RESIDENTS of Meeth showed their support for their family-run post office when they presented gifts to its postmistress when it closed earlier this week.

Postmistress Shirley Hosking was presented with holiday vouchers, flowers and a pottery jug at a packed ceremony in the village hall last week.

Around 60 people attended in support of the post office, which has been run by the same family for the last 110 years.

The post office will now be run for four hours a week at the Bull and Dragon Pub in Meeth.

Mrs Hosking said she was overwhelmed by the gifts she received.

She said: 'I really appreciate all the moral support we've had from the village.

'It is all very sad because the post office has been in our family for so many years.

'I always used to hear the bell ringing from my sitting room and now it's going to be silent, and very strange.'

Shirley, who has been postmistress since 1986, said she followed on from her mother, Mrs Dorothy Harris, and grandmother, Ann Clements.

She added: 'When I was a little girl, we only had telegrams back then.

'I'd earn my pocket money delivering those in the village.

'I am sad that the post office won't run from here anymore, but I do hope that everything runs smoothly for it over at the pub.'

The post office was one of the 85 destined to close last year in Devon and will now be reopened on Wednesday, September 23 from the Bull and Dragon. Opening times will be from 10am to noon on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.