'You’ve delivered our mail through snow, rain and even sunshine... we will miss you'
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A popular village postman known for wearing his trademark shorts whatever the weather has retired after more than 40 years in the job. Eddie Whitaker, who was the postie for Marchington village and its surrounding area, was given a special surprise send-off by locals.
Well over a hundred of his addressees attended a retirement party having set up a special book in the run-up to the event for everyone to share their memories and messages of thanks. Villagers packed the Dog and Partridge pub to say their farewells to Eddie.
He had been taken along by his family - wife Pat, daughter Sarah with her husband Andy and their baby boy Vinnie, and daughter Charlotte with her partner Alex and baby girl, Florence - but was instead greeted by the surprise retirement celebration.
Resident Andrew Mann gave a short speech, saying: "You’ve delivered our mail through snow, rain, and even proper sunshine sometimes! We will miss you, your friendly banter and all the comments about your all-weather shorts. You’re always reliable and your successor will have much to live up to. You’ll be greatly missed by the whole of Marchington, and we wish you a very long and happy retirement."
Eddie Whitaker with his wife Pat
Eddie said: "You rascals! I thought something was amiss – I’ve hardly seen anyone during the last week and now I know why. I began working when I was 16 years old when I joined the Royal Navy. I served nine years travelling the world and having a great time. I came out of the Royal Navy in March 1984 and luckily managed to get an interview with the post office. So, on June 4, 1984 I began my career at the post office.
"When I first joined in June 1984, we were assigned to sections; there were two town jobs, Marchington and Kingstone. In 1992 they decided that one postman would do one job on a permanent basis. My seniority meant that I did Kingstone for four years until the Marchington job became vacant, so on October 8, 1996 I became the postie for the area and 28 years later, I’m still here.