Fighting fit
Exeter weekend shift manager Glen Deacon’s father-in-law and Royal Mail’s third oldest colleague, Anthony Crelley, has reached the grand old age of 80.
Four score and eager for more - from driving trains to boxing for England, from working as a hospital boiler engineer to running his own carpet cleaning business, Tony’s certainly been around the block a bit.
Born in Exeter in 1939, Tony moved to Wolverhampton in 1954 to work as a steam train driver for Great Western Railways. He returned to Exeter in 1965 to the railway in Barnstable, before joining the old Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital in Southernay in 1966 as a boiler heating engineer. In 1992, he began working as an estate manager at Ellen Tinkham School before retiring in 2009.
Tony now works in Process at Exeter Mail Centre. He joined Royal Mail as a Christmas casual through Angard Staffing in 2009 and became a full-time Royal Mail employee in 2013.
‘I feel really proud of him as he’s been like a father to me,’ said Glen. ‘He used to box for England in the Amateur Boxing Association (ABA), while living in Wolverhampton in the late 1950’s – he’s always been very fit.
‘He’s been a fantastic dad, granddad, and great grandad to six amazing grandchildren aged four to 15, one of whom, our oldest grandson, has just completed a week’s work experience at Exeter Mail Centre.
‘Tony has been in recovery now for six years after having been diagnosed with prostate cancer. But he still carries on as if everything is fine. He never grumbles or complains about anything.’
