Royal party postponed for Caistor couple

Martin Sizer and Kaye Lee should have been at a Royal Garden Party this month

Sadly, due to the coronavirus, the party has been put off until next year, but the way the community-minded couple support local businesses and residents is ever present.

Recently, the Rasen Mail featured the work done by the Caistor Post Office team to carry out safe processing of parcels, including the encouragement of the ‘Drop and Go’ service.

Now, on recent Sundays, when the branch is normally closed, they have specifically opened to help handle parcels for a local nursery.

Waltham Herbs is a family- run nursery in Caistor, which specialises in selling perennials, herbs and lavenders.

With lockdown it meant customers were not able to visit, so they set up online sales on their website for the first time.

This idea was a success and suddenly there were lots of parcels to process.

On the first Sunday Martin, Kaye and their son Luke spent a few hours processing 162 parcels for Royal Mail delivery.

Martin said: “This business had lots of plants ready for sale and if it had not been for online sales, trade would really have suffered, so we wanted to help.”

This is not the first time that Caistor Post Office has been open on a Sunday in exceptional circumstances.

At Easter 2019, the town’s only ATM machine, at another business, was attacked, leaving no access to cash, so Martin opened his office up on Easter Sunday to help the local community.

Joanne Fryatt, Post Office area manager, said: “We nominated Martin and Kaye for the Royal Garden Party as they work extremely hard to support their local community of Caistor, but they also take their Post Office outreach service to Glentham, Tealby and North Kelsey.

“Martin also gives talks to local WI groups to promote their business and range of services.

“The community and I really appreciate what Martin and Kaye do and we really hope that they get to enjoy the Queen’s garden party when they get the chance to attend.

“They definitely deserve the recognition for all that they do for the community.”

• Waltham Herbs is now open to the public once more, but time slots must be prebooked. For details, see their Facebook page or call them on 01472 859481.