A sense of outrage and a drink or two too many has resulted in 40 volunteers at Dryslwyn Community Shop and Post Office raising their glasses to a decade of success.

In April 2008, the community of Dryslwyn were hit by the the news that the village’s Post Office and shop were to close.

After being faced with travelling a 14-mile round trip to Llandeilo to buy a daily newspaper, Tony Graf and his wife Madeleine spearheaded the campaign to change the Post Office’s decision.

Campaigner Tony said: “We called a meeting to set up an action group and set about lobbying everyone we felt could make the Post Office change its mind.

“Councillors, AMs and MPs organised a mailshot to 6000 households in the area inviting them to attend Llangathen Hall for a meeting with Post Office Ltd ,where we presented them with a 30-page dossier of facts and figures to support our argument that the plans for a weekly mobile Post Office weren’t feasible.”

“But to no avail, the Post Office held firm and a ‘wake’ was called to mark the closure of the shop and Post Office and wind up the campaign.

“And it was then that the drink began to speak.

“I remember hearing the late Alan Bryer, the ‘Mazda man’ who owned the shop, muttering something about volunteers taking the business over.

“I thought he’d drunk one too many at that point, but after one or two more drinks of my own I decided it was a perfectly wonderful idea.”

As a result, 350 questionnaires were created by a team of people and were hand delivered to properties around the area asking residents if they liked the idea of volunteers running a community shop. The response was very positive.

With a steering committee taking the project forward and a shop building available, the next step was to claim back the Post Office outlet.

Armed with a £500 donation from Castell Howell Foods, offers of financial support from within the community and an interest-free loan from Carmarthenshire County Council, members of the newly-formed Dryslwyn Community Shop Ltd set about preparing for business.

The Post Office officially closed on March 28 2009 and the volunteers set about preparing for their own big opening day on April 3 2009, just six days later.

Tony said: “Originally the aim was to open for a limited number of hours per week, but even before the first penny was taken at the till there were enough volunteers available to cover a 40-hour week.

“One for the first customers through the door that first day was former County Councillor DT Davies.

“He had fought hard to try and keep the post office going having been a customer from the age of six, back in 1924.

“We were delighted by the response.

“Within a couple of weeks, we actually took £200 in one day for the first time. It seemed astonishing.”

A decade later, daily takings are more than double that figure and the Post Office is thriving, boosted by the closure of banks in Llandeilo.

Director Jeremy Fonge added: “It is ironic that 10 years ago people in Dryslwyn were faced with travelling to Llandeilo to buy a newspaper, now they are travelling to Dryslwyn for their banking needs. Otherwise they are looking at a trek to Carmarthen just to pay in a cheque”.

Many of the volunteers are people who have moved into the area and the shop has proved a valuable source of friendship.

Two volunteers have even become paid part-time staff and there are plans to open a café in an adjoining building in the near future.

Tony said: “It may be a year away, but it is again proof that the community venture is proving a valuable social and commercial resource within the type of scattered rural community where loneliness can often prove a significant problem.”