Postal services resuming tomorrow

On Friday 30 October at 9.30am, Robert Walter MP will be joining the Mayor of Wimborne, Cllr John Burden, and local civic leaders in celebrating the opening of Wimborne’s long-awaited temporary post office Portakabin at the King Street Car Park.

Wimborne Minster has been without essential post counter services since the 4 July, when a fire seriously damaged Martin’s and two other shops. Nearly seventeen weeks on, Bob Walter MP and fellow campaigners will be there on Friday to welcome the restoration of essential services to the town.

The temporary branch will open from Thursday 29 October, and its hours will reflect those offered by the High Street site, 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 12.30pm on Saturday. Although retail services offered by Martin McColl’s cannot resume until the original location is fully restored, the full range of post office services will be available.

Whilst delighted at this development, Bob believes that the delay in installing a temporary service has been unacceptable in a town where local businesses and ordinary people – particularly the elderly and vulnerable – are so dependent on the services this key post office branch provides.

Before the event Bob said, “I really am pleased to see the installation and opening of the temporary post office in Wimborne Minster, though it is difficult to ignore the fact that it took nearly seventeen weeks to achieve. Having directly intervened with Post Office Ltd, Royal Mail and BT to try and move things along, I dread to think where we’d be now without the combined efforts of so many people to move this along.

“Friday’s opening ceremony will be a chance, not only to welcome the restoration of post office services, but to celebrate this collaboration. Let’s also hope that Wimborne’s experience acts as a warning to other communities who suffer a sudden loss of postal services that they’ll need to work very hard for their swift and safe return”.