THE NEWS that a number of Bolton post offices are to close for good was greeted with sadness by Joan and Ralph O’Toole. For more than 40 years their family ran post offices and they believe there is still a major role for the service in the 21st century. Gayle McBain went to meet them.

When Joan and Ralph O’Toole ran the popular Brownlow Fold Post Office they were the eyes and ears of the community.

People would pop in for a chat as they bought their stamps, paid their bills, collected their pension or bought television licences.

That was the difference then, explained Joan.

“People could do so much at the post office and it was the hub of the community,” she said.

Today, most people have their pensions paid into the bank — although Joan and Ralph still collect theirs from their local post office — and television licences can be bought anywhere, including on the web.

“The post office was very important in those days,” said Joan, aged 83.

“Everyone used it for so many different things. We are very sad to see so many post offices closing. I think it’s a shame and a big mistake.”

Joan and her husband Ralph, aged 91, are now retired and living in Blackrod, but have fond memories of their post office lives.

It all started for Joan in 1937, when her mother, Bessie Rothwell, went to work in a post office in Eccles.

She married George Drinkwater, who also worked in a post office, in Strangeways, Manchester.

They went on to run the Brownlow Fold Post Office. Joan and Ralph took over in 1959, running the post office for 20 years, until it was closed down in 1979.

“We always felt we were providing a good service to the local community,” said Ralph.

“We really enjoyed our time in the post office.”

The couple sold money orders and stamps for people to save up for their television licences and pensioners would flock to the office to collect their weekly money.

“We used to sell all sorts of things at the post office, including birthday cards and little trinkets,” said Ralph.

But the internet and mobile telephones have taken their toll on letter writing. “People used to write letters to each other, but they don’t do it anymore,” said Joan.

“I always think it’s lovely to get a letter, but there are so few sent these days.

“Stamps can be bought in shops, not just in the post office, and bills can be paid everywhere, so the post office is not as important as it once was.”

Joan is sad that so many post offices are being closing down, particularly the smaller local sub post-offices.

She said: “They tend to be used by older people who can’t walk far. They don’t want to have to get a bus to the post office. They rely on their local post office for so many things.”

Joan and Ralph still write letters to their two daughters and their families, who have both moved away for the Bolton area.

Beverly, aged 60, now lives in America and Gloria, aged 64, lives in Scotland.

In a show of solidarity, the couple continue to support their local post office and enjoy a chat with their postman every day.

Joan and Ralph remember huge queues waiting for them when they opened the door on a Monday and Thursday — “old age pension days” — and every Wednesday, when people who were off work sick could collect their money.

“In those days, on a Friday, it was the turn of the very old pensioners to collect their pension, but that went out in the late 1960s,” said Ralph.

Memorable moments in their post office career include a swoop by detectives who were trying to catch postal order forgers and the time their poodle dog, Pip, saw off would-be burglars.

“If she hadn’t heard the commotion they might just have got in,” said Ralph.

The couple also recall the early days of decimalisation, in the early 1970s, when they went to nightschool classes to learn the new system.

“It wasn’t difficult, but I always felt it doubled the price of everything,” said Ralph.

However, despite the odd hiccup, Joan and Ralph have many treasured memories of their time working for the postal service.

“We met a lot of lovely people and we never knew what the day would bring.”

These days Ralph spends time on the golf course rather than behind a post office counter and Joan enjoys going into Bolton town centre to visit the shops and the post office.

They still keep a special reminder of their time in the post office — an antique pair of scales that weighed letters in pounds and ounces — which has pride of place in their living room.

The couple spent much of their working life together in the post office and celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary this year, proving couples who work together can stay together!