Closure of Kirkhill Post Office

Monday 18 February 2008 4:14:23 pm

Closure of Kirkhill Post Office

The closure of Kirkhill Post Office will have an adverse affect on the village not just as a result of the loss of postal services, but for other services also. For example, we have no shop in the village; the only place where villagers can purchase a daily paper is the Post Office. There is no-one delivering papers in the village so when the Post Office closes it will be necessary to travel to Beauly (8 mile return journey) simply to buy a daily paper.

This is inconvenient enough for someone who owns a car, but extremely difficult for someone who depends on public transport, which is expensive and infrequent. It costs almost £5.00 for a return ticket from Kirkhill to Beauly - very expensive for anyone on a low income. When you get to Beauly there is almost an hour to wait for a bus back to Kirkhill - not funny on a cold, wet winter's day (especially for a pensioner).

Finally, like many residents in a rural area, I buy by mail order quite a lot. If I am not in when the postman delivers the parcel, it is left at the Post Office and I am able to collect it at a convenient time. When the Post Office closes I understand that I will have to travel to Inverness to collect a parcel (a 16/18 mile return journey). This is neither convenient nor environmentally friendly.

All in all, the closure of our Post Office will be a considerable loss to the residents of Kirkhill.

June Alexander