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Christmas action over post office closures
A community activist is leading an unusual protest against the recent spate of post office closures in Wigan.
Barbara Nettleton, chairman of the One Voice Scholes Tenants' and Residents' Association, sent back a Christmas card she received from Royal Mail and is now urging anyone affected or angered by the recent post office closures to do the same.
Seven post offices have closed across the borough this year including the combined post office and newsagent at Scholes shopping precinct.
Barbara said: "It was a death knell up here.
"We have lost 16 jobs and four businesses and the post office closure caused it.
"Post Office closures have forced elderly people to travel much further to collect their pensions.
"Now I would like everybody who has been affected by the closures to make their feelings felt."
The cards feature a picture of a Royal Mail delivery van on the front with the message 'We get about this Christmas'.
Inside, the card reads: 'Season greetings made easier, best wishes from Royal Mail.'
After opening it, Barbara was incensed.
She said: "I was so annoyed that I wrote a response in it, it wasn't rude or nasty, but I wanted to get my feelings across and I sent it back.
"Now I am calling on anyone who has been affected by the post office closures and who has been sent one of these cards to join me by doing the same – this is not just about Scholes.
"They can send them back individually or, if they want, they can send it to us at One Voice and once we have collected a few we will send them all together to really get our point across."
Since the combined post office and newsagent closed at Scholes shopping precinct Rydings cake shop has shut its doors and Profile The Studio hairdressers will close on Christmas eve.
Across Wigan borough post offices in Pepper Lane Standish, Higher Ince, Orrell, Manchester Road in Leigh, and the Hart Common and Leigh Road branches in Westhoughton have all shut.
Branches in Wrightington and Parbold, both close to the borough boundary, have also closed. Barbara added: "We are too good in this country at going 'well there's nothing we can do about it.'
"I don't see why the council doesn't step in like it has in other areas and reinstate our post offices."
To join in with Barbara's protest, send your unwanted Royal Mail Christmas cards to One Voice, 109 Scholes Precinct, Scholes, Wigan, WN1 3SD.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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