OWNERS of a post office near Winchester have received a lovely farewell from the community they have served for 24 years.

BK and Sangeeta Kaur received dozens of thank you letters alongside a cheque for more than £2,800 donated by residents as they prepared to close the Kings Worthy Post Office and shop for the last time.

The shop, which is located near the Cart and Horses junction, has been open since 1974.

The fundraiser was organized by Liz Tighe, with the cheque and bag of letters delivered by the former Mayor of Winchester and ward councillor for the Worthy’s Cllr Jane Rutter.

Hampshire Chronicle: Cllr Rutter (centre) with Sugmeeta and BKCllr Rutter (centre) with Sugmeeta and BK (Image: Newsquest)Cllr Rutter said: “They’ve been such a huge part of the community for such a long time, and they’ve always been incredibly supportive of the community and also given a great service in terms of running the post office. It’s always been so convenient for everybody to have it here. I mean, I’ve used and got my papers from here for over 20 years so it’s wonderful that Liz took the initiative to set up this fundraiser, and so many people have been so generous I think it’s just an indication of appreciation the people feel for the role that they’ve played over the years.”

READ MORE: Post Office set to close without replacement as owners retire

BK and Sangeeta were both very thankful for the send-off they received, and are looking forward to taking a well-earned break.

BK said: “We are very grateful to people and the community. Because of them, we have been able to stay here and do business for 24 years.”

Sangeeta added: “We’re going to relax and go on holiday next month, but we’re looking forward to that. I think it’s mixed feelings at the moment because we don’t know whether to be happy or sad at the moment. But we’re very happy and we’re very lucky to have such good customers and friends – they are our friends now really – so I would like to say a very big thank you to everybody.”

This was not the only event celebrating BK and Sangeeta to take place, with a large tea party in their honour scheduled to go ahead later in February.