Colette Whitby has been serving the people of Ellesmere Port for the past two decades
A Merseyside postie has been dubbed an “angel on earth” after her random acts of kindness have helped to brighten people’s lives.
Colette Whitby, 50, has been serving the people of Ellesmere Port for the past two decades and has garnered a reputation for having “the biggest of hearts” as she unfailingly goes above and beyond to support members of the local community. On Sunday, July 3, Lisa Fielding went to pick up a parcel from the Ellesmere Port Royal Mail depot. Lisa, 45, had been having a bad day, but Colette’s kind words and actions “totally reset” her for the day.
Lisa told the ECHO: “I walked in looking a bit dishevelled and mum-like. She asked me if I was okay, and when I told her I was fine, she said: ‘Are you sure? You don’t look it’.
“I told her I was just having one of those days and she said that everything was going to be fine. She told me to wait and then came back with an unopened box of Rose’s chocolates and said to me; ‘You need a couple of these’. We ended up having a bit of a chat and she kept telling me it was all going to be okay.”
Lisa, who works in mental health, said Colette’s actions are a great example of how a small gesture can make a big difference to people that are struggling.
She said: “It was just so nice to have those kind words. I got back in the car and I’d been grumpy with the kids earlier in the morning but it really changed my mood and from there, we had a really nice day. So, just that small act of kindness from her reverberated throughout my whole family.
“She really didn’t have to do any of that. I mean, how many people is she helping every day? There’s nothing wrong with just scanning a parcel of course, but it really made my day. When someone does something like that out of nowhere, it means an awful lot. And you never know just how much it might mean to someone depending on what they’re going through.”
Lisa shared her experience on social media, and has since been flooded with hundreds of comments from people who have also been touched by Colette’s actions.
One person described Colette as “an angel on Earth” who “definitely deserves some sort of community award for all the people she helps” while another labelled her the “best postie ever” who is “always looking to help people, listen and to lift people who might be at a low ebb”.
Reacting to the overwhelming online response, Colette told the ECHO: “For me, if I can make a difference to just one person, it’s amazing. Sometimes, you don’t realise that just giving one person a smile in the morning can make a difference. Community spirit has gone a little bit, but we are frontline staff and everyone knows the postie. I love that because it brings back a little bit of that community spirit.”
In August, the 50-year-old will celebrate 20 years of service for the Royal Mail, and her random acts of kindness range from being a singing telegram for neighbours’ birthdays and playing noughts and crosses with local children during lockdown.
She said: “I sang for a lady who was actually 105-years-old and she said I was the first singing telegram she’d ever had. I walked away that day and I just cried because she was still living in her own home at 105 and it had meant so much to her. It was really uplifting for me as well.
“During covid, I looked after a lot of the local pensioners. I’d make them Sunday dinners and pick up prescriptions for them - I still do it now. I’ve made food hampers up because I know that the community is struggling. I’m a mental health first aider at work and doing these things makes you feel good too, because you’re helping people.”
She added: “Everybody in Ellesmere Port knows me because I’ve delivered all over the area. My children won’t even come shopping with me because I want to take that extra 15 minutes to chat to people because I might be the only person they’ve spoken to that day and that could make a real difference in their life.”