Village Shop
ASTON ON CLUN BROOME HOPESAY ASTON ON CLUN BROOME HOPESAY ASTON ON CLUN
The Shopping News - April 2012
At the village hall coffee morning on Wednesday 2nd May 10am there will be a Produce table. All Proceeds will go towards the Village Shop enterprise.
Please bring any spare vegetables you have grown. Donations of homemade cakes and jams etc would be gratefully received.
The Shopping News - March 2012
Everyone will remember receiving a questionnaire about 12 weeks ago seeking views on the possibility of a community shop to replace Mrs. Jennings's shop which closed last August. We, an informal group of local people, are trying to establish if there is sufficient support to take the idea of a shop forward.
We circulated over 300 forms to Aston, Broome, Hopesay and Clunbury, and received back 104 completed, representing about a one third overall response from households.
There has been some delay in publishing the results, and we would like to thank all those who took the time to return their responses and for being patient whilst awaiting the conclusions, which are summarised below. We have shown only the answers to the most important questions
How important is it to have a village shop?
56% of responses said Important or Very Important (equates to 19% of all questionnaires sent out)
Would you help to set up a shop?
* 16 people put their names forward
Would you help to run a shop?
* 20 People put their names forward
What else did you tell us?
* 43% of replies (46 people) would use the shop daily or 2/3 times a week.
* 71% (74 people) would use the shop mainly Monday to Friday, 64% between 9am to 12 noon
* The most popular products were: Newspapers and Magazines; Stamps and Stationery. Fresh goods
(inc. bread, milk, fruit and veg); Basic foodstuffs.
* Car parking nearby was essential to about 80% of respondents
* Most people wanted the shop to be in the vicinity of the Old Shop or Village Hall
* 10 people expressed an interest in providing goods and services.
Where do we go from here?
The over all response is sufficient to suggest that a meeting should take place with all the local people who have put their names forward to help. We'll be contacting each of these individually, with a view to holding a joint meeting in early April. We'll be letting you all know about progress.
Like to Help, or like more information?
If you haven't yet put your name forward, but would like to do so, or you just want more details, why not contact one of us?
Jeff Else (01588 660893), Jim Halley (01588 660138), John Harrold (01588 660662) David Jones (01588 660493)
A New Village Shop for Aston, Broome, Hopesay and Surrounds?
It's a Closed Shop
As you will know, the village shop in Aston closed on Saturday 26th August 2011 after many years of continuous trading under the ownership of Mrs. Pam Jennings. Many people realise that she has endured deteriorating health for some time. The shop has been run by groups of customers on a voluntary basis, most recently continuously from February, when Pam was admitted to hospital, until its closure. It has become clear that she will not now be able to return to run the shop. The purpose of this short note is to let people know about some preliminary work on possible actions.
What has happened recently, and why should we bother?
A number of shop users and others think that such a potentially valuable asset such as the village shop should not be allowed to disappear like this. We think that we need to look at feasible alternative ways of providing a local shopping facility and a community focus. We can foresee benefits to local community life, to local food suppliers, and also to the local economy, tourism and environment.
We have assembled ourselves into a small, totally informal group, currently made up of Jim Halley, Dr. John Leonard, Jeff Else, David Jones, John Harrold and Amanda Simpson Atkins. We're also about to launch coffee morning drop-ins at the Village Hall where people can come and just have a chat with friends and neighbours, and hence provide some community focus.
The possibility of a community shop?
We have already obtained a considerable amount of advice, help and information on community enterprises. Our contacts include the Plunkett Foundation, Shropshire Community Council, and the Cooperative Enterprise Hub. Clearly, there would be no point in even starting out unless:AQ
(i) There is clear support from the community (individuals, groups and businesses).
(ii) There are some prospects of a few dedicated people coming forward who would have the drive, intelligence and foresight to take the ideas forward. (This would rule us lot out straightaway !!).
(iii) There are some prospects of funding, premises, help and advice.
(iv) People are prepared to put in some very hard work at all stages.
Our suggestions.
We think that immediate steps should be taken to:
1) Produce and circulate a questionnaire.
2) Assess the level and type of support by analysing the results.
3) Establish a formal body to manage and undertake the project, if the results are favourable.
Proposed action in the short term ...
We're therefore preparing a questionnaire with these factors in mind, for circulation within the next few weeks. We'd welcome comments on and support for the project at this early stage.
In the meantime, we're hoping to set up, on a trial basis, a drop-in social centre at the Village Hall, so that people can come and have a chat over a coffee with friends and neighbours. This should happen within the next month. See village hall forthcoming events hyperlink for more details
If you'd like to have a chat, or you'd like more information on any of our ideas, or you'd like to help, please do get in touch with John Harrold 660662, Jeff Else 660893, David Jones 660493, Jim Halley 660138 or Dr John Leonard 660386
Thank you
24 September 2011