Whitbourne Community Shop was opened, after much
planning and forethought, on Saturday 18th August 2007, at 12 noon! (see
photos below).
Our shop was made possible with the help of funding from VIRSA (www.virsa.org) and support from many villagers, including the
purchase of 'shares' and a loan scheme.
Since then it has established its place in the community. Its one
great problem is lack of space - but plans are afoot to build a new,
bigger shop, linked to allotments and a small nature reserve.
It all depends on funding ...
We are proud of our range of locally-produced food. Here are
some of our local suppliers:
Ann Roberts makes Churchfields Chutneys from her garden
produce.
Gladwins Family Butchers from Bromyard is run by three brothers. They make our quiches and meat pies and supply bacon
and sausage rolls. With larger premises we will be able to
sell their freshly made meals such as cottage pies and lasagne.
Noel Knight harvests apples from his small orchard to make
juice.
Local farmer Julia Evans sells her pedigree Beef Shorthorns in
the shop - as steak, mince, stewing meat and burgers - as part
of her drive to increase profitability by moving towards 'farm
gate' sales.
Laming's Bakers, in our market town of Bromyard, supply the
village shop with bread and some pastries. The business is
run by three generations of the Laming family.
Sally Cox runs 'Cox's Cook-ups' from her family's farmhouse
kitchen, selling home-made cakes, biscuits and pavlova bases.
Brenda's bees collect nectar from parish farms and gardens and
turn it into delicious honey. Some of the profit
goes to Tanga in Touch to support our projects in Tanga,
Tanzania.
Yvonne Evans sells limited-edition cards made from her
paintings. All the profits go to our local charity, Tanga
in Touch (www.tanga-in-touch.org.uk)
which runs projects in Tanzania, including our parish link.
Volunteers outside the shop. Many people
enjoy doing a shift. Some prefer pricing up or dealing
with deliveries.
The shop's First Anniversary Party was celebrated on a glorious
day in the adjacent pub gardens. Here Martin Yarnit
(chairman of the Management Committee 2008-2009) welcomes
villagers to the event and announces the monthly prize draw for
shop volunteers.
The day of the Village Shop Opening in August, 2007, got off to an unpromising
start as customers queued in the rain.
But the skies cleared in time for the shop to be declared open
by the oldest and youngest members of the community.
This page last updated in July 2010 by Brenda Allan.
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