Offwell Community Shop and Post Point
Offwell Post Office has now closed, however the shop still offers postal services enabling customers to post letters, parcels and packets from the shop.
Offwell Rural Services Association (ORSA) is a locally formed organisation that has re-opened its village shop. The previous shop closed in December 2002 and it was identified there was a community need for this service. Surveys were conducted and the applicant received support. The new store has been located in a Portacabin within the recreation ground.
The service will provide essential supplies and provisions volunteers will running the shop.
History of the new Offwell Shop & Post Office venture – 11 June 2004
Offwell is a rural village some 3 miles south-south-east of Honiton in Devon. The parish of Offwell lies either side of the A35 but the village is tucked away, 0.5 miles south of the main road. It lies within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and within the area of the East Devon coast recently designated as a World Heritage Site. Offwell also sits on the edge of the Blackdown Hills which has an active community partnership promoting the area and its products. Offwell has a 12th century church, a thriving primary school and a community run recreation ground and village hall complex. There are buses three times a day through the village, and the local garage on the A35 sells some grocery/confectionary items, but there is no pedestrian access to the site. In the parish there is a woodland centre and a recycling site which brings people to the village on a daily basis. The surrounding villages of Northleigh, Southleigh, Farway, Wilmington and Cotleigh do not have retail facilities.
Offwell has 334 people on its electoral roll, the majority of whom are over 50. Together with the under 18’s this brings the population to over 400. The local school draws from the surrounding community and also pulls in pupils from the town of Honiton. The current roll is about 100 pupils.
Offwell Post Office and Village Shop had always been located within private premises in the village. In 2000 the bungalow from which the business had recently been operating was sold by the incumbent, who had been there for over ten years, as she had reached retirement age. The premises were bought by a family, and in September 2002 the Post Office closed followed in December 2002 by the closure of the shop. The new owners have retained the building as a private house and the shop has reverted to living accommodation.
On 2nd July 2002, following the notification that the Post Office was to close, an Open Meeting was called by the Parish Council. Despite short notice and the holiday season being underway, over 90 people attended and an action committee was formed with the brief to look at the options for retaining a postal service in the village. This meeting was attended by David Fisher of the Plunkett Foundation as it was felt that with the Post Office closing the prospects for the village shop were also bleak. Further Open Meetings were held that year, all of which were well attended.
The action committee met during the autumn and looked at ways of accommodating the Post Office business, preferably on neutral/village ground. It was felt that the best option would be to site the office on land owned by the Offwell Recreation Ground & Village Hall Charity (ORG&VHC). To this end a business plan for the Post Office was put forward to the ORG&VHC trustees in October. At this time the shop was still operating from the original premises, but it was agreed that this situation had a limited future. However, as any future Post Office would be staffed, full-time, by a person employed by Pos Office Ltd it was felt advisable to keep the prospective shop as a separate community enterprise run by volunteer staff.
By the time the old shop finally closed, just prior to Christmas 2002, negotiations with the Post Office were well underway. The chosen route was to erect a temporary building alongside the Village Hall, and to join forces with the charity trustees to raise money for a permanent extension is 3-5 years time. The inclusion of a new community shop then dictated the size of the building needed. Planning permission for a 320 sq ft temporary building was applied for and permission granted in April 2003. At the same time an Industrial and Provident Society was formed in February 2003 – Offwell Rural Services Association (ORSA), to manage the project overall. A well qualified candidate for sub-postmistress was selected and proposed to Post Office Ltd.
During 2002/3 a great deal of fundraising was undertaken and over £4,000 was raised by local villagers. This enabled grants in the region of £28,000 to be secured and together with a generous donation of shop fittings from the Co-op and support from local businesses the shop began trading in January 2004. Since then volunteers have been trained and the level and variety if items we can offer, especially local produce, has improved.
We now feel we will have a financially viable operation which can form a sound basis for our future plans. We are proud of what we have done so far and will continue to work to bring the best possible service to our customers with the limited resources available. Whilst we pause to acknowledge what has been achieved and are grateful to Mr Hugo Swire MP for agreeing to officially open the Village Shop and Post Office, we look at the future as well and envisage the time when we can celebrate a permanent home for our venture and a facility that will serve the village of Offwell for many years to come.
Article courtesy of ORSA
ORSA contact details:
- 01404 831364
- 01404 831606
- 01404 831795