Neighbours in Felpham said goodbye to a much-loved local postman who ‘always went above and beyond’ today (March 23), after he announced his retirement.
Malcolm Brown served Felpham for ten years before decided to ‘hang up the leathers’ at the end of this week and, grateful for a decade of hard work, the community came together to show their thanks.
Surprising him just outside the Old Rectory gardens with bottles of wine, a home-made cake, a card and a small tin of donations, a dozen neighbours bade him happy trails as he made his way through one of his final rounds.
Despite catching wind that something was afoot, Mr Brown was deeply moved by the reception, and said the people of Felpham were less like clients and more like friends.
Residents say goodbye to much-loved postie Malcolm Brown
“I try to be more than just a postman, I think. And I live in the village, so this is my community too and I wanted to look after it,” he explained.
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"I knew retiring would be hard – probably harder than I thought – but I think it’s time to hang the leathers up, as they say, and chill out.”
Margaret Blakey and Rosemary Fox, who helped organise the surprise, said Mr Brown will be ‘incredibly missed’ by the villagers, and pointed out that he made sure to go the extra mile for anyone who needed it.
"If you wanted postage done, Malcolm would just take it for you, save you walking to the post office if it’s wet and horrible,” Mrs Fox said.
"It’s about having that personal connection with people, and that’s quite hard to find these days. We all think Malcolm is going to be extremely hard to replace. I’ve lived here for eight and a half years, and I’ve never had a postman like him.”
Mrs Blakey added that they didn’t have to work hard to gather as many residents as they did – which speaks to a real depth of affection for the postman.
"It wasn’t hard at all. We went around with a tin to collect donations. Most of the people around here contributed and signed his card. One or two people sent cheques. Then we put a notice through people’s doors last night to spread the word about this meeting.”