Tag Archives: Human Interest

A couple who were in rival bands when they met have celebrated 60 years as a married couple. Michael and Pauline McGrady, of Newark, were due to have a party at the Palace Theatre. Their son, Darren, who cooked for the Queen for 11 years before being poached by Princess …

If you’ve ever felt your part of the world has been neglected or is lacking a bit of identity, spare a thought for the villagers of Millthorpe. Next week residents will choose a name for their main street which has stood anonymously since it was built and left a host …

A charity fundraiser laid low with Covid-19 has told how a diet of Marmite on toast helped him recover. Dale Howting, 86, who was known as Sittingbourne’s Whistling Postman when he worked for the Royal Mail, has been missing from the High Street where he normally sits on his push …

A frustrated resident says she is not satisfied with the response by a delivery company to her lost parcel. Diane Warner, of Holme, sent £93-worth of goods to her isolating son in Southampton in November ­— but it never arrived. A £93 parcel belonging to Diane Warner of Langford Lane, …

A postman has decked out his trolley to help spread Christmas cheer on his rounds for another year. Phil Padgett, of Newark, and his Santa’s sleigh-themed Royal Mail trolley have put residents in a festive mood. PHIL delivers Christmas cheer (43621910) Charmaine Fenton, who sees Phil during his postal round, …

Whistling postman Dale Howting has turned to ‘airmail’ to post his charity cheques. Every year the former Sittingbourne postie collects money from his pedal bike and then delivers the cheques to all the recipients. But this year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, he decided a more practical solution would be …

An elderly woman fell into the River Stort after slipping on a stretch of towpath in Sawbridgeworth which had been highlighted as being “extremely dangerous” and “treacherous”. The woman, believed to be in her late 70s, was walking along the path between Station Road and Sheering Mill Lock with a …

A calendar filled with lockdown artwork has been launched to help raise funds for a little boy living with an incurable muscle wasting illness. Five-year-old Digby Donnelly from Deal was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) in 2017, aged two. Artist Bryony Sadler, Digby Donnelly and mum Lisa Donnelly celebrate …

Thoughtful postman Les Wheeler is bringing a smile to residents’ faces on his rounds – by sending them best wishes on their birthdays. The postie, who often covers the Carlby, Careby, Holywell and Aunby route, has got to know lots of people over the past four years. And when he …

From Darth Vader to an Oompa Loompa, postman Stewart McGeoch has donned a whole host of outfits throughout lockdown . But now, as life returns to normal, he has decided to say goodbye to the eclectic outfits and return to work in his usual rig. At the beginning of lockdown …