Sadness as village post office closes

"Do you want your parcel sent first class, second class or by pigeon?" jokes Cath Hesson with a customer as she opens her book of stamps for one of the last times.

After 25 years working at Codsall Wood Post Office near Wolverhampton, Cath's branch is one of 53 across Staffordshire which have been ordered to close as part of a national shake-up

On Friday she will shut up shop for good and the village will lose its 160-year-old community hub.

"Now it's getting close I'm starting to feel sad," says Cath, who grew up in Walsall and has lived in Codsall Wood for 35 years. "Everyone in the village is a good friend and I get to hear all the local gossip.

"People say to me 'Have you heard about such and such?' and I always say I haven't, even though I probably heard it two weeks ago.

"I found out we were on the list of post offices to be closed on April 1 and I thought it was an April Fool's joke - but three months later we were told we were definitely going.

"Because we have Codsall, Albrighton and Brewood within three miles we didn't have a leg to stand on."

Codsall Wood Post Office opened in 1848 under postmaster George Wassell and after 31 years, he was succeeded by his daughter Maria Beardsmore who was there for 60 years, receiving the King's Silver Jubilee medal for her dedication.

Maria was succeeded by her daughter Ella Woodroffe, who worked there for 44 years before she died in 1983 and Cath took over.

In 1935 the Express & Star printed an article on Maria Beardsmore saying: "Mrs Beardsmore started her post office career as a girl of 10, when she helped her father with his duties.

"For many years she took round the first delivery of letters herself, travelling between six and 10 miles a day on her bicycle - she used to walk in the days before bicycles were in common use - and it was not until the day before her 70th birthday that she gave up cycling and stopped delivering the post.

She was determined that Codsall Wood Post Office would have 100 years under the management of father and daughter. In 1983 her daughter Ella Woodroffe died after having the post office in her family for 135 years.

"After Mrs Woodroffe died I saw the position advertised and went for an interview at the main office in Lichfield Street, Wolverhampton," says Cath, who has a grown-up son David. "I started my week of training in May 1983 and moved into the house at the back with my husband Peter.

Pat Yates, who has lived in Codsall Wood for more than 40 years, says: "The post office has always been a big part of the community and we are all going to miss it.

"It is not just a place to post a letter but also pick up all the village news. Mrs Woodroffe was a lovely elderly lady and very pleasant and Cath is delightful.

"She has a duck Noony, which is a real character and knocks on her door with its beak when it wants something."

Cath is planning to leave the post office as it is. "I am planning on leaving it as a time warp," she says. "I won't be turning it into another living room."