Heacham Post Office shuts down after being run by Sally Partyka‘s family for 67 years

Closing the doors for the final time, a postmistress has reflected on the decades of work her family has put into a village branch.

Sally Partyka will be waving goodbye to Heacham Post Office on Monday after a “very difficult decision”.

The business was put on the market for £750,000 due to financial issues that were brought on by the loss of its postman almost two years ago.

The branch was built in 1911, and has been in the family for the past 67 years.

Sally’s mother, Vivien Arminger, began working there as a counter clerk as soon as she left school.

In 1964, Sally’s grandparents Hilda and Robert moved from Hindolveston and bought the Post Office, with Robert becoming sub postmaster.

Her mother continued to work for them, and soon Lindsay Faulkner - who later became Sally’s father - joined them.

Vivien and Lindsay fell in love, started dating and were married 18 months later.

When Sally was 12, her grandparents retired, leaving the business to her father.

The branch grew into a “thriving” business with modern glass screens and counters installed out of her father’s pocket - and later in 2001, Sally joined.

“I have always loved working in Heacham and getting to know so many lovely customers,” she said.

“My parents both began to take life a bit easier, and I gradually took on more of the responsibility of running the day-to-day aspects of the business.”

It became a main branch, and in 2019, Sally stepped into her father’s role and became the postmistress.

“The business has slowly declined, and we have had to rely more and more on the shop to support our business,” she added.

“We have seen so many changes to the business over our years.

“Back in the day, it was mainly posting and paying pensions and benefits via the old-fashioned order books.”

She explained how pension books became obsolete, as customers had their benefits paid directly into bank accounts, so the familiar queue outside the Post Office at 9am on pension day was slowly dwindling.

Sally said the “biggest loss” came when her eight postmen were taken away and moved over to Hunstanton.

The branch slowly became less viable.

To combat it, Sally set up her own small business within the shop called Little Kiss Sally, selling gifts, home decorations, jewellery, greetings cards and most recently clothing.

She has confirmed it will now continue as an online shop.

“From myself and my family, thank you for supporting us through six decades. We will truly miss it. It has been a massive part of our lives.”