A BUDE postman and station officer for the coastguard has been named Royal Mail's 'Postman of the Year' by TV presenter Christine Bleakley at the company's 1st Class People Awards, as reported in last week's 'Post.'

Neil Chesebrough collected his accolade from Christine and Royal Mail Managing Director Mark Higson at a ceremony in London where awards were presented to 26 regional winners from all over the UK, and where the national winners were announced.

Bude Postman Neil has been a volunteer with the Coastguard service for over 21 years. He is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for 365 days a year and in this brave role has attended countless rescues and has saved hundreds of lives.

Neil decided to join the coastguard after a tragic accident which killed his brother-in-law and a friend. They had gone fishing and didn't return and it was thanks to the coastguard who, despite severe weather conditions, never gave up the search that their bodies were recovered.

Today Neil is station officer for the Bude Coastguard and heads up the team of 12 volunteers who are on call 24/7. They work alongside other agencies when lifeboat, helicopter and air sea rescues are launched.

The coastguard are also called out to rescue people cut off by the tide, when people get stuck climbing up or down cliffs, in missing person searches, and they also work with the police to handle potential suicides.

Although traditionally covering the coast they are increasingly being called on to help with inland emergencies, especially flooding, as the emergency services take a joined-up approach.

The biggest incident that Neil has been involved with was the flooding at Boscastle in 2004. Neil got a call a 4am on Monday and didn't get back to bed until 5pm the following day and was one of 36 coastguards to be awarded the Chief Coastguard's Commendation.

Royal Mail was contacted by thousands of customers who nominated their postman or woman as an 'unsung hero' in these popular annual awards.

Christine Bleakley said: "In the UK our postmen and women are a group of very remarkable people who contribute so much, with acts of kindness, a huge amount of fundraising, and a commitment to volunteering which makes such a difference to the local communities where they live and work."

Amongst the regional award winners were 12 examples of people being saved from life threatening situations by a postman or postwoman. The national total is probably far higher with 4,500 trained first aiders who deal with emergencies every day.

Royal Mail Managing Director Mark Higson said: "Because our people make daily deliveries to all 28 million addresses in the UK they will often be the first to discover an accident, fire, or someone taken ill, and are quick to respond.

"Our people are part of the local community and customers turn to the familiar face of their postman or woman for help if things go wrong — as the winners of the national bravery award discovered."