Final send-off for Mary after 57 years service
IT was an end of an era for Bunclody postmistress Mary Canning as well as many local residents, when the 75-year old decided to call it a day and retire after 57 years.
The Bunclody native stepped down from her position as postmistress recently – a role which she took on in 1972 following the death of her mother and former postmistress Annie. Prior to that, Mary had worked alongside her mother in the office for 13 years.
On the day of her retirement Mary marked the momentous occasion with her colleagues in Lennons, where they shared food, drinks and memories of times gone by.
‘We had a celebration and it was really enjoyable. I didn’t want a big fuss or anything,’ she said. ‘I’m feeling alright about it all. I was ready to retire at this stage.’
Mary’s retirement will also see the post office being moved from her home on the Main Street to Eurospar. The office opened in its new location on October 28 and Fintan Price will take on the role as new postmaster.
As Mary resides in the post office premises, the move required a lot of work and sorting on Mary’s behalf and it was not until a few days later that she had time to reflect on her career.
‘My mother moved into the building in 1955 so we were 61 years here on November 1 just gone. From that time until 1972, we had a 24 hour telephone exchange. We provided a great service. There was no emergency response so we were essentially the emergency response at the time. Everything went through the post office,’ she said.
‘In 1994, all the transactions became computerised. Before that, it was all manual. We had to manually do the dockets and the balances.’
Despite the move to computers, Mary said that work didn’t slow down at all.
‘It actually became busier because we were doing more work. We had bill pays and those kind of jobs. And it certainly didn’t cut down on the paperwork. The amount of paperwork and rubbish in my house here at the moment is phenomenal! The place is like a bomb hit it,’ she said.
‘We had a great time in work and I enjoyed every minute of it. We had really good customers and I never had that much trouble,’ she said.
These good memories prevail, despite being broken into once overnight, as well as being robbed at the post office counter.
‘He came in while the girl I employed was putting things on the main computer. He threw in a bag and said to put the money in. Sure we looked at him as if he had two heads,’ laughed Mary. ‘He broke the glass then. But he didn’t get away with much.’
‘It wasn’t scary at the time. It wasn’t until after it was over that I stopped and thought about it.’
As Mary has no children to pass her role on to, her retirement will end her family’s involvement in the post office. However, she is confident that the staff will get on well without her. ‘ They will be all right – they’ll survive without me!’ she laughed.
As for Mary, she has no solid plans just yet. ‘It will take me a while to adjust. I have no plans really; I’m not into travelling and have done everything I want to do. So I’ll just relax, read some books, walk the dog and get back into the golf. Of course I could do some cleaning around here but that can wait!’ she said.