Blewbury Brass band struck up Congratulations as villagers raised their glasses to toast the reopening of the village post office.

The celebration of the work to replace Blewbury's former sub post office, which closed last year, may signal a halt in the decline of village post offices in Oxfordshire, according to a Post Office spokesman.

Sheila Tilley said that after a rash of closures in the county last year, the Post Office was determined to stem the tide.

She said: "Of more than 200 post offices in Oxfordshire, 175 are sub post offices. We are hopeful about their future and that some may be reopened."

The sub post office in nearby East Hendred is also expected to reopen in November.

When Blewbury parish council tried to find a shopkeeper to run the post office, parish councillor Derek Buck, a member of the Village Hall committee, suggested converting a disused storeroom attached to the hall.

Parish council chairman Dr Mike Marshall said the closure of the previous post office, part of the former Prior's Stores, was a great loss and inconvenience to villagers.

The nearest post offices were in East Hagbourne or Didcot.

The parish council made a grant of £9,000 towards the conversion of part of the village hall.

Villagers also chipped in, offering services and skills to help with the successful completion of the project.

Former teacher Anne Scullard, of Blewbury, was appointed postmistress - with two assistants.

After cutting a red tape to mark the official opening, Mr Buck said: "It has been an uphill struggle -- it's now important everyone in the village uses the post office."

At East Hagbourne, where the sub post office is housed in part of a garage, a public meeting has appointed a new steering committee with a list of volunteers to help run the community shop attached to the post office.

Parish council chairman Monica Lawson said that many people from Blewbury had used the Hagbourne Sub Post Office during the past 18 months.

She said: "We wish Blewbury well with its new post office venture -- sub post offices provide vital services for villages."

didcot@nqo.com