New postmasters for the Wooler post office have been revealed after a community effort to raise sufficient funds to save the store was successful.

The owners of Chatton Village Store and Post Office have announced that they will soon also be running the Wooler post office, taking over from long-serving postmaster, Dougie Gray.

This comes after Glendale Gateaway Trust (GGT) revealed that they had raised sufficient funds through grant applications and community donations to make an offer to purchase the post office, which has now been accepted.

Ally Prytherch from Chatton Village Store said: “We are delighted that that it’s all going ahead, the Glendale Gateway Trust made an offer and it’s been accepted and we reckon in about six weeks it might all have gone through and we will be able to take over from Dougie.

The Wooler High Street post office has been saved thanks to a community effort.

placeholder image — The Wooler High Street post office has been saved thanks to a community effort.

“They’re such important and essential resources for the local community especially in rural Northumberland, we haven’t got any banks. Even the banks in Alnwick and Berwick are closing at an alarming rate so to be able to keep this service open is hugely important.

“It’s a huge infrastructure for small businesses as we’ll just to be able to do their business banking and business mail, and for people who need their pensions. It’s such a big part of the community that it would have been a real shame to lose.

“That was the main reason we put our hat in the ring, we certainly weren’t looking to expand our post office empire.”

The official takeover date is still to be confirmed, but Ally and the team are currently on the lookout for part-time staff.