SIXTEEN years is a long time to work as a paperboy – especially when you’re 85!
Observer distributor Richard Atkinson joined our team back in 1999 at the age of 69 as a way of staying active.
Now the Lutterworth resident is finally hanging up his delivery bag.
A former officer for Harborough District Council, Richard decided he needed something to keep him on his toes after he retired.
He said: “I thought, I’ve got to do something to keep fit, so its either a paper round or a dog! And I realise now, 16 years later, the dog would probably have gone by now anyway!”
And the delivery job sent him back to his early work in the 1950s when he was already a familiar sight to Lutterworth residents.
“I started out in grocery deliveries, then moved to milk, and then to beer. And then I joined the local council as a rent collector so I was still going round.
“I just like walking around the neighbourhood and feeling like a part of the community really.”
And despite over half a century between his first delivery and his last, the Holmfield Close resident says the job hasn’t changed a great deal.
“Letterboxes change, front doors change! I find now that if somebody has a new front door, it tends to have a brush behind it which makes it a bit harder!
“The area, obviously has changed. There’s alot more new building now.”
When asked what his secret is to staying so active, Richard says he has his unusual job to thank.
“I put it down to the fact that if I hadn’t done it, I probably wouldn’t be quite as fit as I am now – it’s kept me going!
“I shall miss it, and seeing all the people I regularly see. But I’ll probably still go out on walks in the area.”
But he is keeping busy by staying in the Observer fold as local agent for the area, in charge of dropping off and collecting trolleys and discarded newspapers.
And his neighbours will still see him out and about delivering newsletters on Wednesdays.
Happy retirement Richard! From all the team at the Observer.
