Stamp Of Approval as Nephew Takes Over Soham Post Office

By CATHERINE ATKINSON Email: catherine.atkinson@archant.co.uk SOHAM sub-postmaster John Trinder is celebrating more than 50 years at the Post Office by handing over the reins to his nephew Tim Lake on Friday. Mr Trinder and his nephew come from a long l

By CATHERINE ATKINSON

Email: catherine.atkinson@archant.co.uk

SOHAM sub-postmaster John Trinder is celebrating more than 50 years at the Post Office by handing over the reins to his nephew Tim Lake on Friday.

Mr Trinder and his nephew come from a long line of Post Office professionals.

John's father, Kenneth, came to Soham in 1933 and opened a Post Office in the building that is now Sergio's Italian Restaurant and his grandfather was a sub-postmaster in Rotherham.

Aged just 16, Mr Trinder started work as a postal and telegraph officer, trained at head office in Cambridge, met his wife Daphne, then returned to Soham to work in the family trade along with his brother-in-law Phil Lake, who ran a successful chain of four post offices across Cambridgeshire with John's father.

50 years on, the post office may have moved down the road, but John is still working there and well-known to Soham residents.

"Everyone always says 'hello', in fact, so many people that he sometimes has trouble remembering all their names," his wife Daphne told the Ely Standard.

"His retirement is a major milestone," she added.

"The Post Office has kept John happy all his life. It's not just a job but a profession, or it used to be regarded as one. Times have changed so much since he started. You have to use a computer system even to sell a stamp, and that was difficult to learn at first."

Mr Trinder said: "I am really happy that the post office is staying in the family. I believe there is a jolly good future for the Post Office and I am looking forward to helping Tim."

Pic cap: John Trinder (left) handing the keys over to his nephew Tim Lake.

Photo: HELEN DRAKE.