A village post office is one of the first in the country to go online, writes David Duffy

Yarnton Post Office will feature on a new website www.UKVillages.co.uk which is a central source of community information. Yarnton postmaster Dave Tarling said he would be using the web page to promote both the postal services on offer and his own business.

He said: "I will be offering my customers the opportunity to advertise goods for sale on the new web page, as well as the traditional card in the window.

"In addition, I am speaking to the parish council about how the local community can make use of the noticeboard facility to publicise events."

The Post Office agreement with the website offers the 18,500 Post office branches across the UK the chance to post information on their own web page, free of charge. Deborah Maxwell, head of marketing for the Post Office, said: "Our branches are at the heart of communities they serve and we are now offering all our outlets the chance to be even more so through the Internet.

"This new partnership provides the opportunity for information in the Post Office to be available online as well as in-store.It also gives all 18,500 outlets the chance to have their own website free of charge."

Rupert Dick, founder and director of UKVillages, said: "We obviously hit a real need and were bowled over by the enthusiasm for the site.

"However, nothing prepared us for the extraordinary and immediate involvement by sub-postmasters and Post Office branch managers across the country."

In a separate move, home shoppers will be able to collect goods at 1,000 post offices, including during evenings and Sundays in some areas.

The Post Office will test the service in the South West, spurred by research predicting the number of Internet shoppers will reach six million by January, doubling the 1999 figure.