Michael Willcox, who has been postmaster for Borth Post Office for 25 years has also done voluntary work for the RNLI charity for almost as long.
To thank Michael for his 20 years’ service with the lifeboat charity he was invited to Buckingham Palace, with wife Trudie. The celebration, hosted by The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, was held to mark the 200th anniversary of the RNLI.
Michael and Trudie moved from Bedfordshire 25 years ago to raise their children at a quieter seaside location, where they had family living and they had enjoyed many holidays there. In 1998 he took on Borth Post Office.
The family saw the great work of the RNLI, based in their village, and Michael decided to volunteer as a crew member. Then, when he was older he decided to continue to serve the charity as treasurer.
Borth Post Office is a part-time branch and Michael carried a pager for call outs. If he was working at the village Post Office, there was an understanding that if there was an emergency and that no other volunteers were available, then he would have to temporarily shut Borth Post Office for a few hours. That need never arose as all of his call outs were at other times.
His crew role involved rescues with people stranded on beaches or along the river estuary, searches for missing people and tricky mental health situations at the nearby cliffs.
Now with his treasurer role, Michael can easily juggle his job with volunteering and quickly pay in cheques and cash from fundraising into his branch.
For his two decades of service with the RNLI he has been presented with a 20 years’ service medal.
Post Office Area Manager, Ryan Leonard, said: “I am in admiration of postmasters who already work hard serving their communities, but still make time to do voluntary work for good causes. Congratulations to Michael for his 20 years’ long service with the RNLI and I am delighted that he and Trudie had a well-deserved opportunity to attend the special RNLI 200th anniversary event at Buckingham Palace.”