Community pull together with one aim
Villagers feared vital services would lost when Killin’s Post Office closed suddenly in August, 2013.
It was replaced by a mobile post van twice a week but villagers complained it often couldn’t get a satellite connection to enable transactions to be carried out, or the signal was weak which made the process slow with long queues forming.
In August 2014, staff from Strathyre Post Office provided a service out of the Killin Hotel, but the connection speed wasn’t fast enough there either. They then came twice a week and ran the Post Office from MacGregor’s Community Hub, using a dedicated phone line, while MacGregor’s completed the process of applying to run the Post Office. This eventually happened by February 2015.
In March 2017 MacGregor’s, who ran the Post Office along with MacGregor’s Market, an‘alternative’ grocer’s shop, approached Killin and Ardeonaig DevelopmentTrust (KAT) to ask if they would be interested in acquiring a shop unit as a community asset. MacGregor’s could then lease it and operate it as a non-profit making, social enterprise, for the benefit of the community.
KAT worked with MacGregor’s Community Hub to look at options for the post office, and the newsagent’s shop, whose owners wanted to retire, was earmarked.
In March 2018 an application to the‘Your Stirling, Your Priority’ initiative was made and after a presentation to the voting public in Callander was successful, added £10,000 to the funding pot. A stage 2 application to the Scottish Land Fund was successful in August 2018, but still required more match funding, so the open water swimmers from the village conducted a sponsored relay swim (and row) of the 25-kilometre length of Loch Tay from Killin to Kenmore.
In December last year KAT purchased and paid for the building, and MacGregor’s ran two shops over the Christmas period, until renovations started on the newsagents premises in March. A Crowdfunder page also saw funders rewarded with a tote bag with a logo created by children from Killin Primary School. With the MacGregor’s lease up at the end of March, the work was completed with a week to spare - other than a last minute boiler replacement.
An internet savvy Killin resident was also required to work with Post Office Ltd to finally get the service up and running.