Among allthe concerns of life today, it is so easy to take many of the daily incidentals as common place, and just part and parcel of our daily routine.
Then something happens which shakes us out of our composure, and leads us to realise and appreciate the true worth of a service that we have long taken for granted.
For some 32 years, households in Menheniot and the surrounding areas, have opened their doors in the morning, collected the milk, shut the doors again, and just go on with the day's programme.
Now all that has changed. Dave Clue has retired.
For all that time, through fair weather and foul, the milk has always been there, generally delivered at what most of us might regard as the middle of the night, and at the end of the week, we have put out the money owed, and all this, I suggest, has been a wonderful service to the community - but that is not the end of the story. For the elderly and those living alone, there has been a delivery later in the morning, and to many people in this category, particularly anyone who is disabled or housebound, Dave has been much more than the Milkman.
He has been a daily contact with the outside world, perhaps on that day, the only such contact. He has brought newspapers, run errands, collected prescriptions, had time for a friendly chat, and perhaps, above all, has seen the early indications of a situation where help is needed.
And so, Dave, our sincere thanks to you and to Gwen, and our best wishes for the future.
W.H. THOMAS