Award for mail man Alan still delivering post after 50 years
In the height of his service, Alan Haighway made 90 postal drops per day.
Now, the civil servant has been recognised for an amazing 50 years service working at the RAF Cosford base.
Alan, 70, from Shifnal, was honoured with a special ceremony at the base in honour of his milestone.
Alan’s first job was began on July 30 1962 at the age of 15 when he started working for local company, J C Lloyd Grocer’s shop on Park Street in Shifnal. After five years he applied for a job at RAF Cosford.
He began work at RAF Cosford on September 19 1967 and for 14 years Alan worked in the station's labour pool.
He said: "I was like a labourer, doing things like cleaning the toilets, cleaning the offices in the morning in HQ. I did road sweeping and gritting in the winter.
"I did that for almost 14 years."
On 16 March 1981 he transferred to become a postal services messenger at Cosford.
This is a role he has performed ever since and at his busiest he was delivering mail to over 90 different sections across Cosford on a daily basis.
This includes all the sections on the airfield so he has certainly clocked up many thousands of miles over the years.
Though he now only works part time, he still manages 17 drops a day.
He said: "I've always been a messenger in my life, I used to take messages for the headteachers at the two schools I went to.
"I do enjoy the job, it helps keep me going."
Active Alan can also still be seen in the gym most mornings at 7am, limbering up before starting his mail round.
Although emails have now replaced many letters, Alan, now 70, can still be seen cycling round the camp delivering mail on his trusty Thunderpost bike.
At the ceremony on Tuesday, RAF Cosford's Station Commander, Group Captain Tone Baker, presented Alan with a card and gifts, and said that he remembered Alan from 30 years ago when he began his RAF engineering career as an apprentice at Cosford.
He said: "Alan is a part of the very fabric of this RAF station. I can remember him delivering the mail in the eighties and again in the nineties when I came back as a junior officer.
"To see him still here now I am the Station Commander is brilliant. Well done on a remarkable 50 years."
And Alan shows no signs of stopping, and says he intends to carry on delivering the mail around Cosford for another few years.
