Special delivery for Hatt postman retiring after 37 years

BELOVED Hatt postman Jon Cook got more than he bargained for on his retirement.

After 37 years pounding the pavements and paths around the village, the community came together to show their appreciation to their dedicated postie.

Banners were hung on the local roundabout and a collection made to give Jon the send off into retirement he deserved.

Jon got wind of the plans from one of his customers, but had no idea the lengths the villagers were going to.

He said: “It should have been a surprise, but one of my customers actually let the cat out of the bag by mistake, so it wasn’t a complete surprise. To be honest, I wasn’t surprised, because Hatt is such a fantastic community. It really didn’t surprise me that they would do something like that.

“I wasn’t expecting the banner at all though! That was really, really nice. So many people commented on it,” Jon added.

As part of a small team of volunteers who organise the Hatt roundabout decorations each year, local Richard Taylor was approached to see if he could design something to celebrate the postie’s retirement.

An oversized, stamped envelope banner addressed to Jon was his idea. Richard’s wife Jeanette said: “Each November we place silhouette soldiers and poppies on the roundabout in honour of our fallen.

“We have celebrated several other significant events, such as the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, support for the NHS during COVID, and the Queens funeral.

“The work didn’t take too long to complete, just a matter of waiting for the paint to dry!”

More than 40 villagers turned out to the Rising Sun pub in Botus Fleming at the end of February to celebrate Jon’s last day with him.

“I couldn’t believe how many came out to the pub!” he said.

Little did he know that a collection by three Hatt locals Jeanette Taylor, Bex Escott and Sarah Edwards had raised more than £1,000 in donations from the community, which the three turned into a long list of retirements gifts, including two nights bed and breakfast at Jon’s favourite hotel in Tavistock, a travel voucher and an engraved Happy Retirement box of port!

“I will miss being a postman,” he said. “It’s been a long time. It didn’t feel like a job to me because I was just walking around talking to people and feeding dogs with biscuits.

“At the moment, I feel like I’m on holiday and getting ready to go back to work! It will kick in shortly that I’m not actually going back!”

However, Jon is not lost to the community completely. The green-fingered postie has picked up some work on his rounds and will be offering his gardening services to the locals.

And he won’t be hanging up his walking boots either, with plans to take time out to go on lots of walks with his wife Claire. He said: “I’ll still be around the area. I’m a walker and my other half is as well. I’ll definitely keep up the walking.”