Portesham post office closure looms (From Dorset Echo)

Portesham post office closure looms

8:30am Tuesday 19th January 2010 in

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A VILLAGE post office is set to close after its postmasters Peter and Ann Martin announced their retirement after 21 years.

Mr and Mrs Martin said they were still looking for a buyer for their £330,000 house and attached business premises in Front Street, Portesham, but had no firm offers yet.

Mrs Martin, 66, said village residents have been very supportive of her and her husband’s decision and were sad to see the community facility disappear.

She said: “Everyone has been very sympathetic to us and wishing us well, although of course they are devastated to lose the post office.

“We’ve done the best we can to try to continue the service in some form but everything’s a bit pie in the sky at the moment and no-one really knows what’s going to happen.

“The national Post Office has said it will do its best to try to offer a service in the village but it can’t be here any more because we still own this property and we’ve tried for 12 months to sell it. The biggest reason for our decision to retire is that Peter, who has been suffering from ill health recently, will be 80 in July – it’s almost a story in itself for him to have been working for so long.”

Mrs Martin said she planned to join the Ramblers Association after retiring as well as spending more time painting and continuing to work as a Blue Badge guide.

Mr Martin’s plans include catching up with international test matches in Australia and South Africa on the television.

Mrs Martin added: “It is quite sad to be leaving, although we’re not looking to move very far.

“Our daughter and grandson live locally so we want to move within striking distance of say Dorchester, Weymouth or Bridport.”

Looking back over their time running the office, Mrs Martin said one of the biggest changes they had seen in the past 21 years had been the transition to computerised systems.

She added: “Peter had to learn how to use a computer at the age of 70.

“I was already computer literate but he had to learn everything from scratch.”