Never without a smile
Reading postman Nigel Maslen was inundated with praise from his customers as he celebrated 40 years’ service with Royal Mail.
Nigel has become a popular figure among his customers in the village of Sonning and regularly attends local events.
To thank him for his service and help him celebrate his 59th birthday, villagers left gifts for him on their doorsteps following an appeal on social media by Sonning resident, Shirley Phillips, which saw almost 80 people respond.
‘My line manager was involved and before I went out on my deliveries, he said to keep an eye out because there might be a few surprises,’ said Nigel.
‘It was an incredibly crazy and amazing day. Sonning is a great area to deliver to. The people are so friendly and when the sun is shining the village looks beautiful. Being social is just part of the job for me.’
Nigel’s birthday surprises continued for several days as he only visited homes that had deliveries. He also received some painted stones (pictured) and wooden spoons decorated as a postman.
Shirley Phillips told the Henley Standard: ‘Lots of us wished Nigel well as he is the best postman we could possibly have. He is just so lovely and helpful. He will go out of his way to find someone to sign for a parcel rather than taking it back to the depot.
‘I have never seen him without a smile, and he is friendly and will wish you a “happy birthday” if he notices you have lots of cards. Everybody loves him.’
Miss Phillips has lived in the area for 15 years and Nigel has been her postman for all that time.
‘I wondered if it would be worth seeing if people wanted to celebrate his 40 years somehow,’ she said. ‘Everybody is celebrating the NHS, which is fantastic, but there are lots of people like Nigel working hard as well.
‘Everybody was up for it and there were quite a lot of people involved — it was a real community effort. We were a bit worried it would have been his day off, so we did some detective work and had a friend of a friend message him to see if he was working on that day. The fact that it was his birthday as well was just a coincidence.
‘We wondered how many houses he would visit before he realised there was something going on. We were hoping he would have 40 gifts for each year, but it was much more than that. The boot of his van looked incredibly full.’
Nigel said he was happy to continue delivering the mail for his customers. ‘As long as I am able to keep going at the pace I am going at, I am quite happy to carry on.’
