A CHARITY champion could be forced to stop sending thousands of packages to soldiers serving in Afghanistan if the pensioner’s local post office is closed.

Over the past three years Margaret McKeegan, of Francis Street, Newtown, has posted 7,529 boxes to soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, including members of Royal Welsh and the Mercian Regiment and Prince Harry.

But just days after posting Christmas packages filled with mince pies and festive cakes, the 78-year-old fears she will have to give up her charitable mission after rumours spread that her nearest post office, where she sends off the parcels, could be closed in the New Year.

The Chester grandmother has started a petition to save the post office on Brook Street and reinstate the sub-postmaster  Alastair Smith, after it was announced his contract had been terminated after 20 years of loyal service.

Margaret, who was recently honoured with a Diamond Champions Award by Prince Charles for her tireless charity work for serving and injured soldiers, said she was outraged by the decision to get rid of Mr Smith, and would fight to save the community service.

“I am really angry about it. They did try to close the post office a couple of years back, but Alastair told me that my boxes had kept the place open,” said Margaret.

“I am nearly 79, I couldn’t go to St John Street or Hoole with as many parcels as I can at the moment. I don’t think I would be able to do my boxes anymore.”

Margaret said if the Brook Street branch was to close many elderly residents would suffer as they would struggle to get their pensions, access money and post letters.

“It is just wrong, they have been wonderful. Whenever the taxi pulls up he always comes out and helps me with my packages,” said Margaret who gets letters on a daily basis from the soldiers thanking her for the gifts. 

“Something has to be done, they are not thinking about customers, where are we going to go?”

Margaret spends £35-40 every week filling the shoe boxes containing tea, coffee, biscuits, crisps, hot chocolate, tinned food and sweets, each labelled with the heartfelt message ‘Keep safe, God bless’.

Last week a sign was placed in the post office calling for the support of customers to help get the sub-postmaster reinstated, saying they were ‘strenuously appealing the decision’ and ‘services are being continued in the short term’.

But a spokesperson for the Post Office said the company had no plans in place to close the Brook Street post office. 

“We would like to reassure our customers that we are committed to maintaining services in the Brook Street area of Chester,” she said.

“When we announced our modernisation programme in March we also announced a commitment to no further programmes of branch closures and a commitment to keeping the network at its current size.”