| 2019 |
| Nat King Sadly we have just received news that another of our members has passed away .We have been informed by David Blake that Nat King, ex Head Postmaster Isle of Wight, died on 20 November 2019 aged 94 years. |
| Penny Hassell Sadly Penny the widow of Ray Hassell died on 14th November 2019 aged 92 years. |
| Geoff Connelly Geoffrey Connelly, who was Head Postmaster in Barnsley from 1977 to 1983, died on 1 November, aged 96. His funeral was held at Kexborough Methodist Church, Barnsley on Friday 22 November. Born in Bradford on 3 March 1923 eldest son of Evelyn and James Connelly, Geoffrey left school at 13 to help support his mother and younger sister following the death of his father. On 1 September 1937, aged 14, he joined the Post Office as a messenger boy, on a salary of 11 shillings a month. He was appointed postman on 30 June 1941 but shortly afterwards, on 7 July 1941, was given special leave to serve in the RAF. This lasted five years and 118 days and he resumed his postman’s duties in Bradford on 2 November 1946. After a spell in York he returned to the Bradford area (Bingley) in 1949 as a P&TO. In 1957 he joined the staff of the North East Region Training Centre as an instructor PCT in Harrogate covering junior and senior counter work, accounting and wages training. Geoffrey became the youngest Postmaster in the country when in 1960 he was appointed Postmaster in Blaydon near Newcastle. In 1967 he moved to be Postmaster in Seaham in County Durham before in 1970 heading back to Yorkshire as Assistant Head Postmaster in Barnsley. He was promoted to be Head Postmaster Barnsley in 1977, a position he held until his retirement in March 1983, aged 60. Following his retirement he served as chairman of the Citizen’s Advice Bureau in Barnsley. He was also a Barnsley bench magistrate, being chairman of the adult and domestic court and a member of the Lord Chancellor’s advisory committee with responsibility for interviewing candidates. Throughout his later career he was an active Rotarian in Blaydon, Seaham and Barnsley. Religion formed an important part of his life and for 60 years he served as a Methodist local preacher in many circuits in Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland. He was an active member of Kexborough Methodist Church and a long time supporter of the Lamproom Theatre in Barnsley. We are grateful to Helen Riby, Geoff’s daughter for this tribute. |
| Mike Holmes Mike, ex Secretary Parcelforce Board, was born on 6th January 1940. He graduated in the early 1960’s, so was in exactly the right place at the right time to take advantage of the GPO’s decision to expand the numbers of what was then called the Postal travelling staff, in addition to take in rather more graduate direct entrants to those grades. This timing exactly suited Mike along with several other young graduates at the time, many of whom I can confirm had only just taken to shaving! There is a contemporaneous story about how this went down with the senior members of the ‘staff’ many of whom still thought of themselves as “Surveyors”. It was the practice at the time to have a splendid dinner at a top London hotel following the AGM of the travelling staff Trades Union – the APC & APCs. This was a black tie do and as the most junior there it fell to Mike to read Grace which he did in impeccable Latin (how did any of us know?) at the end of which there was a very loud muttered question from one crusty old Controller who having seen Mike and others of the same vintage asked “My God are we taking them direct from the nursery these days?” A view widely shared then by his colleagues! Mike joined the regional travelling staff in what was the Home Counties Region in October 1962. Given the choice of jobs then available for young graduates elsewhere “world their oyster etc” it’s fair to wonder why the Post Office seemed attractive. Almost certainly as with many others, a family connection had a strong pull. In Mike’s case this was his father the formidable Brigadier Kenneth Holmes (due to rise to Senior Director a few years later). He was known throughout the Business as the Brig or the Brigadier and there’s little doubt that this connection had much to do with Mike’s decision to follow. Mike took a usual path from a region to PHQ in 1966 when he joined Home Mails Branch. He didn’t quite follow the ‘normal ‘path because he moved as Assistant Principal and then to Principal in 1969. As you would expect from his home background Mike was well versed in aspects of Post Office HQ in addition he was by nature studious and in a few years had absorbed the sort of skills and information required for his move to Principal and in 1972 to Band 8 (at the time Principals, Chief Executive Officers and APCs1 were broadly equivalent, regularised by a splendid agreement by the APC&APC in the late 60’s) He continued a steady rise through deepest darkest PHQ, moving to SB6 in August 1987 and then SB5 in October 1980. During this time he served in what was the gloriously titled Management Services and much more mundanely Finance and perhaps even briefly in Marketing. Dark rumours of secondment to MI5 still persist. But happily all this mystery came to an end when in 1986 Mike moved to the newly established Parcels Business as Secretary to the Board. He was well versed and expert in the running of the large bureaucracy which was PHQ at the time. His approach was very much that of a reasoning intellectual who was rarely fazed and an invaluable source of information for the new Board. He was meticulous in his role of Board Secretary and in this capacity his Board Minutes were a joy – many of us thought/knew that they were written before the Board meetings! In his own reserved way he enjoyed socialising and enjoyed a beer or two with his new colleagues. He was also a respected ‘bon vivant’. He was a keen follower of cricket, the ambiance of the terraces of the Summer Game suiting him very much better than the terraces of the Winter Sports. He also spent considerable time afloat, usually with P & O and did at least one cruise each year normally to mainly European destinations. Sometimes these were combined with another major interest of researching family histories, first his own but then of some of the premier European families which required much research in the Library of the BM and other major European libraries. Work I think which was rudely interrupted and left unfinished as his health deteriorated. In the late 80’s he took on unstintingly another major responsibility when he became the main stay of a new Managing Director recruited from DFL (a very minor Parcels company). He is remembered very fondly by his then boss especially for his calmness and tolerance in having to guide this incomer who not only came from the private sector but was also from Yorkshire. He credits Mike with getting him through “not only the first four weeks but also the four years”. The relationship gelled and became a good effective one. “He was a lovely man” sums up the view. Mike retired as the longest serving member of the Parcelforce Board on his sixtieth Birthday in 2000 after nearly 14 years service to it and the business. He welcomed retirement as giving him more time for his wide range of interests, more frequent visits to the various libraries, to cricket matches, to the oceans, and also to the monthly meetings with Parcelforce [and other] colleagues. Over the years these trips away from the south coast gradually reduced as hip and other health problems became more debilitating until in the last year or so he very much relied on family, neighbours and the occasional visits and phone calls from local colleagues to keep in touch. He was a great guy, multi talented, could be relied upon for a dry wit, rarely spiked but always to the point and his quiet wry smile –smirk never! Compiled by comments from Tom Clay, Jim Anderson, John Tolley, Simon Ellis, Nick Nelson, and Keith Webb – and many others. The funeral at St Wulfrans church in Ovingdon on 8th November was attended by Jim and Joyce Anderson, Christine and Tom Clay, Dee and Simon Ellis, Nick Nelson, John Polglass, John Tolley and members of his family. |
| Peter Williams Sadly, Peter, ex Peterborough and Parcels Business, passed away on 11th September aged 93 years. Peter, born in Birmingham in 1925, and his older sister Patricia, spent their early years between Birmingham and their parent’s second home on the Worcestershire/Herefordshire border from where Peter enjoyed roaming the countryside around the Malvern Hills. At seventeen and a half, during the 2nd World War, Peter volunteered for the Royal Marines but the call-up was delayed. His only wartime involvement therefore was in the Home Guard as Private Williams. His father suggested that he get a job he could return to, so he set off in his career in the Post Office where he started as an engineering technician still hoping to join the armed services. Regrettably shortly after he joined, it became, for a short time, a reserved occupation and he had only expected to stay a few months – he stayed 40 years! By 1949 he had become a leading technician and later applied for a post of Assistant Traffic Superintendent (later regraded Telecommunications Traffic Superintendent) in the Birmingham Telephone Manager’s Office. It was whilst in Birmingham TMO that he met and married Joy, who had been employed as a speech trainer for telephonists. Later he moved to the offices of the Midland Region. After his marriage to Joy in 1951 they lived initially in Lichfield later moving to Solihull, where their children Elaine and Andy were born, and then to Knowle. They were married for 63 years (regrettably Joy died in 2015) – Joy and Peter shared a love of theatre and in their early days he took part in many of her amateur dramatic productions. It was in the early 50s he studied for a Diploma in Management Studies which helped considerably with his career in management and later became a Fellow of the Institute of Management (now Chartered Management Institute). In 1955 he had been appointed Assistant Postal Controller Class 2 to the Midland Region where he developed his experience in the Postal Business whilst travelling to Head Post Offices. At the same time helping new recruits to develop their skills and expertise. When appointed APC1 it was again to the Midland Region which avoided that feared move to London. During this time, he covered the Warwick and Leamington Head Office amongst others, presided over by an idiosyncratic chief, a Channel Islander, Bill Le Monnier, who had suffered under the German occupation. He was an irreconcilably anti travelling officer, unless of the rank of APC1, and above. As the advance ‘bags’ of the travelling staff arrived in his office on the morning of any visit they were immediately dispatched – thrown would be the right word – out of his office and down the corridor. He struck fear and dread in most staff, but Peter with his inevitable charm and patience was one of the few that could bring him to heel, and persuade him to let the guys get on with their job. Later in 1969, Peter was appointed to Head Postmaster, Peterborough and the family had to move their home. It was at Peterborough that he experienced the major development of the Postal Services to cater for the rapidly expanding City of Peterborough for both letters and parcels. He managed a major Letter Mail Centre and oversaw the construction of the then second largest Parcel Concentration Office in the UK handling an ever-growing volume of traffic. He was very active locally during his time in Peterborough, where he was a Samaritan and secretary of The Rotary Club of Peterborough. He left Peterborough office on appointment as Assistant Director at Headquarters, first as Head of Training Division then as Head of Operations for the Parcel Service. During this time, Peter was able to commute from Stamford where Peter and Joy had moved. He eventually retired from a long career in the Post Office in 1984 and settled to a new life. It was at Tinwell that they bought and converted an old former cow shed in 1983 to make into their much-loved home. From there he played an active part in village life, chairing the village meeting and serving on the PCC as deputy Churchwarden. They welcomed son-in-law, Chris, and daughter-in-law, Nicki, into the family and adored their four grandchildren Louise, Lottie, Rory and Kieren, being very proud of them all. Peter was delighted when in 2018 his great-granddaughter, Florence Joy, was born. In retirement Peter was involved in a wide variety of voluntary work, including chairing the Stamford Enterprise programme and the Rutland Volunteer Bureau and vice chair of Voluntary Action Rutland. He was a governor of a Community College and a member of the Parole Board for a local prison. He had been a member of Peterborough Rotary Club, served a year as President during its Diamond Jubilee year 1991/92 and also as President of the Stamford Burghley Probus Club. During his working life he was highly respected by his colleagues and helped nurture their careers forward. But there was a different side, one of his abiding failures was making tea. During the ‘ripple’ days in Birmingham, the team CO refused to continue making tea other than on a rota. This was agreed reluctantly but when Peter’s turn came it was so awful that the team decided to forgo his place on the rota! The funeral was held at All Saints Church, Main Street, Tinwell, Stamford on Friday 4th October which was very well attended. The Fellowship was represented by Len & Cathy Clifford, Brian & Janet Moore, Jim Pigg and Derek Reeves. We are grateful to Elaine (Peter’s daughter), Keith Webb and Derek Reeves for preparing this tribute. |
| Ted Sutton Sadly Ted (otherwise Edwin Way) Sutton died on 6th August 2019 aged 96 years. He was born on 7th May 1923 and had a good life having retired from the Post Office as Assistant Head Postmaster at Reading in 1984 after a distinguished career. He had 7 children and was married to Barbara. |
| Tony Fitton We report sad news. Tony passed away on Monday 5th August aged 87 years Tony, ex Shrewsbury, was born in 1932. After a spell in the Merchant Navy with Cunard as a Radio Operator, he joined the then GPO in1957 as a Radio Operator Instructor. He became an APC2 in 1962 in the St Martins le Grand HQ, promoted to APC1 in 1985. Tony thoroughly enjoyed his time on Postal Operations in PHQ in the sixties and seventies, and he relished being a member of the Duty Officer Rota, a role in which he thrived, especially when an incident arose which called for him to rouse senior officers from their beds during the night. In 1969 he applied for the position of Postal Consultant to Colombia. Quite how many applied for the post is not known, but Tony always maintained his success was achieved against very stiff opposition. He took with him his wife Christine who he had married in 1956, and four young children, Jo, Libby, Jeremy, and Christopher, to Bogota, a strange and relatively unknown place at the time, half way across the world, a different culture, a foreign language (and a high risk of kidnap!). After four very successful years there Tony decided a fresh challenge was necessary, and decided to up sticks with his family once more to take a UN sponsored Brazilian Communication Development programme in Rio de Janiero , via Bolivia. Eighteen months later in 1974 Tony and the family returned to UK and PHQ, where he took up where he left off in Postal Operations, until in 1978 he successfully applied for the post of Head Postmaster Shrewsbury, which embraced not only Shropshire but also much of mid-Wales. The family took up residence and remained there. Tony always said that he had had in mind a two year spell before moving on, but suffice to say that he and the family enjoyed life in Shrewsbury so much that he remained there until his retirement in 1989. Life as a Head Postmaster suited Tony perfectly. With the occasional, very occasional, nod to HQ in Cardiff, he enjoyed doing things his way, and featured regularly in local newspapers. He was never one to miss an opportunity to raise the profile of the Post Office whether it be awarding long service medals to postmen, retirement parties, handing out sporting trophies, entering teams in local rivercraft competitions, or actively participating in the well known annual Shrewsbury Flower Show, for which he always managed to persuade the Wales & the Marches HQ to participate in sponsorship ( which invariably included a well-stocked Bar with which to woo the “customers”). He was a popular boss, well respected by his staff and unions alike. His door was always open, and even today he is well remembered not only by surviving staff but by their families. His local reputation was quite legendary. Tony was a great raconteur, a natural storyteller, and his many exploits in S America grew with each hilarious telling, but there is little doubt that he made a significant impact on the postal services in that part of the world, and he was always ready to show you the photographs of such things as red pillar boxes and red postal service Land Rovers that he introduced there. He was also a very committed Rotarian serving the community in Shropshire and also as delegate to Rotarian conferences, particularly in Chicago and other places around the world, as well as being President of the Shrewsbury Chamber of Commerce. During his time in PHQ Tony decided to join the Royal Engineer Postal Service TA, and discovered another outlet for his organising talents but in a military routine. He was promoted to Major in 1979 and although thorough in his military duties his aim was to avoid if possible, all physical and field exercises, but to show willing for staff and watchkeeping duties. RAF Shawbury was in Tony’s Head Postmaster area, and was often used for NATO exercises. Tony on meeting some of the foreign officers taking part would often invite them to his home for a drink, but forget to warn his wife Christine. However, she would quickly recover and provide the unexpected visitors with a warm welcome. Both his daughters followed him into the TA. In retirement Tony and Christine stayed in Shrewsbury, but put his Post Office pension to good use in travelling all over the world, and in their spare time built two houses. Sadly in 2013 Christine died, after 57 years of marriage. Tony then spent much of his time living between La Manga and Salobrena in Spain and UK, and could usually be found during the winter at one of his favourite hotels, the Reina Isabel, Las Palmas, Gran Canarias, where he would gladly welcome and entertain friends from UK. Tony was also a very committed member of the Fellowship, and in the days of Eaves Hall gatherings he was in his element organising events such as the traditional Car Rally. He had a great sense of fun, and often he would wave off the Rally with a toilet brush or some such rude implement. He was also a regular provider of jokes and anecdotes for the Newsletter. In his last three years increasingly limited physical mobility forced him to stop travelling, and he was cared for by his companion Alice in Shrewsbury. Tony did not want a formal funeral, instead a direct cremation took place. He asked that his ashes be surreptitiously scattered in the River Severn. The announcement in the local paper read: “Tony Fitton, former Head Postmaster of Shrewsbury passed away quietly at home on 6 August 2019 “ Returned to sender”. Tony will be sadly missed by all who knew him, but especially by daughters Jo and Libby, sons Jeremy and Christopher, and their families, to whom we send our sincere condolences. We are grateful to Len Cliffford and Tony’s daughter Jo for compiling this tribute. |
| John Reilly John was born in Moygashel, Dungannon, Co Tyrone on 8 August 1933 and joined the Post Office as a Postman in Dungannon in September 1949; he was subsequently promoted to P&TO in the same office. John advanced to APC11 in March 1968 taking up a post in Wales and the Marshes Postal HQs in Cardiff where he remained until February 1974. Following a year as AHPm Oldham, he returned to NI Postal HQs in Belfast as APC1 in April 1975. John was promoted Head Postmaster Lancaster in 1980 and another move followed with his appointment as Head Postmaster Oldham where he remained until the re-organisation of Royal Mail in 1986. Subsequently John became Head of Operations and Planning in Bolton and retired from the business in August 1990. John and his wife Gladys moved back to their home area in Co Tyrone following his retirement as both had a great love and affinity for the area where they were born. John got involved in the local community and in 1997, he was elected to serve as a Councillor on the Dungannon and South Tyrone Council. John enjoyed his golf but his passion was gardening. John was a very personable, popular and self-effacing individual whose wisdom and friendship were valued by his colleagues. His father passed away when John was ten and he found himself shouldered with an increased family role at a tender age. John won a scholarship to Dungannon Royal School in 1944 and took up employment with the Post Office at aged 16 to support the family as he had been caring for his mother during his final two years at school. No doubt his early life experiences helped shape the man he became. John was a true gentleman and a fine public servant who will be remembered with much affection by his former colleagues. Above all John was devoted to his family who will greatly miss him. He shared 61 years of married life with Gladys to whom we send our sincere sympathy and love. Our deep sympathy is also extended to his son, Gareth, daughter-law Caroline, grandson Matthew and granddaughter Jessica, and to John’s extended family circle. The funeral service took place in St Andrew’s Parish Church, Killyman, Dungannon on Saturday, 20 July 2019 with interment in the adjoining cemetery. The Fellowship were represented at the funeral by Oliver Morris and Michael Monaghan. We are grateful to Michael Monaghan for this tribute. |
| David Legge Sadly David, formerly District Head Postmaster North London, died on 8th June 2019, we believe of cancer of the liver. He performed various other roles including Director Personnel, London and Head Postmaster Watford. |
| Alistair Robinson Sad to report that TAS (Alistair) Robinson died in May 2019 at the age of 89 years. Alistair was formerly Head Postmaster of Perth. |
| Tony Greedy Tony Greedy, who was ex Head Postmaster, Carmathen and South Wales Group Secretary, passed away on Monday 1 April aged 86 years.Tony Greedy was a son of Porth in the Rhondda and proud of it, matched only by his devotion to his family followed by his love of football and the 44 years he spent in the Post Office. Born to Thomas and Maggie in 1932, as the eldest of five siblings, he lived in a one up, one down house with no bathroom and an outside toilet. Times were hard, with his father working the night shift in the local mine but with a mother, a very giving person, who’baked’ for the street, and was often sent for to attend births and to help lay out those who had passed away’. Having passed his 11 plus, he attended Porth Grammar School until family economics meant he left at the age of t4 for work in various locations because of his Father’s determination that he should not go down the pit. ln 1948 he became a local telegram boy coping with the many extreme hills on his official cycle all of which aided his fitness whilst successfully pursuing a passion for the football centre-forward role, first in the Trebanog side. National Service arrived and he was posted to the RAF station in Bridgnorth where in his two years there he helped run the camp Post Office but also played a lot of football in the company of professional players including Peter Broadbent, later of Wolves and England. As a schoolboy he had excelled at sport including rugby for Glamorganshire and even played on the famous Cardiff Arms Park but his real sporting love was football and upon his return to South Wales in 1951, he had trials for his beloved Cardiff (now’City’) but, having been offered the chance to play for their Reserve team, he declined, as his ambition was to play for the first team, a decision he regretted in his later life. A fitness fanatic; when he progressed to work for the PO in Brecon, having hitherto delighted in running around his walk fully laden, he now challenged himself daily by running up and down South Wales highest peak, Pen y Fan, before work. He next moved to Pontypridd and at the age of 27 mel, Jean, whom he married in l-961-, but conscious of his earlier disrupted education, not only was he a long standing Union of Postal Workers representative, although one of the more reasonable and effective kind we are told, with PO support he began an Open University Maths degree followed closely by an MBA. lt was not surprising therefore that when proposed on one occasion as a candidate for PO National Student of the Year – he was the winner! Further progression resulted for this very hard working and honest man, hindered only by his inability to drive a car until he was 48 and on his 6th attempt which shows how he persevered. Always up for a challenge he drove his family to Manchester just two days after passing his test, despite never having driven on a motorway. On the return journey he stopped at Services to ask Nick, his son, to find in the car manual how the lights worked as it would soon be dark! His next work challenge was as Head Postmaster of Carmarthen and West Wales not because of the job as he was a firm practitioner in meaningful consultation and the art of taking people along with him but more because the ability to speak Welsh was now expected of him. He had already planned to start classes and saw the commitment through. Reorganisation came along though in 1990 when Tony was required to become Delivery Services Manager in Swansea but this put him in the position of being a ‘commuter’ from his home in Carmarthenshire which did not really suit him, gratefully accepting early retirement in 1992. This brought him a new lease of life, working with local retired colleagues to maintain, and further develop, fellowship with many trips both home and abroad’ And …. never a popular role, in addition he served as Secretary of the South Wales Group of the Head Postmasters’ Fellowship for many a year. He received a laptop for his 70th birthday and an lPad for his 80th and delighted in tackling difficult jigsaws pointedly declining to use the photograph as an aid. His family and fitness were still key, playing squash until he was 60 and then golf, when he played several rounds a week for 25 years until he could no longer walk a full round, which was as recently as last October. Still adept with a football, he would impress others with his continuing ability to perform ‘keepie uppies’ but rarely was he satisfied with less than 100 at a time! His funeral service on 17 April, where the Fellowship was represented by Mike and Kate Healings and Pete Walters, was so well attended in the stunning setting of Narberth Crematorium, that many were left standing. The service itself was made personal by the choice of music and the comprehensive eulogy, composed by Nicholas, his son, and read by Ceri, from which these notes have been compiled. It was fitting that the congregation were played out to the song ‘Come home, Rhondda Boy’ as they left for a very pleasant reception in a hotel nearby where many yarns and curious ‘small world’ anecdotes and coincidences were shared. Tony will be missed by many. We are grateful to Peter Walters for compiling this tribute. |
| Tony Begley Further sad news – we have been informed that Tony Begley passed away on 13 February at the age of 73 years. |
| Peter Milne News has just reached us via Bryan Roberts and John Polglass that Peter Milne passed away in March 2019 . Although Peter was not a member of the Fellowship we have added this sad note to our page as he had been a well known figure in Postal Headquarters and the LPR. |
| Maurice Manning Regrettably Maurice Manning, ex Oxford, passed away in February 2019 aged 87 years |
| Tony Lane The service celebrating the life of Tony Lane, who passed away on 29th January 2019, aged 97 years, was held at St. Chad’s Church, Far Headingly, on Tuesday 12 February 2019, a private cremation, attended by his family, took place afterwards. The Fellowship was represented by Alan Forster and me, though in truth we were both personally very keen to attend, given our respect for the man. An impressive eulogy to Tony was delivered by his son-in-law Charlie Skeoch from which much of this obituary has been drawn. Readings were made by grandchildren Jen Skeoch and Robert Eagle. Tony was a Devonian, born in Exeter in 1921, to Frank and Edith Lane. He went to Oakham School in Rutland as a border and by all accounts was pretty good at cricket and hockey. He was called up for active service in WW2 at the age of 18 and served with the Royal Signals as a commissioned officer, reaching the rank of Captain in 1952 after continuing his service in the Territorial Army after the war. In 1966 he was promoted to Lt-Col., a rank he retained until his service career ended in 1972. Setting off for overseas war service from the West of Scotland on the SS Orcades, he and his troops made passage to India with many adventures on the way. He developed a close working relationship with the Gurkhas and one of their regiment certainly saved his life during an ambush in Egypt. This was reflected in the distribution of the donations at his service of celebration. The Gurkha Welfare Trust was part recipients along with the Wheatfield Hospice. From 1940 until 1945 he served with 6 Indian Division Signals in India, Iraq, Syria and North Africa. Unfortunately his distinguished military career got off to an unusual start, he had “an argument with his own weapon “and accidentally shot himself in the foot. After the end of his war service in 1945 his initial intention was to read law but a change of heart led to him studying history at Worcester College Oxford. Like his father, Brigadier Frank Lane CBE, who had achieved a distinguished service career in WW1, Tony followed father Frank into what was then called the GPO (his father was a Postmaster Surveyor). This was a lifetime career for him and involved moves throughout the country culminating in his appointment as Head Postmaster Leeds. This proved to be a really challenging time for him as new modernizing technology was being introduced at the same time as a new Post Office building was being commissioned. His skills at managing this were well recognized and appreciated by his colleagues. In an unsolicited tribute a member, who shall remain anonymous, informs me that during his period as Board Secretary he had found Tony to be a true gentleman and a far cry from some of the ego driven people he had to deal with at that time. However, the centre point of his life was his family. He married Mary in 1953 and I am reliably informed that he knew how to treat a lady. He organized the honeymoon to be at the time of the British Open Golf Championship in Carnoustie and stayed in a tent by the course. She did however forgive him for this and they had a long and very happy marriage and were fortunate to celebrate their 60 anniversary in 2013. As well as an ongoing passion for golf he and Mary were really good gardeners and led horticultural trials for the Royal Horticultural Society in the growth and sustenance of Camellias for which he received the society medal. He was a true academic of horticulture. His last few months were very challenging for him. His wish to stay at home was practically facilitated by Kate his daughter, greatly supported by the carers from Epoch and Comforting Care. The District Nurse Service and Wheatfield Hospice also gave strong professional support, particularly at the end. His family will miss him greatly. We are grateful to Stuart Scoffins (with assistance from Doug Swanson) and Charlie Skeock for this tribute. |
| Dorothy Fothergill ex PHQ The death of Dorothy Fothergill, erstwhile Director of, variously, Personnel, Pay and Grading and London Postal Region occurred in January 2019 but only came to notice in October when enquiries were made of her solicitor. Dorothy was born in 1925 and educated at Haberdashers’ Ashe School. She went to obtain a History degree at University College, London. She entered the Administrative Grades of the Civil Service as an Assistant Principal in 1948. She was appointed to the Overseas Mail Division and represented the Post Office at the UPU Conference in Ottawa in 1957. After 2 years back in the Treasury she resumed her Post Office career in the Establishment and Organisation Dept. under another redoubtable lady, Pearl Bridger. In 1965 she became the Assistant Secretary in charge of Pay and Organisation Division, and moved on to London Region as its Director in 1970. However the next year she returned to Postal HQ as its Director of Personnel and Industrial Relations, a role she continued to fill till her retirement at the end of 1993. As her successor I inherited her cocktail cabinet, maintained for only two purposes as far as I could see. The first was to offer the Union negotiators a drink once a deal was struck and the second to share the very occasional glass of sherry with colleagues. These events were so rare that every drink in the cabinet was so out of date that I could only ditch them! Dorothy had a razor sharp intellect always lightly and often mischievously applied. She could make devastatingly cutting remarks, though they were never meant unkindly, and easily held her own in the then mans world. She was a formidable negotiator as the Unions discovered. She shone in interpersonal exchanges rather than as an extrovert figurehead. She was universally admired but made few close friendships – perhaps her closest acquaintance was the equally whimsical Joe Cantley. She never married and after retirement moved down near the sea to Rustington to care for her aged mother. After her mother died my wife and I visited her a number of times to help her dispose of her multitude of books and aid her in her charitable donations. It is in Rustington that she died at the age of 94. Having no close family her affairs went into the hands of her solicitor. It is perhaps one of the perils of living a long retirement and having no family that one loses touch with those in ones’ past. We are grateful to Bryan Roberts and Richard Osmond for this tribute. Although she was not a member, many of our members will recall her. |
| Henry Tilling Sadly Henry Tilling, former Chairman of the Scottish Postal Board, passed away on 23 January 2019, the day before his 95th birthday. The funeral took place in Rosslyn Chapel, Chapel Loan, Roslin, Midlothian, on Thursday 7 February. |
| Daphne Noble It is with regret that we report Daphne Noble (wife of the late Ken Noble) passed away in hospital on 17 January. The funeral took place on 18 February at Randalls Road Crematorium, Leatherhead. There was a wake afterwards at The Woodlands Park Hotel, Woodlands Lane, Stoke D’Abernon, COBHAM, Surre |