Biggleswade postman and neighbours save the day after woman’s collapse

Susan Milln, 72, of Manor Court, Biggleswade, had taken some leaves out to her dustbin on the morning of November 6, when she suddenly felt unwell and fell to the ground.

Her neighbour Lena Cambridge raised the alarm with fellow resident Carol Peel, but they realised they wouldn’t be able to move Susan alone. As luck would have it, Royal Mail postman Steve Grummett arrived in the residential park, and the three of them were able to move Susan safely inside her home.

Susan said: “They were absolutely amazing. We live about one third of the way down to Dunton with nothing but open fields; we really are in the country.

“It was frosty, and if Lena hadn’t spotted me, and if they hadn’t helped me, I could have been lying there for hours.

“People like postmen and milkmen really are the heart and soul of the community, especially during lockdown.

“They are always there with a smile and ready to help.

“I saw Steve at my door today and said thank you.”

Susan had recently come out of hospital and describes herself as being on “huge doses” of steroids.

She believes she “overdid it” because the steroids caused sleep deprivation, so she started to feel ill when she was walking back from the bin and collapsed. Susan said: “I was consciously out of it. I couldn’t crawl, I couldn’t do anything. I just had a terrible feeling of sickness. I was by the back door thank goodness, so I was sitting with my legs along the back step and with my back against the fence.

“What they did is, they kind of turned me round on the step and lifted me up onto another step. They got a little chair and put me on that. Then they gave me one last hoik up and walked me to the settee.”

Readers may find Susan’s name familiar, because in 2008 she bravely ran into a burning building in Saffron Court, Biggleswade, along with a firefighter, to help rescue a man after a chip pan fire.

She received a police award for bravery and her story was featured in the Biggleswade Chronicle. Susan now believes that her good deed has come round full circle. She added: “What you give out you get back, don’t you?”

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We’ve been inundated with messages from our customers in praise of the extra lengths our postmen and women have been going - just like Steve - during the coronavirus crisis. We know that communities really value what our postmen and women are doing in these challenging times, and we’re really proud of them, too.”