A Perthshire postmistress has thanked supporters who saved her from personal and financial ruin in the wake of the Post Office scandal.
Comrie locals and complete strangers raised thousands of pounds to help keep the village post office open after Marlene Wood revealed the strain she was facing.
The 53 year-old spoke out after the ITV drama Mr Bates v the Post Office brought the Horizon scandal into millions of living rooms across the UK.
Marlene told how the daily toll of trying to run a post office had cost her her marriage and her mental health.
It resulted in an outpouring of love and encouragement.
And now Marlene is looking ahead to a brighter future than she ever imagined.
“I didn’t expect anything to change when I spoke up,” she said.
“I just didn’t have anything else to lose.
“The response stunned me. It still does. I’ll never be able to thank people enough for what they did.”
Locals and strangers rally behind Comrie post office
Marlene admits she was at her lowest ebb when she spoke to The Courier in January.
Her van had broken down. She had no more money to restock her shop with gifts and groceries. All she had left was £120 – Christmas money from her mum – and the bank was refusing to bail her out.
Her marriage had broken down. She owed family members thousands. And she was still dealing with discrepancies in the discredited Horizon computer system virtually every day.
Marlene’s story was picked up by newspapers and TV crews far and wide.
Donations started pouring in from strangers who had read about her plight, or heard her moving interview on the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2.
And closer to home, the Comrie community was determined their popular postmistress was not going down without a fight.
Supporters set up a GoFundMe appeal with the aim of raising £1,000 to help Marlene out of the hole she’d landed in.
To date it has raised £5,525.
And when Marlene spoke to The Courier this week, life was looking brighter than it has in months.
“At the end of the day, it shouldn’t be up to a community to save their post office,” she said.
“But that’s what they did. And it shows how much the post office still matters to places like Comrie.”
Comrie post office – a place for people to believe in themselves
The donations allowed Marlene to fix her van.
The shelves of the post office have been restocked.
And when her Post Office manager realised how much she was struggling, she helped her to secure extra funding that’s available for rural branches.
The cash boost has allowed Marlene to take on another member of staff.
That means she can keep the Comrie post office open seven days a week instead of having to close on the days she provides an outreach service in Muthill and St Fillans.
And now she is hoping to share some of her goodwill by offering space in her shop to budding crafters, artists and other makers.
“I’m talking about people who haven’t tried to sell their stuff in shops in the past because they never thought they were good enough,” said Marlene.
“I want to give them a bit of belief in themselves, because I didn’t think I was good enough and that’s what all these people did for me.
“This is my way of paying it forward.”
Challenges continue, but support means the world
Marlene admits she’s not out of the woods yet.
The Horizon scandal saw more than 900 postmasters convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting based on data from the faulty Horizon computer system.
Marlene, who took on the Comrie post office five years ago, was not among them. But she says the Horizon computer system remains an issue.
She regularly has to plug shortfalls in her takings, ranging from a few pounds to £400, out of her own pocket.
She has also spoken about the challenges of running a post office now postmasters are paid by the transaction, instead of receiving a salary.
“I sold £9,000 worth of second class stamps in December and earned £247,” she said.
“I would have to process 36 home shopping returns in an hour to earn the minimum wage.
“And it’s different every month. You never know what’s coming in.”
The loss of other over-the-counter services, such as TV licences, pensions and benefit payments – all now managed online – has also reduced the earning potential for postmasters.
And it means customers have fewer reasons to visit their local post office – so are less likely to pick up something from the shop when they’re in.
But Marlene has been heartened by the support of other postmasters who are now speaking out about their own difficulties.
And she’s determined to go on running the post office that the people of Comrie treasure.
“The irony of all this is that even after everything, I’d still want to be a postmaster,” she said.
“I love my post office. I’m still here. And I’m intending to carry on.”
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