Much has changed in Britain over the past 50 years, but the Post Office remains the hub of many communities. Nowhere is this better emphasised than the town of Whitland, where Ithel Parri-Roberts is celebrating an extraordinary half-century of service as subpostmaster.

Ithel and his wife Jean took charge of Whitland Post Office on February 1, 1964.

"I was just 25 then and I think my relative youth helped me to cope with the long hours that the job entailed in those days," said Ithel. "We were on duty from 4.45 in the morning through to 8.30 in the evening, more or less seven days a week."

In the era of telegrams there was not even respite on Christmas Day, since messages had to be delivered no matter what. On one occasion, Ithel had to make a 15-mile Christmas morning trip to deliver a telegram to a neighbouring village, with all the family accompanying him in the car.

While his hours nowadays may be a little shorter, the sprightly 75-year-old Ithel still enjoys meeting and serving his customers. "I tell people I've been semi-retired since I reached the age of 65, but with all our experience we know we can still give the best service to the Post Office and our customers.

"We both agreed we wanted to reach this landmark and we're delighted to have made it."

As well as the long hours, the job was made harder in the early days by the limited technology of the time. Ithel recalls keeping the books balanced using only mental arithmetic, since it was several years before he made the - at that time substantial -investment of £80 in a mechanical adding machine.

The couple were quick to see the power of the computer, though, investing in their own machine before making the switch to the Post Office's Horizon IT system.

"Horizon has improved things tremendously as far as the counter is concerned," said Ithel. "It's been absolutely fantastic -although I must admit our younger staff members were a bit quicker than me in getting to get to grips with it!"

Getting to grips with technology is one thing, but the whole community had a major challenge with decimalisation in 1971.

"Our customers found that whole process very difficult, especially those who'd lived with pre-decimal currency for many years. One of our lifelong customers never got his head around it, and still referred to 20 pence as four shillings right up to the day he died," said Ithel.

It was perhaps inevitable that Ithel and Jean would choose the career path they did, since Jean is steeped in a tradition of Post Office service. Her father was a subpostmaster, while family members currently run branches in Crymych, Pontyberem and Tegryn.

Non Tudur Williams, senior stakeholder manager, had the pleasure of presenting Ithel with his award. She said: "We have many loyal and long-serving employees across the country, but to achieve 50 years' service is a rare and special landmark, which says much for the sense of duty and service that Ithel and Jean have brought to their branch.

"They are true pillars of the community. We are full of admiration for them both and we are delighted to be able to mark their achievement with this award. Congratulations on behalf of everyone at the Post Office."