| 2018 |
| Dave Wilkins David (ex Nottingham) died on 24th November 2018 after some months of suffering from a form of blood cancer. He was born in Guildford. An only child, he attended Guildford Boys High School and from there went on to do National Service in Dusseldorf. He met his first wife lngrid in 1958, and in the same year – having completed his stint in the Army – returned to England and started working for the Post Office as a P&TO in Guildford. He married in 1967, and on promotion to APC ll in Midlands Postal Region moved, with his wife and daughter Michele, to Coventry, where he lived for many years. During this time he was further promoted to APC l, and also separated from lngrld. As an APC, David will be remembered as clever, diligent and persuasively personable. Also, perhaps, as mildly wlld. Over a drink or two he could be cajoled into recounting many anecdotes of his time as a travelling officer, including racing the Up Special TPO in his TR6, in order to secure an ‘impossible’ date stamp. ln 1969 he met Angela, and they were married in 1974. His second daughter Leanne was born in 1976. The following year, David was appointed Head Postmaster Northampton, taking over from Sydney Brock. In 1981 he had the honour to host the then Lady Diana Spencer in her first public engagement, when she opened the new Northampton MLO. Shortly afterwards he succeeded Roy Jewell as Head Postmaster Nottingham. A very popular boss, he worked there until he retired early, in the Business Development reorganisation of 1992. Subsequently, a considerable part of his life became devoted to helping daughter Leanne with her passion for show jumping. He became a canny buyer and seller of horses at home and abroad. As chief groom and horse-box chauffeur, David became notorious for having to leave Post Office ‘old farts’ lunches early, in order to feed the horses. He was a popular Dad at pony club meets; always on hand to help mothers who couldn’t reverse their trailers. David’s great passion, apart from his family, was golf. A single-handicap player, he played at Stanton-on-the-Wolds in Nottinghamshire, had many golfing friends and regularly took golfing holidays abroad. David leaves Michele and Leanne, his grandchildren, and the love of his life for nearly 45 years, Angela. The Fellowship was represented by John Leaviss, Geoff Ellis, Len Clifford, Ray Topley and Neil Sutton at the funeral.We are grateful to John Leaviss and Michele, David’s daughter, for this tribute. |
| John Kibble John was born on 28th June 1925 in Manchester and was educated there, finishing by studying Electrical Engineering at Owen’s college [which was to become part of what is now the University of Manchester College of Science and Technology [UMIST]. He joined the GPO at its Research Centre at Dollis Hill in North West London in 1948. At the time Dollis Hiil was amongst the most respected telephony research locations in the world. His intelligence and training led to his progression there but in the early fifties he saw, like many others at the time, the improved opportunities emerging in the Posta1 side of the GPO. He became an APC II and served in what was then the Regional HQ for the North East of England in Leeds until he was promoted APC I in 1961. He was a popular member of the regional travelling staff there. Not only did he help iead the first stirrings of the need for a much more efficient and independent organisation but he was very active in the social life of the Regional HQ. He was a founder member of the renowned North East Region Cultural Society which helped uplift the reputation of the Leeds travelling staff. He was an avid follower of football at Manchester United and much more fruitfully at the time at Leeds United……. and in the summer there was always Headingley and Yorkshire and England cricket. During this time he was aiso co-opted onto the study group that reviewed the short-comings in the introduction of the second class mail service in the late 70’s. He moved from Leeds to Eastbourne where he joined the staff of the nascent Postal Management College [operating at the time from the Imperial Hotel]. He was very much part of moving the ‘part time College’ from Eastbourne to the new site at Coton House near Rugby, producing the case for the move, identifying and purchasing the site and planning and writing the courses. He was there seeing the new venture through to fruition before he moved onto Postal Headquarters then at St Martins le Grand. From his background in Leeds and then at Coton House a common thread was beginning to emerge – that of improving productivity generally. His move to HQ was to head the newly constituted 0perations Improvement Division. He was someone who could see what could be improved and also what needed to be done to get improvements widely accepted – what is nowadays called a ‘change agent’. This was at a time when change was exactly what was required in the Post Office but was not always widely accepted. He was one of a very few to see what was required and to get it done. ln 1977 he was promoted to be Chairman of the North Western Postal Region in Manchester. The Post 0ffice then was not spared the problems of disputes with its unions which at the time so frustrated the efforts of businesses throughout the UK to improve productivity generally. With a strong management team John set about improving performance in the North West and over the next few years the required improvements were achieved. So much so that in 1983 he moved to London where with Management Consultants in tow he led and implemented a major reorganisation of the Business, the first of several over ensuing years. Following his retirement in 1985 lohn accepted an offer to work with a management consultancy and amongst other projects helped to reorganise the Irish Post 0ffice. This meant many trips to Dublin, a city which he put close to the top of his list of favourite cities. But others were to follow. John had lost his first wife, Maureen, to cancer after a distressing illness. In 19BB he married Rita. Once work with Post Office and then Management consultancy had been completed more time was available to them for travel in general and ocean cruising in particular. One of the places visited was Perth in Western Australia. This was another city to be added to their ‘top cities list’ so much so that Rita and he spent many winters there between 1991 and 2003 when they went to live there for nearly ten years. The climate was a major attraction but entertaining friends, Australian and Brits, continued …. and of course there was always cricket at the WACA! 0n return to the UK John and Rita returned to the North West. His declining health slowly reduced their socialising but to the last John could be found welcoming friends for discussions over a wide range of topics, and of course always with glass in hand. He was a great colleague to work with, he was never boring but in so many ways he was probably his own worst critic when it came to implementing his own ideals. 0n his own admission, he was not “the most patient man in the world” but his intellect and reasoning were first class: he was also a very loyal guy and all was balanced with a good sense of humour. He will be sadly missed. John died on 9th September 2018 and his burial service took place at the Vale Royal Crematorium on 19th September 2018. The Fellowship was represented by Tom Clay. Keith Webb and Ken Wright’ We are grateful to Rita Kibble, Tom Clay and Keith Webb for this tribute. |
| Joe Hellier Born on 31st January 1926 in Exmouth, Devon, he joined the GPO as a messenger boy in 1940, not an easy job for a 14 year old in wartime. Pay was 11 shillings per week plus 2s 3d for cleaning his P0 bicycle. In between deliveries he had to do jobs like threading Iead seals on to string for tying mail bags, collecting string and learning how to operate an addressograph machine (for stamping coupons). At 16 he passed the messenger boys’ exam and became a sorting clerk, counter clerk and a telegraphist SC&T. As it was wartime there were immediate vacancies. From 1944-1948 he was in the RAF in Signals [using his P0 teleprinter skills. He spent most of this time in Australia. Coming back from service he continued in the above jobs & later on worked in the “writing” room. He always maintained that working in the smaller office of Exmouth enabled him to gain an insight into most P0 activities. After the war he became acting overseer and in 1956 he became a Postal Traffic Superintendent for the SW, He travelled extensively from Cheltenham to The Channel Islands, gaining even more knowledge of the workings of the P0. Promotions to Assistant Head Postmaster of Dorchester in 1958 & AHPmr of Taunton in 1959 were followed by a secondment to McKinsey’s. After this, in 1967, he got the job of AHPmr of Bristol where he introduced postcodes to the area. ln 1971 he went to Bath as HPM. He was the 33rd person to hold that position. Then back to Bristol in the same role in 1980 by which time some automation had been introduced. In 1986 he reached the age of 60 & had to retire. It always amused him that they gave him a retirement gift of a bike, so he started and ended his PO career with a bike! In his career I think he enjoyed the challenge of logistics & he didn’t get too stressed if things didn’t go exactly to plan. He was a great believer in consulting with his staff, the ones who were actually doing the job, before making decisions. He also joined in some of the social aspects, organising children’s Christmas parties in Taunton, playing tennis & enjoying the Christmas Carol services in Bristol to name but a few. Joe Hellier was a P0 man through & through. After retirement he followed all developments in the media. He died peacefully, at home, on 20th August 2018. We are grateful to Jan Callicott Joe’s daughter, for this tribute. |
| Ivor Bryant Born on 21, July 1926 he joined the GPO as a messenger boy in 1941 in Bristol. He became a Telegraphist in September 1943 and 8 months later joined the RAF as an aircrew trainee. He was transferred to the Army in 1945 and served in ltaly and Greece with the Somerset Light lnfantry. He was demobbed in 1947 with the rank of Staff Sergeant. Regraded as a P&TO in 1948 he was transferred to Tunbridge Wells in that rank in 1950. lt was here that his Union interests developed and he became UCW Branch Chairman in 1951 and served as the Kent and East Sussex District Organiser for 10 years from 1953. These activities ceased when he was promoted to Postal Traffic Superintendent in Home Counties Region in 1963. Further promotions followed in 1965 to Assistant Postal Superintendent and 1966 to Postal Superintendent at Reading where he became Assistant Head Postmaster a year later. He acted as Head Postmaster for 9 months before appointment as Head Postmaster Reigate and Redhill where he remained until March 1980 when he became District Postmaster of London West Central. Two years later he was made District Postmaster of London South West. He reached retirement age in 1986 but was retained for 2 years to sort out various problems in the Kingston HPO. Even then he could not give up and spent another 23 years with Hays Recruitment as National Communications Manager. During this period he also served as the Employment lndustry’s Representative on the Postal Advisory Committee. Still not ready to call it a day he served on the Executive Committee of the Royal Mail Group Fellowship where his input was influential and greatly appreciated. Also for the last 10 years of his life his organisational skills came to the fore as Secretary of the South East Group of the Fellowship until November 2017 when illness forced him to stop. Throughout his career from humble beginnings to high office he worked with determination and a drive to succeed. He had a quite incredible work ethic and was an inspiration to all whose lives he touched. He demanded high standards and was respected by staff who considered him (quote) “a firm but fair Guvnor” He was buoyed throughout by a deep and generous love for his family. lvor led a very full and active life until just a month before what would have been his 92nd birthday, he died on 2nd June 2018 and 77 of those years were spent in some form of active service – remarkable. He will be sorely missed. We are grateful to lvor’s son Chris and lohn Polglass for this tribute. |
| Bob Chadwick I first met Bob during my travelling days. I was an APC2 and Bob a P&TO at Bury. We talked and as a consequence he applied and was successful in becoming an APC2 himself. Bob joined the Post Office, as a Telegram Boy, at the age of 14. Through natural progression to postman and then to P&TO. As an APC he joined the Operations Mail section of the NWPB and spent many happy hours in windy railway stations such as Wigan and Carlisle. The travelling eventually stopped when he was promoted to AHPmr Warrington when after a short period he transferred to Oldham where he assumed the role of AHP personnel. He was extremely focused and meticulous in application and was proud of the fact that he never lost an I. T. case. During his time in Oldham he earned the sobriquet the Silver Fox. He was subsequently promoted to RHQ where he oversaw the separation of Royal Mail and Parcels. On completion of his involvement he took early retirement at the age of 54. He was very close to his family, wife Maureen (whom he met when he was 16) and two daughters and eventually four grandchildren. He was loved by all of his family and spent many holidays together in Greece, Florida and Las Vegas to mention but a few. Bob and Maureen enjoyed sport particularly horse racing visiting many venues including Ascot, Goodwood and Haydock Park. They were members of both Carlisle and Cartmel racecourses. He also enjoyed football and held season tickets firstly at Bury and then with Maureen at Oldham. He continued to support Oldham even during his days of ill health and passed away some four weeks after his final visit to Boundary Park. Bob lived life to the full and will be sorely missed. |
| Bill Mulligan Bill was born on 19 August 1934. He joined the GPO as a Boy Messenger in 1950 in his home town of Banbridge, Co Down. Bill remained in Banbridge until 1965 and then moved to London to a CO post in the Philatellic Bureau. After three years, Bill moved to PHQ where he remained for the next 17 years, advancing to EO in 1969; HEO in 1972 and Band 9 in 1992. Bill returned to Northern lreland in 1985 on his appointment as Head Postmaster Londonderry. Following the reorganisation of the Business in 1986, Bill became RM Area Manager for the western part of Northern lreland comprising the counties of Fermanagh, Tyrone and Londonderry. ln those troubled times, Bill had responsibility for an area which shared two thirds of the NI border with the lrish Republic. Bill continued as Area Manager until the end of 1989 when he retired from the Business. Bill gave long service to the TAVR and he was delighted that his service was recognised with the award of the TD in 1987. Bill met Joan (Lindsay) when she joined the staff of the Banbridge Office as a P&TO in the mid ’60s. Bill and Joan were married in September 1970 and they enjoyed over 47 years of a very happy and inseparable partnership. Bill and Joan moved back to County Down in early 1994 taking up residence in Donaghadee, on the North Down coast, where they made many new friends. Both were members of Donaghadee Golf Club and Bill was an active member of Rotary and Probus and a member of Donaghadee Rugby Club. They endured their own very personal heartbreak when their son and only child, John, passed away in 1994 when he was just 21. Bill passed away after a short illness on L0 January 2018. His funeral service, conducted by Canon Ronnie Nesbitt from Bangor Abbey, took place in Donaghadee Church of lreland with internment in Ballyvester Cemetry, Donaghadee. Regrettably I didn’t know about Bill’s death until sometime later and consequently the Fellowship was not represented at his funeral. l’ve expressed our deep regret for the unfortunate omission to Joan, to whom l’ve tendered our sincere sympathy and love at what has been a sad and difficult time for her. our members also extend their sympathy to Bill’s wider family circle. We are grateful to Michael Monaghan for this tribute. |
| Mike Wills Mike was born on 4th November 1942. He started school in Wembley, Middlesex and completed his education in Crewe after his father’s job at Rolls Royce Motors moved there from London in the late 1950s. This connection with the motor industry clearly sparked Mike’s lifelong interest in cars and motor racing which in his youth, prompted him to become a marshal at Oulton Park, his local race course. On leaving school, Mike applied to join the Civil Service and was appointed to the GPO in 1960 as a Clerical Officer at Mount Pleasant Post Office. Little did Mike know at the time that this would be the start of a long and successful career spanning nearly 40 years. To take up his first job, he initially lodged with his cousin’s family in Harrow before finding himself a flat in West London to simplify travelling to work in the City. He quickly progressed through the Executive grades, earning his stripes in the London Postal Region HQ in various specialisms although his passion was for planning and operational management where he excelled. First and foremost, he was a ‘people person’ who enjoyed the cut and thrust of negotiating with Unions and working at the ‘sharp end’ of the postal operations. During this time, he met his wife to be, Barbara, in a London Pub where he had gone to unwind with friends following a tiring work shift on Emergency Control, which had been set up to manage a national Postal strike. He and Barbara were subsequently married in 1973 in Wood Green and set up home in Chelmsford, moving a few years later to Fleet in Hampshire. After several senior appointments in local management including Assistant District Postmaster at a time when industrial relations were particularly turbulent and SW MLO where he was introduced to Her Majesty the Queen upon the official opening of the unit, he deservedly earned his own command as Head Postmaster Kingston on Thames. His promotion to Manager LCTT then followed when he took on responsibility for London stations staff, all London central transport operations and the TPO network. His final appointment was to the post of Director Distribution for London Division from which he retired in 1997. In retirement, he took up golf and soon became an organising Secretary at his local club. He was also able to indulge his passion for foreign travel. He moved home to Farnham initially and in 1999 moved to his dream home in Walsham le Willows to be closer to friends in Suffolk. On arrival there, he quickly immersed himself in village life becoming a member of the Village Hall Restoration Committee and getting involved in organising many annual events. He continued to enjoy his golf and travel to hotter climates, the Caribbean being his favourite destination. Mike was respected for his integrity and ability to get on with everyone with whom he came into contact. He had a charming smile, was good company, always optimistic and never happier than when entertaining family and friends at home. Unfortunately, Mike battled ill health for more than a year, but it was typical of the man that he was never heard to complain, always more concerned about others than himself. He passed away on 8 January 2018. Fellowship members at the funeral were Pat Nield, Frank White and Mike Ede. We are grateful to John Tyler (Mike’s cousin), Frank Watson (friend) and Mike Ede for this tribute. |
| Janet Cantley Janet, Joe Cantley’s wife, passed away on 17th November 2018. The funeral took place on 13th December 2018. Don Atherton Don Atherton , ex DHP Paddington, passed away on 18th December 2017 aged 86 years. Don’s funeral service took place at 3.30 pm on Friday 5th January 2018 at Woking Crematorium which was well attended by past colleagues from across the Country. |
| Les Dean Les Dean joined the GPO as it was then in 1951 Salisbury as a Postal & Telegraph Officer. After National Service in the RAF he returned to Salisbury where he met and married Margaret. In 1958 he was selected to become an Assistant Postal Controller ll in the South West Postal Region (SWPR) where daughter Julia and later son Philip were born. This was followed in 1964 with a move to the North West Postal Region, (NWPR) and a year later on promotion to Assistant Postal Controller I he moved to Postal Headquarters Scotland. Five years later he returned to SWPR, before becoming Head Postmaster Swindon in 1973, and in 1985 on a further promotion to Head Postmaster Southampton, where he remained until retirement in 1990. Throughout his career Les was always keen to be involved with public bodies and to foster their links with the GPO/Post Office/Royal Mail. While in Swindon he was Community Service Chairman of Rotary, on the Council of Management of the Chamber of Commerce, an active member of the Crime Prevention Panel, and very much involved with a wide selection of other bodies both in business and in his private life. He held similar appointments when he moved to Southampton, and in addition was a prime mover in the sponsorship for a number of years of the Southampton Musician of the Year. In retirement he continued with many of these activities and took on more, notably as Regional Secretary of Abbeyfields, a large organisation providing sheltered housing for older people, and of course was very active in the affairs of the Head Postmasters’ Association, later becoming the Fellowship as we now know it., initially as an Executive Council member, then President, and notably as the Editor of the Newsletter in which appointment he excelled in transforming the Newsletter into an interesting and much sought after means of communication with the membership. He also took on responsibility for updating our Constitution and Rules covering the many changes that took place over the years relating to the Post Office and then Royal Mail. In recognition of his years of service to the Fellowship he was made an Honorary Life Vice President in 2012. Les was a very committed family man, devoted to Margaret, his two children, five grandchildren, and last year he became a very proud great grandfather. He took a keen interest in all that they did, but he and Margaret still found time to enjoy their retirement, especially in cruising to all parts of the world, and last year celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on board. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him, but especially by Margaret and all his family, to whom we send our sincere condolences The Fellowship were represented at Les’s funeral by Don and Nella Burnside, Len Clifford, Gary Gowans, Ray and Chris Stockwell. Our thanks to Don Burnside, Len Clifford, and Julia, Les’s daughter, for this tribute. |