Post office to open in shop

A new Post Office is to open in Farndon.

The village has been without one since December 11 when the postmistress, who ran the business from part of her home, retired.

She announced her intention to retire in October.

There was concern the village would be left without the service permanently.

A petition, with 1,287 signatures, called on Post Office Counters to retain a village post office.

The new post office will open in the Londis shop on the corner of Marsh Lane.

The county councillor for the village, Mrs Sue Saddington, was one of the leaders of the campaign to restore the service.

She wrote a personal reference for the new postmistress, Mrs Kal Gill, who also runs the Londis store and who she has known for 14 years.

Mrs Saddington said the fact Farndon was not on a list of intended Post Office closures led her to believe Post Office Counters could be persuaded to re-open if the retired postmistress could be replaced.

Mrs Saddington presented the village petition to the county council and asked it to seek an assurance from Post Office Counters that anyone who took on a contract would be safe from the forced closure list for at least five years.

In November Mrs Gill applied to Post Office Counters to be the new village postmistress.

After a month she had received only a receipt for her application.

Mrs Saddington wrote to the company’s head of recruitment and within 24-hours the application was being processed.

Mrs Gill hopes to open the Post Office by the middle of May.

Mrs Saddington, who says she will use the Post Office herself as the one in her home village of North Muskham was one of those to be closed, said: “Here is a good news story when at the moment everything seems so awful.

“It is an absolute plus for Farndon. We have lost so many Post Offices in rural areas and here we are having one re-opened.”

Mrs Gill said: “I have been in banking for 20 years so the experience is there and this was the right move.

“Sue approached us knowing the Post Office was going to close and I thought, why not?

“We need the Post Office in the village. Everyone was devastated when it closed and misses it desperately.”