Woolton Hill bids farewell to community store proprietors

A small crowd of villagers gathered outside at 1pm, to bid farewell to Raj and Su (Sucheta) Vadera, proprietors for the last 16 years of Woolton Hill Village Stores and Post Office, in Broadlayings, who are retiring, following health issues for Mr Vadera, who is in his 60’s.
As Mrs Vadera, the sub-postmistress, closed the post office for the last time, before handing over to the new proprietors, she and her husband and their son, Seraj Vadera, emerged onto the pavement to applause and cheers from villagers and declared that they were lost for words to thank everyone, but felt that the village had become their family.
East Woodhay borough councillor and villager, Clive Sanders (Cons), said they had indeed, he said, become part of the village ‘family’ and had been enormously appreciated for their kindness, excellent service and unfailing cheerfulness.
“His only complaint was that in all his years of buying lottery tickets there, they had never sold him a winning number!” said villager, Nicole Bentham.
As the leader of the borough council, Mr Sanders stressed the importance of the village shop as a focal point of village life should not be forgotten, before handing the family a good luck card. Mr Sanders then announced that there would be a formal presentation of a leaving gift at a later date.
Vicar, the Rev Christine Dale, then presented Mrs Vadera with a bouquet of flowers, to mark villagers’ appreciation of her hard work, along with that of her husband and son.
Raj Vadera then introduced the new owner of the stores, Raj Patel - whose wife coincidentally is also called Su. Mr Vadera joked that villagers would not have to learn a new set of first names.
In 2005, a brave Mrs Vadera scared off a would-be thief, after he thrust what appeared to be a handgun at her and demanded cash. He ran off empty-handed after she shut the door in his face.
In 2007 Woolton Hill Post Office and Stores, under Su and Raj Vadera’s management, beat off fierce competition to scoop a national award - the prestigious Golden Ticket - as one of the best community post offices UK-wide and for outstanding sales performance.
New proprietor, Mr Patel, who previously ran a village stores in Didcot, described Woolton Hill as he said: “A wonderful village”, adding he would try his best to carry on the Vadera’s good work, after putting out a suggestion box and extending the Post Office opening hours to include lunchtimes and Wednesday afternoons.