Mary Lawrence
From Lacey Green History
click Post Offices for other Post Offices
click Shops for other retail outlets also Business
click Families for other local families
Mary Lawrence born in 1940 at Hillcroft was the daughter of Jack & Ethel Lawrence. Click Jack & Mrs Lawrence
In 1963 Mary's mother died. By then the family smallholding and cottage of 1932 had grown to become a farm and sizeable grocery store with a Post Office. click Hillcroft and Jack & Mrs Lawrence for more about Mary's life.
The shop had been largely run by Mrs Lawrence, with the added assistance firstly of Jean and later of Mary
1970 Mary Sub-Postmistress
In 1970 Jack became ill. Mrs Lawrence had died and Jean had married and left so it was decided to reduce the shop-cum-Post Office, leaving one small extension for Mary to run and Mary was appointed Sub-Postmistress. From now on only a few useful things were stocked in the shop, including of course eggs.
Hallmark February 1989 Madeline Cleaver reports on the local Post Office and the possible consequences if we
do not use it enough to make it a viable business. When Mary's father (the tenant) died there was the uncertainty of whether Mary could buy the house and land on which the small shop stood. While we all worried about losing our Post Office, Mary's worry was that her home and livelyhood would be gone if she could not buy it. That uncertainty went on for some two years while she lived there alone. Great was the relief all round when she was given the chance to buy the property and keep the business going. However, the future is still not assured because there are still problems of economics likely to arise. So- - - - as has been said about the village shop and we have said of the local Post Office for years, USE IT OR LOSE IT: in fact be prepared for its possible loss anyway, something that will affect many of us.
Hallmark October 1990. Notice Board. A reminder. There is a Royal Mail collection every Sunday at 11am. But only from the pillar box outside the Loosley Row Post Office.
1993. Congratulations to our Post Mistress, Mary Lawrence, recently honoured by the Post Office for 23 years’ service. This award is listed in Social Snapshots 1969-2000 inc
Mary continued with her little shop and Post Office until 1997 when she decided to close it following two armed robbery attempts.
Hallmark May 1997. Ted Janes wrote "The End of an Era".
Twelve years after the introduction of the Penny Post in 1841, a post office was opened in Loosley Row, and for 144 years Loosley Row has been blessed with a friendly post office, until February of this year when circumstances forced the retirement of Mary Lawrence, a sad reflection on today’s society.
During the period five postmasters and one postmistress have nearly all served long periods in office. Jessie Harvey 1853-1887, his son Alfred Harvey 1887-1914, Alfred’s son-in-law 1914-1944, all at The Meadows, Lower Road, then from 1944-52 it was transferred along the road to Arthur Harvey’s grocery shop, and finally in 1952 it came up the hill, just still in Loosley Row, to Hillcrest, the home of the Lawrence family. John Lawrence was postmaster for 18 years and daughter Mary from 1970-1997.
My first recollection of Mary was as a young teenager helping Mum and Dad in the shop, a well stocked general store. I remember Mr Lawrence going outside to fill paraffin cans and then returning to cut cooked ham, no E. coli in those days, when food had some taste, a slice of that ham between two slices of Sidney’s (the local baker) crusty bread was what the locals called “bootiful”.
Unlike brother and sister, Mary was the one – always interested in the shop, so when she left school there was no doubt as to where she would work.
But when Mary first started full time work in the shop, it was not a post office; that didn’t occur ‘till 1952. Then for many years she helped her father deliver the post.
Mrs Lawrence died in 1963 and Mary then became postmistress in all but name. In 1968, when her sister married, the range of shop goods was greatly reduced to what we have known in recent years and in 1970, when her father’s health failed, she was appointed postmistress officially, the same year that Hallmark was first published.
During my years as Hallmark’s editor, I conducted several campaigns of “use it (the post office) or loose it” without a great success, and Mary herself had two difficult years negotiating the freehold when development of the area was threatened.
I always felt that some newer residents never supported the local Post Office as much as they could have, but Mary had a loyal support, not only from the village but the surrounding areas including Princes Risborough, through service and civility they always received.
In my business days I deposited quite large sums of money several times a week always dead on 9am and discovered another of Mary’s many qualities, “punctuality”. In latter years she had to pay me money as a pensioner and it is the pensioner who will miss her most, because she was not only a friend but an adviser, like an unofficial citizen’s advice bureau helping particularly with DHSS problems. If a pensioner didn’t appear on their day without due cause, Mary would call on them during her lunch break or after evening closing time, just to check they were OK. What she did beyond the call of duty was unprecedented.
Mary never had a holiday in all those years, so I’m sure everyone will join me in wishing her a happy and enjoyable retirement – and many many thanks.
Hallmark May 1997. Report from the Organisers of the Cash Collection
There cannot be anyone in our villages who has not been affected in some way by the closure of the Post Office – just another erosion of village life – but this was all the more serious because it was brought about by some armed thug.
The general feeling in the village of sympathy and support for Mary has been overwhelming. There was a little party at the Post Office the evening before it closed. We started a collection as we thought it would be a popular idea to buy a little something to show Mary how much we appreciated her. She spent many years helping people, standing behind the counter, without a holiday or even a proper day off.
However, the response to the collection has been quite overwhelming. We opened an account at Lloyds Bank and within days the money was flowing in. The grand total exceeded £700!
It is very difficult when you start something like this to judge how everyone wants the money spent, so we consulted Mary herself. She agreed with our suggestion that we make out a cheque to her for the final amount and let her decide how and when she would like to spend it. She preferred not to have any official presentation or ceremony. We trust this is agreeable to everyone.
Hallmark August 1997. Letter to the Editor from Mary Lawrence :-
I would like to express my sincere thanks to each and everyone who so kindly contributed to the collection to mark my retirement from Loosley Row Post Office.
When I was presented with the money the total amount collected was breath taking. This came as a complete surprise to me. It was a very well-kept secret. It just goes to show I didn’t know everything that was going on in the village! Also, my thanks to the organisers of the collection and for all the hard work that was involved.
Thank you also for the kind tributes paid to me on the certificate and in the summer edition of Hallmark.
By the time you read this letter in Hallmark it will be six months since I closed down. The change from running the Post Office to retirement has not been so difficult as I thought it would be. In fact, I am enjoying the freedom very much.
We have been on our very first holiday to Newquay in Cornwall. It was very enjoyable with plenty of interesting places to see and the weather was quite good.
I enjoyed Village Day much more this year as I was out the whole day and it was lovely seeing friends again. The only comment that I would make is I didn’t have time to see all of the activities due to too much chatting!
I have received my retirement gift from the Post Office, a Royal Doulton dinner and tea service, also my last certificate for being the top performing area office for the year 1996-1997. It was nice to finish on a high note! Even though I am now retired, my former Post Office managers have called in to see me, which was nice of them.
Once again, may I thank everybody from the bottom of my heart for the kindness and generosity shown to me.
Thanking you. Yours very sincerely,
Mary Lawrence
Text of framed “certificate” presented to Mary:
We, the people of Loosley Row and Lacey Green wish to express to Mary Lawrence
our appreciation for the help, friendship and many unselfish gestures you have provided
so willingly over the years and our respect for your integrity, in both business and private matters
Mary Lawrence died in 2019. She was much loved, and greatly missed.