A RETIRED Postmistress who started her career in the Northleach Post Office has made it onto King Charles' honours list.

Jennie Didcote, who spent 51 years working in post offices across the county, has been given Royal recognition for raising £75,000 for a children's hospice charity.

The retired postmistress has been awarded The British Empire Medal - an award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown.

She left school at 15 years old and started her career at the Northleach Post Office.

Aged 40, a new chapter of Jennie's life began she became a Post Office assistant in Bishops Cleeve, which led to the opportunity to become the Postmistress in 2005.

Jennie came up with the idea of selling second-hand books and jigsaws for charity at the Bishops Cleeve Post Office with an honesty table.

This helped raise £75,000 for the Acorns Children’s Hospice - a registered charity which offers a network of palliative care and support to life-limited and life-threatened children and their families across the West Midlands region.

Jennie visited the hospice the to see how her fundraising would support the the young people in the hospice.

She also recently featured in the BBC Gloucestershire’s Make A Difference campaign for her dedicated fundraising and long service to the community before her retirement.

Post Office group chief retail officer, Martin Roberts, said: “Congratulations to Jennie for her Royal recognition with the British Empire Medal.

"Our former postmistress did an incredible job serving in Gloucestershire Post Offices for 51 years and she enriched so many people’s lives during that time.

"To raise over £75K for Acorns Children’s Hospice through various fundraising initiatives at Bishops Cleeve Post Office in the past 20 years is fantastic.”