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Hundreds of Windsor residents are rallying to keep their beloved postman, who’s due to be this week, after 14 years of serving the community.
When Lois Shields, of Arthur Road, expressed her disappointment of postman Phil Thorn being moved to a different postal route on Facebook, the news ‘spread like wildfire’.
Within hours, online and paper petitions were put in place and 200 signatures were collected from residents of Arthur Road and neighbouring Duke Street on Saturday (August 26) alone.
Lois said Phil was ‘blown away’ by the community effort to keep his postal route.
“When I used to work in the town centre, Phil used to bring packages in to work, if he knew no one was at home to receive them. It’s little things like that which make life easier, and make him so special and thoughtful,” she said.
Felicity Fowkes, of Duke Street, told the Express that Phil Thorn has been a ‘pillar of the community’ and has ‘gone above and beyond in his 14 years of service’.
Talking about the support for the petition, she added: “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
She said Phil always had time for a chat with younger people and was a comfort to the elder community members which was important in a digitised world with ‘little human interactions in our services’.
“Windsor wouldn’t be Windsor without Phil and Dexter, the cat. While knocking on doors of some residents to sign the petition, I was naturally met with some suspicion at first,” she said.
“The moment of mentioning Phil’s name, the door chain came off and people’s faces would break out into a smile.”
Sophia Harrison of Arthur Road added: “When my son was little I used to tell him Phil was actually Santa doing his summer job. [It would] be such a loss to the community if they move him.”
Phil was also popular in the dog community.
Lois added: “My dogs also adore him and wait patiently at the door for treats. They spot him a mile off and get so excited.”
Angela Irvine from Arthur Road said: “’Our dogs, they all adore him as he does them. He must spend a fortune on treats on them per year. He cares as much the animals of Arthur Road as he does the people.
“[During] COVID, Phil brought the normality to Arthur Road that we were all lacking. He was the outside world contact for us all and would pass on who needed help/support/was ill – Phil joined up the dots in the road.”
Steve Fairall added: “The value of a local postie like Phil is beyond words.”
The petition on change.org has garnered more than 900 signatures, and more than 120 paper copies, urging Phil’s employer to reconsider their decision that could ‘jeopardise the strong bond’ between the community and its trusted postman.
The petition statement said Phil is a ‘fountain of knowledge’ and that ‘familiarity should not be underestimated’.
It read: ‘It would take a new postperson years to develop what Phil has cultivated.’
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We thank residents for the petition and the passion they have for our posties. We are very proud of the many dedicated individuals we have within Royal Mail who are firmly committed to serving the communities they operate in.
“Routes in the area have recently been revised resulting in posties moving onto new routes. Over the last 10 years, the number of addresses we deliver to has grown by more than 2 million and many postmen and women’s routes have not been revised in this time.
“This can mean that some routes can be an hour or two longer than others, for example where new housing developments have been built. We have therefore revised routes throughout the country to ensure they are fairer and reflect the growth in addresses and parcel deliveries.”
