‘Vital lifeline’ postie’s kind gesture revealed

A HEREFORDSHIRE woman has shared how her local postman’s act of kindness “touched her heart”, and is calling for more recognition of the work posties do in the community.

Kirsten Hopkins of Ewyas Harold revealed that her postman Simon Barrington had become a “vital lifeline” for her while she recovered from a hip replacement last year, and even supported her in staying in touch with an old friend by gifting her stamps for Christmas.

Ms Hopkins said: “Over the last 25 years, I have kept in touch with my friend Samantha from East Anglia via good old fashioned snail mail. Samantha is a keen letter writer and spends a lot of her free time writing to all her closest friends. The envelopes are often covered in stickers. This zest did not go unnoticed by the local postman over the years.

“I met Simon the local postman in person when we were jointly called to deal with an elderly gentleman neighbour who had taken a fall.

“Then, in May last year, I underwent a hip replacement and Samantha sent parcels and packages of all descriptions, books, cards and healing words. When my family went away to honour their longstanding holiday plans to France, the local postman Simon became a vital lifeline. Simon checked in on me and asked about my wellbeing.”

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When Ms Hopkins’ friend learnt of Mr Barrington’s kindness, she began adding messages on the back of each letter, thanking him for his hard work.

But then, the two friends were surprised to receive a thoughtful Christmas gift from their “humble postie”.

“He posted two identical cards to us, including 15 first-class stamps in each with a beautiful message encouraging us to keep writing to one another,” said Ms Hopkins.

“Simon has become a legend and touched the hearts of so many people. We now have to save our local heroes, the life blood of every community, the brave souls who fight through snow, ice, rain and hail to make it to our doors.”

Ms Hopkins’ plea comes as Ofcom proposes changes to the postal service to “protect it for the future”, including less frequent deliveries of second-class letters.

A consultation on the proposals is currently active, lasting until April 10.