STEEPLE Morden will lose the hub of its community if the village Post Office is shut down. That is the view of village postmistress Trisha Covington, who is waiting to hear whether the business she has run for 22 years will be axed as part of a Post Offic

STEEPLE Morden will lose the hub of its community if the village Post Office is shut down.

That is the view of village postmistress Trisha Covington, who is waiting to hear whether the business she has run for 22 years will be axed as part of a Post Office closure programme.

She said: "We think we've got a good case for remaining open. The post office is the hub of the village.

"With the bus service to Letchworth having been stopped recently, there is no way for people without a car to get to the next nearest post office, in Ashwell.

"We've had the threat of closure hanging over us for 18 months.

"It's been a very stressful time, but we've just had to try and remain positive," she said.

The nationwide programme of closures will see 2,500 post offices shut down.

A list of offices which are under threat in Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Bedfordshire will be announced at the beginning of July, at the start of a six week public consultation period.

After this is completed, the final list of offices for closure will be published in September.

Earlier this month, The Crow launched its Your Post Office Needs You campaign, in which we are urging our readers to write to Royal Mail to lend their support to their local post office.

Trisha also runs a small shop at her premises, in Cheyney Street, and is uncertain whether she would be able to keep this going if the post office was axed.

"I'd have to think long and hard about the future of the shop, because the post office accounts for a big percentage of my business," she said.

"The post office is the first port of call for a lot of needy people in Steeple Morden, and if it closes, the village will be losing a vital social service."

This view was echoed by Cllr Cicely Murfitt, district councillor for the Mordens.

She said: "We would be losing so much more than a post office. It is a community centre for villagers, and it would be awful if it shut.

"We don't have a post office in Guilden Morden any more, so it would be very serious indeed were this one to be closed."

Anyone wishing to write to Post Office Ltd about the closures can do so by sending a letter to Freepost Consultation, or emailing consultation@postoffice.co.uk.

A national pressure group, Communities against Post Office closures (CAPOC) has also been set up. For more information on this visit the website www.postofficeclosures.org.uk.