Northern Ireland postmaster marks two major business milestones
Popular postmaster, Dessie Donnelly has two major milestones this year for Galbally Post Office – the 175thanniversary of his family setting up this branch in Northern Ireland, and his 40 years at the helm. Someone with the Donnelly surname has always run the branch.
Galbally Post Office in County Tyrone opened in 1850. It has been run for its entire 175 years by the Donnelly family and is believed to be the UK’s longest family-run branch.
Dessie and his late mother, Annie, who was postmistress for 50 years, have impressively run this post office for more than half the lifetime of the branch.
In 1935, Annie became postmistress and moved Galbally Post Office to its current location at 160 Gortnagola Road, Dungannon. Dessie was born in the home attached to this post office and has always lived there. Dessie took over as postmaster on 1st September 1985.
The first people to run Galbally Post Office were Dessie’s father’s uncles. The family know Bernard and Peter definitely ran the branch and possibly a third of Dessie’s great uncles. Dessie’s brother, Charles, still lives in the location of the original Galbally Post Office.
“I’m really proud to think that my family appears to hold the UK record for a post office run by one family for the longest length of time,” said Dessie.
“It’s great that the Donnelly family has achieved 175 years serving this Galbally community.
“Despite the difficult times during The Troubles in Northern Ireland, these have generally been very happy times for my wife, Bernadette, and I, running Galbally Post Office. I love interacting with customers as I really like dealing with people.
“During the covid pandemic I stayed open to maintain vital post office services including sending mail and banking, as the nearest bank is seven miles away. Times have changed over the years and the number of banks has greatly decreased, so the post office has become the place for many people to do their banking. In this rural farming community, many people still want to use cash or cheques rather than online banking.”
The 1851 census shows Bernard Donnelly’s employment as “Post Office”. It is thought Galbally was one of many additional Post Offices set up to benefit rural communities to ensure a postal service that was accessible to all, not just those living in towns and cities.
To mark Dessie’s long and loyal service to Post Office he will be presented with a Post Office 40 Years’ Long Service Award later this year.
Post Office Area Manager, Timmy Grant said: “I want to really thank Dessie for the great service that he’s provided to his rural village and outlying areas for four decades.
“I was blown away to find out that Galbally Post Office has been run by the Donnelly family for its entire time. That’s seriously impressive that the branch has been open since 1850. It’s also remarkable that Dessie and his mother have run the branch for over half that time. Dessie is a founder member of the local Torrent Credit Union, formed in 1969 and has served on the Board for over 56 years.”
At the same time as the late Annie Donnelly ran Galbally Post Office, her late husband, Daniel, was a postman and sorted mail at the sorting office alongside the Post Office, and delivered the mail locally, until his retirement in 1969. Originally postmen did deliveries on foot, until bicycles were introduced which made it easier for rural deliveries. In 1965 motorised deliveries were introduced which further improved delivery times.
“Even on Christmas Day his father still had to sort and deliver the mail,” said Dessie.
“People were totally reliant on the mail for keeping in touch, especially in rural areas. Until the early 1950s Galbally Post Office was the only place in the locality with a telephone. People would come to the post office to phone for urgent services e.g. a doctor or vet. The post office would also receive messages to be delivered to people in the local area.”
