MORE than 300 villagers crammed into a South Lakeland hall in a show of unity and defiance against plans to close their post office, reports Ian Boydon.

Angered by Post Office Ltd's announcement that it intends to close the Greenodd branch - as part of a national cost-cutting programme - 340 people met at Greenodd Village Hall, on Wednesday evening, to support the sub-postmasters in their fight against closure.

Janet Willis, sub-post master at Greenodd Post Office, and Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, addressed the gathering, asking for their support. Their speeches, and calls to join a campaign against the closure, were met with rapturous applause.

Mrs Willis said the main purpose of the meeting was to gauge the level of support for keeping the post office open and added: "Looking at the amount of people here tonight, I think we will have a strong case to keep the post office open."

She explained that the closure of her branch, and the branch in Backbarrow, would leave a large area without a permanent post office.

"I was not aware that Leven Valley was going to close too," she said. "There is going to be a large area without a post office at all. They are going to close the post offices and have an outreach van parked outside the village hall 11 hours a week. Potentially the outreach service can only be there for 15 months if it is not making any money."

Mrs Willis told the audience that if they were to lose the post office side of her business, then she would struggle to keep the shop running.

"We are going to lose a third of our income," she said. "We are going to lose the staff. We are going to try to keep the shop open and the paper delivery service going. You have made us so welcome in this community so we will do everything that we can to keep the post office open."

She appealed for volunteers to help form a steering group to organise a campaign against the closure, and called on villagers to help do their bit to help change Post Office bosses' minds.

"We need to organise a campaign," she said. "We are hoping to get people to come forward to help put a team together.

"I have spoken to a post office in Harrogate because they managed to get a closure decision overturned. They said we need banners and large signs and we need to get another petition together, but I don't want people to think that is enough. Harrogate got 11,000 people to sign their petition.

"The most important part of the campaign is to prove that the outreach service is not suitable and will not work in Greenodd.

"We need volunteers, we need a steering group to run it. We need to knock on doors, to get people to sign pledges to use postal services at Greenodd if we stay open."

Mr Farron said that of the nine post offices earmarked for closure in Westmorland and Lonsdale, he believed Greenodd had the best chance of reversing the decision.

"There are nine post offices in my patch which have been told they are going to close," he said. "Of these nine post offices, there will be some who will accept it, and the communities will accept it. You only have to look around yourself tonight to see there is some hope.

"Signing petitions is important. Writing letters off your own bat is important. One of the reasons we have had so few closures in this region is because of the campaign we have had so far. Your words can be vital.

"If you do lose the post office here, that's it. We will not get it back, so please do whatever you can to help. When you look at the other post offices on the list we have got a real chance of keeping this one.

"I am convinced that we can keep this post office open but it will need the support of all of you."