Mailmen are still ready to deliver the goods

It was a 30th anniversary with a difference.

Yesterday it was 30 years to the day since the trio had been photographed together on their postie bicycles, and they reunited in the same spot after three decades that have seen them travel different paths.

The one thing that’s the same all these years later is that the mail still has to be delivered - rain, hail or shine.

Richard Lane, Lisle Kennard, and Peter Caird are still up and about at 5am most days, in time to meet the post truck, before sorting thousands of items of mail and delivering it across the Waimate District.

The three have recently been reunited, having taken different career routes since being photo- graphed for the December 17, 1987 edition of The Timaru Herald.

In 1996 the trio were made redundant as part of a New Zealand Post restructure.

Lane was 17 in 1987 and just out of school. At 47, he is now the Waimate NZ Post franchisee. He went truck driving after being laid off and returned to the town in 2003 when he bought the Waimate business.

Kennard, now 57, went on to a couple of manufacturing jobs and returned in 2006 as a postie.

Caird, now 58, went on to a work for a furniture maker for nine years before he was again made redundant. He then moved on to the freezing works at Pareora for 12 years.

He returned to the Waimate NZ Post branch in April this year, and the main street and surrounding area is again his postie beat.

‘‘It’s good to be out on a bike again. You can be your own boss, and it’s a lot easier on the body than the freezing works,’’ Caird said.

Lane said not a lot had changed in the 30 years ,with post numbers still relatively similar, but more parcels now than letters.

‘‘Post becomes a part of your life, it’s a great job,’’ he said.

‘‘In a place like Waimate, it’s the local knowledge that helps you.’’