Chani Gill is marking 30 years of service at the site in Hollyhedge Road where he’s been serving since May 1995.
His career began as a counter clerk at a Post Office in East London where he was held at gunpoint.
Chani says, “I was younger then and refused to give in to their demands so ducked down, pushed the alarm and they ran off”.
Mr Gill moved from Kenya to the UK aged 19 and said he always “dreamed of having my own branch”.
Chani, who is married with three grown up sons, says his wife never wanted to join him the business. He says: “We made a rule to never work together as otherwise we’d end up talking shop the whole time – she’s a teacher and doing our separate thing is definitely a good thing for our marriage!”
He adds: “My wife probably thinks I should retire and play golf but I love my job too much.”
Chani said: “One of the best things about being a postmaster is being at the centre of the community – I love helping people with things that they originally thought were complicated, giving them the right form to fill in. And it’s great seeing people greeting each other in the shop, we’ve known each other for years and it feels very comfortable. And I like that everyone knows me as Chani the postmaster – even if customers come into the village to do something else they will still stop in to say hello to me. I also get lots of invites to parties or to play golf which is never a bad thing!”
Post Office Area Manager Ishrath Iqbal said: “Chani is a first class postmaster who is very popular with his customers. I’d like to sincerely thank Chani for his long and loyal service to this community.”
Photo credit: Post Office.
