Village post office ready to reopen after fire

A VILLAGE post office destroyed in a fire is set to reopen next month.

Orwell Post Office in Town Green Road will be open for business from October 3 – more than 18 months after the building was gutted in a blaze.

The branch was due to be back in operation in August following repair work totalling about �500,000 but has been delayed while phone lines are installed. Basra Stores, the village shop where the post office will be based, opened last Monday.

“We are pleased that we are able to restore services to the area and would like to thank our customers for their patience during this period of temporary closure,” said Post Office spokesman Wendy Hamilton.

Two teenage boys who started the fire which spread from a wheelie bin were cleared of arson and recklessly destroying the building, but pleaded guilty to criminal damage to several cars and starting the fire.

*Famous author and journalist George Orwell, who worked in the village shop at Wallington, will be celebrated in a three-day festival starting at the Spirella Ballroom in Letchworth Garden City on Thursday.

The George Orwell Festival, now in its second year, will feature a panel discussion hosted by the Orwell Prize during the evening as well as a talk discussing his life at David’s Bookshop in the town on Saturday.

There will also be a guided walk around Wallington on Sunday, including Manor Farm, the inspiration behind Orwell’s Animal Farm.

For full details about the festival visit www.georgeorwellfestival.org