Comrie Post Office granted £25,000 to revitalise services

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A STRATHEARN post office is to be revitalised thanks to a significant grant from the Scottish Government’s Post Office Diversification Fund.

Comrie Post Office received the maximum award available of £25,000 from the £1 Million Challenge Fund, which will help 49 post offices across Scotland become sustainable.

Each application was assessed against consistent criteria with the most compelling proposals offered funding.

Work began this week in the Shaky Village to improve the facility’s vital role in supporting the community and local economy. Comrie Post Office’s plans include refitting the shop to incorporate a new community and tourist information point; new PO equipment; CCTV; a multi-media system; photo processing and a photocopying unit.

Enterprise Minister Jim Mather said the diversification fund presents an excellent opportunity for Scottish Post Offices to play an increasingly important role at the heart of communities. He explained: “In our budget for this year, the Scottish Government prioritised economic recovery and, recognising the significance of our post office network, established a new diversification fund.

“Postmasters have come forward with a variety of innovative proposals to develop new revenue streams such as retailing, selling different goods, or providing a business service not already available in their locality.”

Comrie’s Postmistress, Karen Galpin is looking forward to the improvements and the extra services that the post office will provide to the community. She told the Herald: “The Scottish Government has been very forward thinking by seeing the decline in post office use and they understand how important a post office is to a local community.

“We put together a survey last year to see if the villagers approved of our ideas to incorporate certain services into our shop. The response was fantastic and we would like to thank everyone for such a positive response and lovely comments.

“We are now going to put some of these ideas into reality.

“We have tried to put in facilities which the locals and tourists can use and in turn will keep them in the village and help lots of other businesses in Comrie.”

The post office counter is also being modernised and will offer wheelchair-friendly access.

To accommodate the changes, the post office area will be closed for one week from Wednesday, February 9, reopening on Thursday, February 17.

The shop will trade as normal and PO manager Susan Rankin and Karen will be on hand to help with post office related matters. Karen added: “We will not be able to do pensions, so customers will have to go to Crieff for this. We are sorry for the inconvenience but these opportunities do not come by very often.”