A SOUTH Lakeland clergyman is hoping a postal service will deliver a boost to dwindling church congregations.

Canon Nigel Davies, priest-in-charge of Burneside, has welcomed an outreach postal service into St Oswald’s Parish Church to replace the village’s branch that closed earlier this year.

The vicar hopes the service, which will be open three days a week and operated by a partnership that also runs Grange-over-Sands Post Office, will help restore the church as a building at the heart of the community.

“We were made aware that the Post Office wanted to reopen a branch in Burneside and were looking for a venue, and we offered ourselves as a venue for them,” said Mr Davies.

“We felt that many of the older members of the village were finding it difficult to get into town. It (the former Burneside Post Office) had been a thriving post office before and we felt that it should be reopened.”

Mr Davies said that while he believed the postal service would be a success, he hoped there would be a knock-on success for the church too.

“Obviously I hope it will be successful for the Grange people, and we hope it will be used. And from our point of view, as a church, people will get used to coming into a church environment and see what we have got to offer,” he said.

“Coming to church can be a habit and sometimes people can get out of the habit, so with people coming in to use the post office three times a week it will be a positive thing.

“I think there has been a slight decline (in congregations). People who go to church are among the older generation.

“In many villages the church can be the only community building. It is the return of the church as a community building, not just a place of worship for the few.”

The outreach service will open on Monday (December 8), and will be operated by Pat Turton, a previous sub postmaster in Burneside. It will provide a full range of services, including motor vehicle taxation and foreign currency exchange, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, between 9am and 2pm.

The Burneside branch is one of thee outreach services to be operated out of Grange, along with Greenodd and Leven Valley.

A joint statement released by the operators of Grange Post Office said: “We are dedicated to developing the branch, to ensure the expectations of the Burneside residents are met.

“It is imperative to stress to the people of Burneside the importance of using the office as much as possible, to ensure the long-term viability of the branch.

“We would like to thank Nigel and his team for their hard work and willingness to work together to bring the Post Office branch back to Burneside and hope it is a long and successful relationship.”

LEFT: Post master of Grange Post Office, Billy Hughes (left) and Cannon Nigel Davies at St Oswald’s Church, in Burneside, which will host an outreach service run by Grange PO.

Photo by The Gazette's Victoria Middleton.

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