Kilbride residents organise special retirement party for popular postman
Postman Frankie Brennan with friends and family during his surprise retirement party in the Ardattin/Kilbride Community Hall to honour his hard work and to wish him well in his next chapter Photos: michaelorourkephotography.ie
A BELOVED postman who goes ‘above and beyond’ for a local community was delivered the ultimate surprise last week.
Postman Frankie Brennan was stunned last Wednesday when a trip to Kilbride Hall to collect a ‘package’ was actually a surprise party held in his honour by the whole community.
Frankie is retiring from An Post and after 16 years delivering the post to the communities of Kilbride and Ardattin, so there was no way residents were about to let it go unnoticed!
Enormously well-thought-of by all in the community, Frankie’s kindness, consideration, willingness to help and sheer enthusiasm has been highly valued by the community.
Well known for going ‘above and beyond’ for everyone, Frankie has done everything from feeding animals to security checks when people were on holidays, while he is always conscious of keeping an eye out for elderly residents.
Frankie’s cheery chat and friendly banter was never more needed than during the Covid years, when his care for the community truly excelled.
“He really is a super character and absolutely so highly thought of,” said Sandra Malone. “Everyone in the community wanted to be there for the surprise party. He was so good to everyone.” Frankie’s daughter Stacey was in on the surprise and central to the ruse that got an unaware Frankie to arrive at Kilbride Hall for this fictious parcel. Many gathered in the hall to surprise Frankie, with a special cake and lots of well-wishes from all.
The community also came up with a novel idea to show Frankie how much he’ll be missed, with every household in the locality receiving a postcard so they could write their own goodwill messages to Frankie. They were then all sent to a special postbox for Frankie, which he received at the party.
On behalf of the community, Damien Malone thanked Frankie for his years of service and the enormous contribution he has made to the lives of so many in the area.
On Sunday afternoon, the popular postman was also acknowledged by the community of Ardattin, with another gathering of locals offering their heartfelt thanks to Frankie for his service.
