Sub postmistress of St John's Post Office, Rita Robinson, retired from her position in postal services on September 30th after more than nine years of service. Rita received a warm farewell from Mary Gaffney, Isle of Man Post Office Customer Services Manager, who presented her with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Rita will continue to run her grocery business from the store and Rob Knighton who has now been appointed as Sub postmaster will run postal services at St John’s whilst continuing as the Sub postmaster of Ballasalla.

Over the years Rita has provided the St John's community with a wide range of postal services, which have all been delivered to a very high standard. She has also built an excellent rapport with her customers and provided a reliable service.

Rita first came to the Island from Liverpool when her son was only 18 months old, more than 37 years ago. She was the first of her family of nine to come here. Following her move, her mother and other family members slowly joined her here.

Asked how she first became involved with postal services here on the Island Rita said: “I’ve lived in St John’s village for about 25 years now and have run the shop and post office for over nine years. When the previous shop owner and Sub postmaster chose to sell up, my husband who had been made aware of this, came home one day and suggested it might be quite a good opportunity for me, and at the time I saw it as a nice lead into early retirement and pursued it."

She continues: "I'm carrying on with the running of the shop which I'll be doing part time, mornings mainly, and I'm also going to have a whole day off which is unheard off. I've loved getting to know all the villagers really well over the years and, although I've lived in the village for a long time, when I first came here I was working elsewhere on the Island in a different capacity. Now, having worked here, I've had the chance to get to know the St John's community very well. It's a lovely village, and by continuing to run the shop I'll be able to continue enjoying the social side of my job still in this environment. I think because I'll still be in the shop it's not a complete cut off so people will still be coming in and saying hello and telling me their news. I think it's important that people realise I'm no longer the Sub postmistress. Rob, the new Sub postmaster is obviously the person that will be doing the post office services now and I wish him well.”

As time has moved on Rita has noticed many changes in the postal services industry: "There have been a lot of changes, everywhere is changing. For instance more and more is going online and obviously that affects the footfall into the post office. Slightly countering that is the rise in parcel numbers because people are increasingly shopping online. Every year you see something slightly different. Everyone is looking forward thinking what's going to happen next?"

Commenting on Rob Knighton taking over the postal services at St John's, Rita said: "I think the shop and the post office are a good partnership. People come into the shop to use the postal services and then may suddenly decide they need something from the shop and vice versa. I have known Rob for a while and it's really nice that he's taken the job and I'm sure he'll continue to do his best for the post office."

Rob is now positioned at St. John's Post Office and looks forward to continuing Rita's high service standards. Commenting on his new appointment, Rob Knighton said: "I'm really excited by the new venture, building the postal services up and bringing in new customers. We have also extended the post office's opening hours here and are now open throughout the day Monday to Friday over lunch times and of a Wednesday afternoon which has never been done before at St John's. We've extended the hours because we've found a lot of people wanting to use the post office during these times."

Graham Cregeen MHK, Chairman of Isle of Man Post Office said: "We are grateful for all the work that Rita has done at St John’s Post Office over the last nine and a half years and we wish her a very happy retirement and the best of luck with her continued running of the grocery store. We are delighted that Sub postmaster Rob Knighton has now taken the reins of St John's as well as continuing to run Ballasalla Post Office. We are confident that Rob will continue to build on all the great work that Rita has done over the years and wish him well with both post offices.”

Rob continues to offer the full range of postal services at St John's as provided by Rita, from foreign currency, ReDirect, KeepSafe, vehicle licensing and benefit payments to banking facilities.

Photo - (left to right) Mary Gaffney, Customer Services Manager of Isle of Man Post Office with Rita Robinson.