RICHARD GREEN

On these cold, damp winter mornings, while most of us are still tucked up warm in bed, spare a thought for our village postmaster Richard Green. At what may seem to us an unearthly hour Richard is up getting the post office into shape for yet another busy day. Sub-Postmaster Richard Green officially took over Kibworth Post Office in July 1989. He had for a long time dreamt of owning a village post office with roses around the door, set in a small community where he would know everyone. This was to be his master plan when he retired. Life as our readers will know never quite works out as we plan it. Richard, a qualified accountant, was made redundant at Christmas 1988. After a good deal of discussion with his wife Mary the decision was made to apply for the sub-posmasters job in Kibworth. Before the interview by Post Office Counters applicants were shown a video of what the job entailed. The detail, depth and responsibility of the job were staggering, the intention of the interview being to make sure that applicants knew clearly what they were taking on. With Richard's financial background and Mary's experience working with the public at a building society the decision was made to go ahead with their application. Fortunately the interview went well and the job was offered to him. Richard, Mary and their daughters, Lucy and Helen, finally set up home in Prospect Road, Kibworth in December 1990.

I'm sure we all take the Post Office for granted much of the time but it is amazing how involved and wide-ranging the job of a Sub-Postmaster is. After his early morning start opening up the sorting office and making sure that there are enough stamps, postal orders etc. for the day, the mail has to be received and dealt with. Over the years Richard has helped out and taken post on every round in the village. During the course of a typical day one of us may enter and be able to buy stamps, have our parcels weighed or collect one or more of an amazing 14 different allowances from an old age pension to child benefit. Your Community Charge may be paid, as may your Gas, Electricity, Telephone and Water Rate bills. Should you wish to escape from our winter or even our summer then travel insurance, medical insurance and foreign currency or travellers cheques can be purchased. You can even get your clothes dry-cleaned ready for that holiday. Strange as it may seem the only thing that is owned and provided by the Post Office is the safety screen that separates Richard from his customers. Rent for the premises, all the heating and lighting and salaries for the staff have to be provided by Richard from the salary paid to him. What you and I see as one large organisation, the old GPO, is now made up of several different companies: Post Office Counters, Parcel Force and Royal Mail. Today's Post Office is in fact an agency for an incredible range of services. The result of all this is that Richard has forms galore to fill in to make sure the business runs as smoothly as it does and to provide an excellent service for us all.

Both Richard and Mary and their staff feel strongly that the Post Office is part of the social fabric of the village. It may be that one of their regular customers does not collect their pension; this may mean nothing or an illness may be preventing them from collecting it. The staff will try to find out the reason and make sure that everything is all right. That caring attitude is very obvious whenever you enter the door. Richard sees his village customers as part of an extended family. In addition to everything else our Post Office, under Mary's guidance, makes available to us cards for every occasion you can think of, wrapping paper pens etc. and sweets to peruse while waiting in the queue.

Richard is also convinced that the ladies of the village think he is an expert knitter as he seems always to be being asked advice on what type of wool or pattern to buy from the extended range in stock. Richard would like it to be known that he cannot knit, neither is he an expert as to the type of knicker elastic to buy or the way to press pleats in ladies skirts when they are dry cleaned. However, I have discovered that when raising money for charity Richard will do some strange things. He has been known to appear in drag in the Post Office. One lady customer was so impressed, in spite of the beard, that she had to come back for a second look. The beard too has been sacrificed for Comic Relief. On 30 November this year, to the delight of local children, Richard arranged for Postman Pat to pay a visit to the village. The children were able to have their photograph taken with Postman Pat thanks to photographer Val Smith. Each £1 collected went to the BBC Children in Need appeal and a grand total of £126 was raised. The cost of processing the photographs was kindly covered by Richard, Mary and Val.

Few of us realise what a talented Postmaster we have in the village. When he and Mary attended St. Michael's church in Leicester, Richard was Churchwarden and, over the years, author of six or seven plays and pantomimes of a standard somewhat higher than Eric Morcombe's efforts. Arranging very successful Old-Time Music Halls has also been another talent. Richard is a member of South Wigston Musical Society and in their recent production sang two solos as well as being part of the chorus. As Christmas approaches Richard will be arranging for Santa to pay a visit to the village and provide children with a gift on Late Night Shopping evening. All the money collected from Santa's visit will again go to charity.

Richard is a firm believer in helping those less fortunate than himself and is always looking for ways in which he can help his fellow men. Those villagers who mourned the loss of the Carnival this year need not worry, it will be back next year under Richard's guidance. He would be only too glad to hear from anyone who would be willing to help in any way with organising next year's event.

So next time you visit the Post Office and have a chat with that friendly chap behind the counter be aware what a talented fellow he is and how fortunate we are to have him and his family as members of our village. But please don't ask him what type of wool to use in that sweater you are making.

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