Last updated 13:16, Saturday, 05 April 2008

AN ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD boy is spearheading the fight to save Crosby’s Post Office.

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Josh Melvin, a pupil at Cockermouth School, said he visited the post office last week and was given a notice to say that the future of the Post Office was being reviewed.

He said: “I gave the notice to my mum but then I started to think about what the post office means to Crosby.

“I thought about all the older people here who don’t have cars. How would they manage?”

Josh sat down at his computer that night and drew up a petition.

He said: “I took it down to Susan Burford at the Post Office the next day and have had 49 signatures in less than a week.”

This is not the first time the former Crosscanonby School boy has been moved by the plight of others. He also organised fund raising events at his primary school to help raise money for Children in Need.

Petitions have also been launched to stop post office closures in Brigham and Vulcans Lane in Workington.

Workington MP Tony Cunningham has visited some of the threatened branches to talk to the owners and on Tuesday he met with the Bishop of Carlisle, the Right Rev Graham Dow, who said he wanted to get churches involved in the campaign.

Mr Cunningham and Copeland MP Jamie Reed will soon hold a meeting in West Cumbria to bring together the county, district and parish councils, churches and other interested bodies.

Mr Cunningham said: “We are doing everything we possibly can and this meeting could be absolutely crucial to their future.

“In other areas of the country, local authorities have made contributions and have kept the post offices open.”

Meanwhile, Allerdale council is urging communities to make their voices heard in the post office consultation.

Council leader Joe Milburn said: “We would welcome any thoughts from residents about the proposals so that the council’s executive can take the opinions of communities into account before making a submission in response to the Government’s consultation.”

Cumbria County Council has indicated that it might step in to save some of the 35 Cumbrian post offices under threat.