Joyce's vow to village (From Stroud News and Journal)

Joyce's vow to village

BISLEY Post Office is up for sale but postmistress Joyce Ball has vowed not to let it close.

Mrs Ball, a cherished figure in a Five Valleys is hoping to retire in spring. But she has given reassurances that she will not sell George Stores until a suitable buyer is found.

Mrs Ball has put the village's focal point of everyday life on the market through Christie's after 19 years' loyal service.

The shop and post office is well-known as more than just a place to buy stamps and groceries, which is largely down to Mrs Ball's tireless approach to her work and her ever-helpful manner.

And while many of the country's rural post offices struggle to get by, that does not seem to have put off potential buyers of the property in the High Street.

"There's been plenty of interest," said Mrs Ball, who has often been outspoken on the future of rural post offices and the fight to stop them closing.

"It will continue as a post office - I won't sell unless they want to continue with it."

A former schoolteacher, she was brought up in Glanaman, Carmarthenshire. She and her late husband, Michael lived in Shropshire, Hampshire and Canada before moving to Bisley 19 years ago.

"When we first came here, we drove round the village, stopped on the hill and I said to my husband 'buy it'," she told the SNJ. "There was something quite overcoming in it, maybe it was my Celtic roots calling me to it."

As one villager put it when she was nominated as one of the district's unsung heroes: "She looks after the whole village. Her shop is a sort of pinpoint, where the whole village congregates and finds out how people are and who needs help.

"She is a very caring lady - if there's anything you want that's not in the shop, she'll get it for you."

Mrs Ball is modest about her contribution to village life but Bisley residents will be glad to know that she will not be going far.

"I shall stay in Bisley," she said. "I love the people and I love the village. "I'm going to retire to do some gardening and listen to taped poetry and books."