Rural Heroes

The Countryside Alliance recently selected their 10 Rural Heroes, not because they are unique or outstanding but because they represent the experiences of other hard working, spirited people across rural Britain. In a real sense they are 10 champions of the countryside. One of those selected was our very own Win Morgan of Llangadog.

Win Morgan from Llangadog Post Office

The following is based on part of the text in 10 Rural Heroes - 10 Champions of the Countryside published by the Countryside Alliance in 2007 (see www.countryside-alliance.org.uk ).

The village Post Office run by Win Morgan and her husband Richard is the hub of Llangadog, a Welsh rural community. Win and Richard won the Best Village Shop/PO award for south Wales in the Countryside Alliance’s Best Rural Retailer competition in 2006. Richard’s family used to be tailors until Burtons arrived, so they converted the tailors’ premises into a shop. The cutting table is still central to the shop and the cutting scissors still come in handy when opening parcels. They bought the Post Office later when the local service was set to close.

Following the gradual removal of services available at the post office counter, the Government then announced the proposed closure of 2,500 post offices. Despite a hardhitting campaign to prevent the closures by the ‘Future for our Post Offices’ coalition group including the Countryside Alliance, the Communication Workers’ Union and Age Concern, the Government is still pushing ahead with the closures against very strong public opinion. The main reason behind the closures is that so many branches are deemed financially unviable but the Morgans are not alone in feeling that this is hardly surprising following the removal of so many key services. The financial argument also fails to take into account the role of the post office as a social service at the heart of a community.

Win and Richard’s business is a shop, Post Office, photocopying and passport photography facility, and internet cafe. Such diversification has not only benefited the surrounding community, it has ensured that the services are financially possible and can continue. To ensure the entire community feels the benefit, Win and Richard also set up Kadog Information Technology Enterprise (KITE) with a few other volunteers.

The KITE group applied for grants to enable one-to one tutoring to be made available to members of the community who do not have computers and who are unable to attend classes, or may not have the confidence to get training any other way. This has been very successful.

Grants have been awarded and free training is now underway with more people signing up for sessions to enable them to become computer literate. The Morgans have shown vision and determination in not only keeping the original shop open but also in making sure the village continues to have a Post Office. Win and Richard understand that their shop is vital to villagers but that they cannot depend on anyone but themselves to make it thrive.

The Facts of Rural Life
• 84% of the rural population currently lives within one mile of a post office – this is before the Government’s plans for major closures.
• There are around 8,000 post office branches in rural areas; rural branches are defined as those in areas with a population of less than 10,000 people.
• The rural network serves approximately 11.4 million customer visits a week.
• 90% of rural post offices cannot be maintained on a purely commercial basis.
• Each post office branch has an average of up to 355 customers a week collecting their benefits through their Post Office Card Account.
• In January 2006, the Department of Work and Pensions announced that it would not be renewing the contract for the Post Office Card Account beyond 2010.