MORE than 100 Froxfield villagers crowded into a public meeting on Monday night to draw up battle lines in a bid to save their post office. Their post office is one of five in the Petersfield area which have the axe hanging over them, after Post Office Ltd's devastating announcement last week. This week, campaigns were being drawn up and protestors were out in force to try to save what they see as vital community services. They have been galvanised into action after Post Office Ltd announced it wanted to reduce its nationwide network of post office branches by up to 2,500 from its current 14,000 in a bid to save money. For the Petersfield area, that has meant the total closure of the popular post office in Heathside Stores in Durford Road, Petersfield, and 'outreach solutions' for Froxfield, East Meon, West Meon, and East Tisted. Outreach solutions could mean a mobile service visiting at set times, a 'hosted service' in another premises, or a partner service shared in a shop or a pub. But those on the outskirts of Petersfield and in villages around the town are likely to face a double blow. They fear they will not only lose their post offices, but also their village shops which will struggle to survive. In an emotional speech, Marilyn Wilkinson, who has been running the stores and the post office in Froxfield for 17 years, told villagers: "I came here in l991, now I find that my life is changing and things are moving on. This may not be the end of your post office, but it will be the end of the post office as you know it now." She said Post Office Ltd had suggested an outreach service of nine hours per week. If it came to that, Marilyn urged villagers: "You must use it, otherwise you will lose that as well." And she warned: "Unfortunately, the loss of the post office will almost certainly be the loss of the shop. I can't see it continuing after January if the post office goes." She said in September 2006 East Hampshire District Council doubled the rent of the Stores, adding: "Coupled with the loss of the post office salary that makes poor reading from a sustainability point of view. "I feel I must say right now, should you all wish to keep a community store in Froxfield I am only too happy to give what help and advice I can, but without the post office I will not be behind that counter." Among those who have thrown their weight behind Froxfield's campaign are Tory prospective parliamentary candidate for East Hampshire Damien Hinds, county councillor Michael Cartwright, and East Hampshire district councillor Jennifer Gray. Mr Hinds told villagers that MPs Michael Mates and James Arbuthnot would also give their support to the fight to save post offices. Froxfield Parish Council vice-chairman Peter Doyle urged villagers to write individual letters outlining hardships which would be caused by the closures. He said Froxfield would fight "this outrageous act of vandalism". He said the closures were as incomprehensible as they were devastating, adding: "They are totally at odds with the government's stated aim of reducing motor travel." Speaking on behalf of villagers, Sir Brian Brown told the meeting: "We are Froxfield and Privett and cover an area of about 20 square miles. It's not only the distance to the nearest post office, it's the cost of getting there. In Froxfield, it's an eight-mile round trip." He asked if East Hampshire District Council and Hampshire County Council would consider lowering the rent at the store and giving a grant so that villagers could convert it. Privett parish councillor Marveen Smith said some villagers would have a 16-mile round trip to get to Petersfield. Mr Doyle announced that a special sub-committee was to be formed by Froxfield parish councillors to fight the closure and invited villagers to become members. He also urged people to write individual letters of protest. In East Meon, parish councillors have sent out a special notice with October's parish magazine, Meon Matters. They are urging villagers to write in protest, stressing that alternative branches at Clanfield and Droxford aren't served by public transport. Parish councillors stress that if East Meon Stores closed services such as prescription collection, bill payments and dry-cleaning services would also be threatened. Sue Williams, president of the South Downs Association of Disabled People and an East Meon villager, said: "We have a high population of elderly people and young people who are not on high incomes and are without transport. "We have already suffered cutbacks in public transport and a taxi from here to Petersfield costs £26, so closing the post office and threatening the future of the stores is nonsensical." She added: "This is not about profit, the post office is the centre of rural community life. Not everybody has a bank account and for people with mobility problems, and those on fixed incomes, this plan isolates rural communities and will cause great deprivation." Joe Patel, at the Durford Road post office in Petersfield, is also urging customers to write letters of protest.
