"Veteran Town Postmaster and Refugee Retires After Years of Service"

A long-serving postmaster and member of the first family of Ugandan refugees to settle in a northwest town has retired after 50 years of dedicated community service.

Kantilal Kanani, commonly known as Ken, has been the postmaster at the Padgate Lane Post Office in Warrington for the past 27 years, following a previous career as a bus driver. His wife, Manjula, also retired earlier this year after managing a convenience store next to the post office since 1997.

The couple fled Uganda during Idi Amin’s military dictatorship in 1972, bringing along their two young daughters, Ken's two siblings, and their 95-year-old grandfather. They became the first Ugandan family to be granted refuge in Warrington.

A Warm Welcome

The family, who arrived in Warrington on a snowy day, fondly recalled the warm reception they received from the community, which provided them with blankets and toys. Their daughter Nisha shared, “Many families settled in Leicestershire, but my parents chose Warrington. There was even a lovely newspaper article about our family being welcomed, including me as a baby in arms.” “We’re all staying in the Warrington area. We don’t want to move because the people of Warrington made us feel welcome from the very beginning.”

Ken, who began his time in Warrington as a bus driver before opening a corner shop and taking over the post office in 1997, expressed his enjoyment of the social aspect of his role. “We’ve shared laughter, jokes, and conversations. I used to prepare bags of sweets for the little kids who came in,” he said.

Looking ahead, he plans to spend his retirement traveling, including trips back to Uganda. “It’s not that I didn’t like Uganda; we had to flee because it was no longer safe for us to stay,” he added.