over by TelegramsOnline six years ago. During the postal strikes this year, it was delivering up to 10,000 messages a week, four times the normal amount.

[Stormproof]

A guy at my office took EVR he leaves tomorrow after 44 years service

[bexhil palace]

Lazy cow,
she has at least 10 more years service to give to the PostOffice.
My god Crozier will be spitting feathers. :cfo