Long-term town postmaster and refugee retires

Kantilal Kanani has retired after 50 years of serving his community

A local postmaster and a member of the first family of Ugandan refugees to settle in a north west town has retired after 50 years of service to his community.

Kantilal Kanani, better known as Ken, served as postmaster for Padgate Lane Post Office in Warrington for the last 27 years, and was a bus driver before that.

His wife, Manjula, also retired earlier this year after running a convenience store alongside the branch since 1997.

The couple fled Idi Amin’s military dictatorship in 1972 with their two young daughters, Ken’s two siblings and their 95-year-old grandfather, becoming the first Ugandan family to be offered refuge in Warrington.

'Welcome from the start'

The family, who arrived in Warrington on a snowy day, recalled that their new community welcomed them by giving them blankets and toys.

The couple's daughter Nisha added: "Many people settled in Leicestershire, but my parents chose Warrington and there was a lovely newspaper article about our family being welcomed including me, who was a babe in arms."

"We’re all staying in the Warrington area. We don’t want to move as the people of Warrington made us very welcome from the start."

Ken - who first worked in Warrington as a bus driver before opening a corner shop and then taking over the post office in 1997 - said he loved the social aspect of his job.

"We have had a laugh, a joke and a chat. I used to make up bags of sweets for the little kids coming in," he said.

He said he would use his retirement to go on holidays, including taking trips to Uganda.

"It was never that I didn’t like Uganda, but we had to flee as it was no longer safe for us to stay," he added.