A rural community is set to celebrate the massive effort that saved its tiny post office and shop when it officially opens next month.

The community of Storth joined forces as a co-operative and raised more than £14,000 to save the white-washed shop from closure and avoid any risk of a knock-on threat to the post office.

New sub postmistress Joan McKenzie, still coming to terms with the demands of her job, described the significance of the achievement.

"It proved that if a community can work together, it can be quite powerful. The post office is very much the heart of the village, it's essential to the smooth running of the village."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Cumbria County Council, among others, provided grants of around £50,000 and villagers set up a not-for-profit company to run the business.

Post Office rural transfer adviser Ian Liley praised Mrs McKenzie for taking on the job and said there would not have been any way forward for the scheme had she not stepped forward.

He added: "Small community shops like this need the support of the village and the villagers. If they get that support, there's a greater chance there won't be any problems in the future."

Mrs McKenzie, a former voluntary sector worker, first became involved in the project with fund raising.

"Because I had been in the village for 25 years, I saw the shop and the post office was closing and I started fighting to keep the place going," she said.

Public transport is limited in Storth, she said, and less able villagers could have struggled to get to a bank or to collect their pension if the post office had closed.

Both those services, as well as everything from stamps to ticket sales for local events to village hall bookings, are run through the shop.

However, advice has come from all kinds of sources, she said: "The young children have been telling me what to get in the shop. They want lots of nice sweets, and magazines and stationary, and football stickers."

Despite the huge fund-raising success, more cash is still needed, she said: "Having raised the money to buy the place, we now need to raise money to refurbish it."

She said more help was still needed, whether as volunteers, donors or by buying shares for a minimum of £25.

Pat Lees, director of the steering group that heads the co-operative, said: "It has been a good community effort but we would like some more money from somewhere!"

The official opening is on Saturday, October 2, at 2pm, at the post office then later at the village hall.