Last Wednesday was the "day of the axe" in the area, with the Post Office announcing plans to slash services in Kirriemuir, Forfar and Glamis, that news followed by the confirmation, only hours later, that Stagecoach was to close its Forfar depot.

Neither the Post Office nor the Stagecoach announcement came as much of a surprise to locals, but it has galvanised many to fight back in a bid to retain what are seen as vital services in the community.

The Post Office proposals to axe facilities in Dundee Road, Forfar, the Southmuir in Kirriemuir and at Kilry, and reduce the Glamis facility to an outreach service has got many a dander up!

Reacting to the news that the days of a post office facility in Dundee Road, Forfar, appear to be numbered, Forfar Community Council chairman Isobel Ross said: "I am furious, absolutely furious. This is another erosion of services in Forfar."

She also raised serious concerns at the capacity of the main post office in town to cope with the extra number of customers, should the Dundee Road facility close.

Commenting on plans to ditch the post office facility in the Southmuir area of Kirriemuir, Community Council chairman Roland Proctor said it was "a bit short-sighted" to be reducing the town's infrastructure at a time when there were expansion plans in the pipeline in terms of new house-build.

"It is also unfair to ask people who are elderly and infirm to make their way into the centre of town for post office services. It is the most vulnerable in our society who are going to suffer by these proposed cuts."

The people of Glamis and the surrounding area have reacted with fury to plans which will see the area left with what is described as an "outreach service" - a facility available three afternoons and six hours in total a week!

"The whole community is angry, because we have not even been consulted on the proposed hours for this outreach service," commented a Glamis and Area Community Council spokesperson.

"An afternoon service doesn't suit everyone," continued the spokesperson. "There are people who want to conduct their business in the mornings and perhaps do a bit of shopping. There's no doubt that the proposal will have an affect on the corner shop in the village."

Members of Glamis and Area Community Council are encouraging everyone in the area to make their views on the proposals known by writing letters of objection to signing a petition opposing the "outreach service" proposal.

On the bus firm Stagecoach bombshell to close the Forfar depot - a move which will result in the re-location from the area of some 30 jobs - community council chairman Isobel Ross added that it had turned out to be a "black week" for the town.

"This is the thin edge of the wedge," she commented. "Obviously jobs are a concern but again it's a bigger company dictating what's going to happen.

"What I see now is that we will have a 'passing through' system. That is not good enough for the people of this town, the people who have supported the buses long before bus passes were in operation.

"This is just another chipping away of a local services and, as a town, we don't deserve that."