Popular postmistress for Knott-End-On-Sea reaches 30 years’ milestone and hands over role to daughter

• Postmistress Julie Jenkinson marks 30 years in the role
• Hands over the helm to her daughter Shelley Jenkinson
• 4^thgeneration running Knott-End-on-Sea Post Office
• Family has run the branch for over 70 years

Popular postmistress Julie Jenkinson has reached her 30 milestone for running Knott-End-On-Sea Post Office which has been in her family for more than 70 years.

Now Julie hand over the reins to her daughter Shelley Jenkinson on 25^th February. She will become the 4^th generation of the family to run this village Post Office and shop at 40 Lancaster Road, Knott End-on-Sea, Poulton-le-Fylde, FY6 0AU.

Shelley’s great grandad and great nana, Herbert and Hilda Mason, took on the branch in the 1950s and ran the branch for a few years until he passed away. Her nana, Patricia Parkinson, then took over at the helm for 40 years. Upon reaching that milestone, Shelley’s mum then became the postmistress. Now that title soon passes to Shelley who has worked alongside her mum for the past 28 years.

Julie loves serving the people in her village and will continue to work on a part-time basis in the branch, whilst allowing her more time to relax and to enjoy her hobbies of sewing and helping to look after her 11 grandchildren.

Shelley’s aunt Karen Taylor and her sister-in-law Michelle Jenkinson will also continue to work there too. It is a popular family-run business.

Shelley Jenkinson joked: “Not much at all has changed in Knott End-on-Sea in the past 70 years apart from a zebra crossing being installed! This is a close-knit community and people like it here and don’t tend to move away, so we know everyone, and we are at the heart of the community.

“There are now no banks in the area, and our Post Office is the local bank. We’ve even got a high-speed note counter to speed up serving banking customers. As well as Royal Mail and Parcelforce we now offer DPD and Evri buy in branch and collection services.

“The best thing about running a Post Office is the customers that we serve. We know everyone and they are like extended family. We enjoy our chats. We have a large elderly population and people come in as they like to have social interaction with us.

“We stayed open during the pandemic on reduced hours, and our customers were very grateful that we remained open as that meant that they did not have to leave the village.”

Customers will join in a community celebration at Knott-End-On-Sea Post Office to mark Julie’s 30 years of long and loyal service as postmistress and to thank Shelley for continuing to serve their community in her new role.

Post Office Area Manager, Chris Ball, has presented a Post Office 30 Years’ Long Service Award in recognition of her long and loyal service to the community of Knott-End-On-Sea as postmistress and to mark Shelley taking on the role.

Chris Ball said: “Julie and Shelley run a 1^st class Post Office for their community service. I want to congratulate Julie for her true commitment to this village as postmistress for the past three decades. I’m delighted, as are customers, that Shelley is becoming the new postmistress. It’s great that this family have run this branch for more than 70 years – what an achievement.”