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A “first class” Devon postmaster is celebrating after reaching an incredible milestone. Roger Honey has officially been at the helm of Exeter Road Post Office in Dawlish for 50 years.
But he has been involved in the branch for even longer than that since it was bought by his family in October 1962, with mum Eileen acting as postmaster for the first 12 years. Eileen ran a drapers’ and shoe shop in the village of Winkleigh before they decided to move to the coast.
Roger was 18 when the family arrived in Dawlish and from the outset he started running the post office while Eileen concentrated on the shop.
The long-serving postmaster said: “I was a novelty at first, having a young person running the post office! My mum was officially the postmaster until I took on the title in January 1975, but I had been doing that role from the start, so I have now been running Exeter Road Post Office for 62 years.
“I have always enjoyed serving people – I love the contact with customers. I have never been unhappy in the job. I really like being part of my community.
“The area has changed a lot in the last 60 plus years, it has grown enormously with lots more homes in the area and the holiday homes and caravan parks in the area have expanded too, so in the summer it’s a lot busier.
“There are no banks in the area anymore – so we have become a place for people to do their personal and business banking.”
Roger says he is very grateful to long-serving member of staff, Jamie Davey, who has worked with him for 26 years. With the help of Jamie and his other “brilliant” staff they managed to keep the branch open throughout the pandemic to maintain vital services to the community.
Exeter Road also now offers Evri and DPD drop offs and collections in addition to its traditional Royal Mail and Parcelforce services. Roger also stores parcel for customers who can’t be home to accept deliveries.
Post Office area manager Nicola Ballard, said: “Roger is a first-class postmaster who really cares about the community that he serves. It’s very impressive that Roger has been the postmaster for half-a-century. In fact he has been at the heart of this Dawlish community for 62 years as he’s actually run this branch all his adult life.
“Roger runs a great post office adapting with the times to meet the changing needs of his community. I want to sincerely thank Roger for his amazing commitment to the people of Dawlish.”
A 50 Years’ Postmaster Long Service award has been presented to Roger to thank him for his long and loyal service to the community.
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