Haughley celebrates post office return
Residents who have spent almost two years enduring a four-mile round trip to reach their nearest post office are celebrating the return of their own service, delivered courtesy of a village church benefactor.
Villagers gathered at Haughley Post Office on Friday to watch the official opening by the Rt Rev Nigel Stock, Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.
The refurbished building includes a larger waiting area, new counter, equipment and retail area selling household products.
A separate room, called the Maxwell Charnley Community Room, was also opened and will be used by village organisations as well as for exhibitions.
The Bishop said: "It has been a terrific effort by the church and the community.
"Post offices are vital for villages and in many cases they are shutting, so to see a community make a real effort to open a post office is heartening."
The post office, believed to be one of the oldest in the UK, closed in 2007 after its sub-postmistress retired.
But villagers were determined to get it reinstated and, when local benefactor Maxwell Charnley left a 500,000 bequest to St Mary's Church, it seemed their prayers had been answered.
The parochial church council decided to safeguard the post office's future by buying and refurbishing it.
Howard Stevens, treasurer of St Mary's Church, said: "Our aim is not only to provide a post office, but a community room where we hope people will be part of the life of the village as a whole"
He added: "If there was ever a case of 'use it or lose it', this was it. We hope villagers will be strong supporters and I am sure it will flourish."
Katherine Valentine, curate at St Mary's Church, who has been involved with the project from the start, said: "This is fantastic.
"It is the culmination of almost two years of hard work.
"The church is the heart of the community and the post office is, too."
The service will be run by sub-postmistress Heather Pugh, whose own branch in Crown Street, Stowmarket, was axed last year by Post Office Ltd.
She said: "I see this as an opportunity – as one door closes another opens."
David Ruffley, MP for Stowmarket and Bury St Edmunds, who has campaigned against the county's post office closures, said he was delighted by the reopening and it offered a 'beacon of hope' for other villages.
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Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
