SERMONS and stamps will be available from the same building in Fingringhoe under plans unveiled by the Post Office.

It will open a post office at Fingringhoe Methodist Chapel after the village branch closed in September.

The postmaster of Wivenhoe Post Office will run the service for three hours, three days a week, from Friday, March 13.

The same services will be available, with the addition of Dollar On Demand bureau de change facilities.

The Rev Ruth Ridge, who takes church services at Fingringhoe, said: “People were concerned, as well as saddened, when the post office closed because it was where people met and it offered an opportunity to get out. People are looking forward to this.”

Community members and church volunteers will also serve coffee and biscuits to customers.

The former post office branch and shop, just 25 metres from the church in Chapel Road, closed when the couple running it retired. Ms Ridge said Bob and Christine Smith had done a sterling job for years and were greatly missed.

After the office’s closure, the nearest alternative branches had been in Rowhedge and Langenhoe, each two miles away.

Ms Ridge added that existing church events and the post office service would co-exist well.

She said: “We don’t have regular Sunday services, but there are a variety of other activities and groups.

This fits in very well with the ethos of serving the community and sharing God’s news of being there.”

Gerald Ketley, parish council chairman, said: “It is great we have got the post office back. We tried our hardest not to lose it, but nobody was very active in taking it on.”

Terry Sutton, a former borough and parish councillor for Fingringhoe, said: “It is very important for any village to have a centre and it means linking and bringing the community together.”

The office’s opening hours will be Monday 10am -1pm; Wednesday 1pm-4pm and Friday 10am - 1pm.

A consultation closes on April 9. Views can be given by Freepost YOUR COMMENTS to Post Office Ltd, via email to comments@ postoffice.co.uk, via the customer helpline 08457 22 33 44 or textphone 08457 22 33 55.

Customers can also share their views on the proposed move through an online questionnaire postoffice views.co.uk – branch code 077116.