This week, North West Cambridgeshire MP Shailesh Vara visited the village post office in Farcet, near Peterborough, one of the dozens of branches facing an uncertain future in the city area.

The branch has been run by Elaine Lambelle for more than 20 years, but she now is unsure just how long the business can continue if her office is on the hit list.

Today, she joined the Evening Telegraph's Hands Off Our Post Office campaign.

Hands Off Our Post Offices petition:
Download the The ET's petition as a PDF
-------------------------

She said: "We have known that some branches were to be closed for more than a year now, but it is still a big cloud hanging over us.

"This is our livelihood. There is a small shop we run as well, but a lot of business is generated by the post office.

"We are hoping to pass it on to our daughter and son-in-law in the future, but we do not know what is happening."

The branch, in Main Street, is popular with a cross-section of the local community.

Mrs Lambelle said: "At the moment, there are a few near us, but we are all really busy.

"Yaxley is a large village, and the branch there also gets a lot of custom from Hampton, as there is no branch there.

"Fletton is also very busy, and sometimes struggles to cope. We get a lot of business from both branches, as well as from Farcet."

Mrs Lambelle's branch also acts as a sorting office.

She said: "The nearest other sorting office is in Werrington, on the other side of the city.

"We have a lot of pensioners here, and it would be very difficult for them to get there."

One community that has already been affected by a post office closure is Newborough, which recently saw its branch shut

Resident Angela Talpade said: "The nearest branch is now three and a half miles away.

"There are a lot of elderly people in the village who cannot travel that far.

"This is a dreadful situation for many places. I know the village here desperately needs a post office."

You can start your own campaign to save your local post office.