As if anyone didnt know rural life is seriously in decline. First the Villages shops and Post Offices go, then the local pub, now schools are threatened as if anyone in the corridoors of power care! Townies may well say so what but this is going to, in time, have an effect on you all especially in Shropshire. Use local facilities otherwise you will lose them. The problem these days is that not many people stray from their 'English' castles but clearly we as community spirited can . If you care about this lobby your local MP and make our non-elected prime minister wake up and smell the coffee before he steps in the preverbial once again.

Use local shops and garages; accept that you may pay higher prices.

Take an active part in the community; you may have skills and expertise that are needed.

Join local clubs and societies; 'locals' are usually very friendly.

Visit the Church; the decline of rural life is mirrored in the decline of church going and funds are therefore limited.

Somehow rural life is part of Britishness I feel, country pursuits are being taken away by those who know very little about them.

I don't think it's a case of "Rural Shropshire In Decline" but instead a case of changing economics. Small institutions such as tiny village primary schools (and we're talking about those who have less than 50 pupils) and tiny post offices/shops simply cannot survive in today's way of things. I know it's sad and I know it will impact locals who then have to travel further for things. But that's how things are. This decline in local services has been going on ever since the majority of households had a motor car (circa 1960s) and will - again, sadly - continue for a good while yet. There may be a reversal in fortunes if in the (near) future economics changes the way people live. Massively expensive fuel costs and a general trend towards more sustainable living would help local businesses as villagers would have to "go local" instead of driving to the nearest town. We shall see what happens.

Let's not forget though that many villages in rural Shropshire do still have a pub, post office and school. What many don't have however are decent bus services to nearby market towns.

I'm sure you follow the News David but clearly are things 'ok' now? School closures are imminent. As far as post office closures go this seems also imminent 2.500 of them nationwide See This

As I have said, the steady process of local institutions and services closing down in villages is continuing (and will continue until major changes in our lifestyle occurs). The latest round of post office closures are a bit outrageous (basically, many which are being threatened with closure shouldn't be) though it will affect rural and urban areas. As for primary school closures - the County Council will probably close a grand total of - get ready for it - 3 schools in Shropshire in this round of closures. 2 (Lydbury North and either Carbonell or Caynham (think that's right?)) are tiny and the other one is a result of merging the two in Bayston Hill. Not so dramatic - thanks to the Council's u-turn on the issue a little while back.

Anyway, despite living in Shrewsbury, I do try to help out. I buy all my meat from butchers who use local sources. The best which I've found here in town are either the ones in the market hall or the one on Longden Coleham. There are a few more dotted about (though sadly not many in total). Eggs I get from a farm in Withington - they're better and cheaper than supermarket eggs. And free delivery! And of course I frequently patron many country pubs for local ales and food. Especially down in Clunshire. This Easter for instance I will be paying a visit to the Waterdine in Llanfair Waterdine, the Crown at Clunton and the Powis Arms in Lydbury North. I try to keep the good pubs going! ;)

Also as I've said, what we really need is a mini-revolution in sustainability. Buying local produce and such really is both environmentally and socially friendly. Keeping money in Shropshire helps too. Which reminds me - Harry Tuffins! :D

There are organisations trying to help Clic Here

The issue raised in the Shropshire Star:

http://www.shropshirestar.com/2008/03/24/m...illages-future/

Basically the idea is to boost the population of villages to keep the villages' services economical.

Well done, Proud Salopian. I really wish that more people followed your example.

Well said everyone.

When I moved to the area I was struggling to find any info about local produce (food) so I made a map. It is amazing what is out there if you know where to look for it. I know not eveything on the map is local and sustainable, but I have recently added big sections detailing where to find all the local farm markets and box schemes. I won't post a link but click on the www's below this post if you want more info or google "shropshire box schemes". I can thoroughly recommend local feast. They are not for profit so you don't pay the inflated prices that most people moan about when they hear the word organic. All local produce too. All the veg tastes so much better than the stuff you get from the supermarkets.

As has been said, it's an education issue. People would shop locally if they knew how much of a better deal they could get.

Whilst it may have a couple of stores ,Harry Tuffins is not a Shropshire company.

s.g.d.

The majority of its stores are in Shropshire though and I suspect they help small towns like Craven Arms by existing. Is the original store/headquarters in Church Stoke (Powys)?

yes it was founded in Churchstoke in 1955.

there are 2 stores in Shropshire and 2 stores in Wales.

s.g.d.

There are now 6 stores! :D

• Churchstoke (Powys - but very close to Shropshire)
• Knighton (Powys - again, very close to Shropshire)
• Cleobury Mortimer
• Craven Arms
• Bishop's Castle
• Ludlow

Not so good at the moment in Clunshire - Lydbury North and Aston-on-Clun both face loosing vital local services.

In Lydbury the primary school and post office are being threatened with closure (school children will have to go to Clunbury and post office users to Bishop's Castle). In Aston the post office (which is also the village shop) is being threatened with closure too. The lady who runs it says the shop will close when the post office goes.

A pretty bad state of affairs. :( And they're two of the larger villages in that area.

Using local shops in some of Shropshires villages could be a thing of the past as they suffer closures of their post offices from today. In North Shropshire we have seen closure after closure of themthey have all been unable to survive in business without Post Office backing. I would hope that some farmers diversify and open Farm shops in villages we now have one and it is well supported locally. The problem is going to be, where do you shop locally when there are no shops? Gordon Brown has had the audacity to say dont blame us (labour government) I think the labour party have definately played a big part in not supporting essential services such as the post office.

I read that the Government will be giving a subsidy of £1.7 billion of our money to the Post Office over the next 5 years so they can't be said to be not supporting the network.

The Post Office isn't a public service any more and the balance sheet rules. Over the years your local post office has lost staples such as TV licences, benefit payments etc. The post office business bought customers into the shop. Without the post office how many small shops will be viable? You can't blame people for doing their weekly shop at Tesco for instance instead of locally but soon they might not have any choice.

I believe in Italy the supermarkets have/had to apply for planning/building permission from the local chamber of commerce. But the big players in the chamber of commerce have always been the local producers - farmers, butchers, grocers, etc. So they were able to block the supermakets for a long time. With no supermarkets people didn't lose the culture of going to the local high street and going from specialist shop to specialist shop to get their food. I dare say things are changing fast there too, but I don't think they yet have them on every corner like we do in the UK. They also care more about what they eat, watching a stream of Brits scoop ready meals and cheap and nasty meat off the shelves at Tesco tells you that.

The labour government could play a far more active role in stopping these closures old codger, they seem to have their priorities wrong. The 1.7 million doesnt seem to be helping! The non-elected PM states he is heavily into building communities yet he seems to look on as they are slowly being destroyed. We have a lot of corrupt MP's in the corridoors of power who seem to be more interested in their annual allowance than the problems Britain faces. Co-incidentally Tescos are showing an interest in supporting these shops long term which seems more constructive than our government of the day!