Postmaster receives BEM for service to community after Grenfell tragedy
By Kelsey McCabe
A postmaster will receive royal recognition in the Kings’ Birthday Honours for his dedication to serving customers after the Grenfell Tower Fires in 2017.
Portobello Road Postmaster Sellathurai Chandrakumar, a 64-year-old Harrow resident, is set to receive a British Empire Medal (BEM) for 18 years of service to his community.
After the Grenfell fire in June 2017, which killed 72 people, the Portobello Road post office became the point of distribution for the Government’s £5million Grenfell Tower Residents’ Discretionary Fund.
Through the fund, families received £5,500, which they were able to use to pay for food, clothes, and funeral expenses in the aftermath of the disaster.
In the weeks following the fires, Mr Chandrakumar extended hours at the postal office to better serve the community in a time of emergency. He went more than a month without a day off.
Mr Chandrakumar said: “I will never forget the Grenfell disaster, the people who died and all the lives affected.
“I wanted to do what I could to help by opening daily to make it easier for people to get their emergency payouts, but also to be someone that people could talk to that they already knew.”
Three years later, when the pandemic lockdown began, Mr Chandrakumar once again worked to keep the branch open according to normal hours, saying that it was especially important for the elderly, who he believed were at a greater risk of loneliness during Covid.
With the help of his wife, who reduced her hours at her regular job to help, the couple kept the post office open and in full service, despite several members of staff being unable to work.
Mr Chandrakumar said: “I have really enjoyed being a postmaster and I have got to know people well – I’ve become part of their extended family.”
Mr Chandrakumar will retire as Postmaster on June 27, but will continue to work at the post office part time to aid in his successor’s transition.
Pictured top: Portobello Road Postmaster Sellathurai Chandrakumar (Picture: Sheila Tapster)