A FAMILY tradition spanning decades will come to an end next Tuesday when sub-postmaster Jack Dorrington and his wife Katrina retire.

Katrina's grandparents ran Whalley post office for 20 years. It was then passed on to her parents who ran it for 48 years. Her sister Virginia also worked in the post office for 30 years.

Katrina worked with her parents for 10 years and it was at Whalley where Jack learned the trade before they married and decided to run their own office at Barkerhouse Road, Nelson.

The couple have been familiar faces to the residents in Nelson but after 16 years have decided to take early retirement.

They have always had a keen interest in horses and the family is well-known for showing horses and winning competitions.

Katrina started to ride at five and two years ago the couple bought an Arab Azul Mahabi, stable name James.

While they have been running the office the horse has had to be stabled six miles away but now they are retiring the Dorringtons are moving to Briercliffe where they have bought a house with land and stables so they can be close to James.

Jack said: "He is a real pet and we are both looking forward to spending more time with him.

"We have put a lot of hard work into making this post office a success and to be able to retire and do something we've always wanted to do makes it all worthwhile."

The new sub-postmaster is John Terry, who takes over next Wednesday.

He has been living in Majorca for a number of years and is looking forward to taking over the post office with his wife Norma.

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