Shiny shoes
Congratulations to Totnes postman, Alan Rossiter, who has reached 54 years’ service this December – and our other long-serving colleagues reaching milestones this month.
Alan began his Royal Mail tenure as a telegram boy based in Torquay Delivery Office back in 1966. He then moved to Paignton to carry out the same role, before working his way up to become a driver.
Alan went on to become the Royal Mail courier driver for Natwest Bank, which he said was his ‘best job ever’ at Royal Mail. Next, he moved to Dartmouth Delivery Office, where he stayed for 16 years, before finally transferring to Totnes Delivery Office.
Marc Collier, Totnes delivery and collections manager, said: ‘Alan’s a real character. He always has a smile on his face, and he’s got a very dry sense of humour. He still wears his Royal Mail tie and his shoes are always very shiny and polished!
‘But don’t ever ask Alan to read or send a text message…he does actually have a mobile phone, but he’s always losing it. The last time I tried calling him, he said he could hear the ringtone, but couldn’t find the phone…his wife eventually found it in the washing basket just before it was about to go in the washing machine!
‘Alan always has a story to tell; the last one he told me was about the armed robbery that took place at the old Torquay Delivery Office, in the town centre. They got away with £1 million and were never caught. Alan said he was due to start work at 10pm that night, but the office was crawling with police, so he couldn’t get any work done!’
Marc said his team in Totnes, as well as in Dartmouth, where he runs a pilot office, are all dedicated and proud to work for Royal Mail. ‘We have a good spread of service years across the unit in Totnes, the lowest being one year and the highest being 54 years,’ he said. ‘The top five most senior OPG’s in the unit have racked up some 207 years’ service between them.
‘We’re mainly a rural office. Some of the team have been on their deliveries for 25 years-plus, so they have a very good rapport with the communities in the surrounding areas. Like everywhere, the pandemic has had a huge effect on everyone here, but we have adapted to the Covid-19 working conditions really well, and there’s real pride in the role we play – everyone here wants to live up to our customer’s expectations.
‘I’m very proud and lucky to lead the teams in Totnes and Dartmouth – they regularly go the extra mile, come wind, rain and snow. We recently collected a haul of goodies to give to our fellow key workers who were building our local Nightingale Hospital in Exeter.’
Congratulations to the below long servers, who all celebrate 40 years’ service this December:
- David Garner, Warrington
- Stephen L Hand, Newtonabbey
- Peter Thompson, Gateshead
- Jonathan Harold, Bath
- Kevin Nobbs, Norwich
- Garry Midwinter, Maidstone
- Stephen Finch, Maidstone
- Paul Dunmil, Maidstone
- David Campbell, Edinburgh
- Andrew Richards, Aberystwyth
- Colin Spencer, Spennymoor
- Ellen Bennett, Sheffield
- Nigel Wootton, Doncaster
- Stephen Walkington, Waterlooville
- John Feaver, Bognor Regis
- Suresh Gadher, Hounslow
- Steve Akins, London
- David Blanche, Coventry
