A WELL-LOVED village postwoman has hung up her mailbag after four decades of deliveries.

Since 1963, Sheila Carter has been a familiar sight in Newton Tony, as she cycled round the village delivering letters and parcels.

The tradition of a resident sorting and distributing the villagers' post began in 1875 and nine local people have taken on the important role over the years.

With almost 40 years behind her, Mrs Carter is the longest-serving of Newton Tony's postmasters and mistresses.

Following her retirement, which took place on Christmas Eve, the post will no longer be delivered from within the village itself.

The mail was dropped off at 6.30 each morning at Mrs Carter's home, where she sorted it and loaded up her bike before doing her rounds.

Mrs Carter always delivered her mail by bike except on one occasion when deep snow stopped her - but the mail still got through because Mrs Carter rode a horse to get letters to a one remote home.

Her friend Tony Lyons remembers the time Mrs Carter balanced a parcel containing a single bed head on her handlebars, saying: "It was delivered safely and without fuss."

Mrs Carter is passionate about horses and dogs and looks forward to an active retirement.

She and her husband, David, are in the process of moving into the new home they had built in the village and hope to spend more time with their children and grandchildren.

Newton Tony residents will miss their own postwoman very much and say Mrs Carter did a remarkable job for 40 years.

At a recent function in the village's memorial hall, the residents presented her with a bouquet of flowers and £910 that had been collected in the community.