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After months of work we are delighted to be able to tell you that the building of our new village shop is about to start. We have raised over £82,000 in capital and also the salary for a part-time manager for the first two years as we set up and establish ourselves. We do still need a little more money and are currently looking at ways of raising the final amount. The £82k raised does include all pledges made by villagers to buy shares or make donations and we really need all those pledges honoured. If you have already made a pledge, thank you, committee members will be walking round the village over the next few weeks to collect them and to offer shares to other members of the village. Our shop will be a community shop: run by the village for the village, and every shareholder will have the opportunity to vote at an AGM. The shop has been set up with a specific legal structure which means any surplus (profit) not needed for the commercial viability of the shop must be used for the benefit of the community – it is the shop shareholders who will decide how this money is spent. There are unlimited shares in the shop but for simplicity we have decided that it will be ‘one share one vote’ and any additional pledge/offer of money will be recorded as a donation. It would be really good if everyone in the village bought a share; shares are £10 each, for which you will be given a Share Certificate and not only will you have a vote you will also be entitled to hold an account at the shop. If everyone in the village bought a share that would be nearly £3000! Some of you have already offered to make a donation – every donation, however small is much appreciated. Building is due to start on Monday 15th February and there will be an opportunity to witness the first spadeful of the new Spreyton Village Shop sometime during the week – watch out for posters. The local press will be there to cover the historic moment so wrap up warm and join in! It has been a long process to get this far and your support is vital. If you have any questions about the build, or the shop, please contact a member of the committee:
Spreyton Village Shop – November 2009 What’s been happening? The Spreyton Village Shop Committee is committed to keeping village residents up to date on the progress of the shop project. This is the third of these updates and we hope you find it useful in keeping you informed about what is going on.
Shop Location Following discussions in mid-July the Spreyton Village Trust have agreed that the village shop can be located on a piece of the community ground near the Village Hall. The location of this piece of ground will be fantastic for the village shop. There will be ample parking available next to the village hall, traffic for the shop will not be required to travel through the centre of the village, and the co-location of the shop with a number of other village activities and the support the shop will be able to offer events taking place in the hall will truly support the project’s key goal of creating a hub of services for the community. We are delighted to be working with the village trust on this project and pleased that they are so supportive of the aims and objectives of the village shop project.
Planning and Building We have now received planning permission approval and are talking to potential building contractors to get quotes for the work. This will enable us to begin a 4 month work programme as soon as possible after we get the go ahead from the council and open the shop in May 2010.
FinanceWhen we provided our last update in July we were pleased to tell you that we had raised over £60,000 for the shop project. Since this time we have had even more good news. In September we received confirmation that we had been awarded over £11,000 from the West Devon Borough Council LEAF Match Funding Scheme. This is another success in the journey to raise the £80,000 needed to build and get the shop up and running.
SharesWe are now selling members of the community a share in the new shop. A share cost £10 and allows you to hold an account in the shop and entitles you to have a vote at our AGM (if over 18). Please speak to any member of the committee if you would like to buy a share or make a donation.
Fundraising Events Thank you to everyone who supported the Spreyton Spree in the summer. It was a great day with a wonderful turnout and lots of activities enjoyed by young and old. Over £400 was raised on the day and this will be added to the funds already raised for the village shop.
Contact UsIf you would like to get more involved in the shop project, or for further information about the plans please contact a member of the Main Committee:
Spreyton Community Shop Spreyton Community Shop - An Update
Since the Village Meeting in November 2008 the shop group have been pressing on with the project. This is an update to bring you up to speed and also to ask for your involvement in some decisions once again. Where will it be? Roger and Carol Cudlip have offered to lease the village a small part of the pub car-park and garden. This will allow us plenty of space to build a shop. This will be a community-build project using help from local builders. As soon as we get to the stage of drawing up plans and designs we will post them in both the pub and the village hall.
Finance? On the financial front we have now secured a grant of £18,000 from ViRSA, (Village Retail Services Association), and will apply for this to matched by a co-op loan. There are lots of other organisations that might give us grants but we do need to match this with our own fundraising. So please become a Member of the Shop Society (£10/share) or make a donation.
When? A condition of the grant is that the shop is open for business by 1st October 2009. As I’m sure you will appreciate this is only just over 7 months away and there is lots to be done! We would like your input and response to the following areas:
Naming the ShopWhat would you like the shop to be called? We have had a few ideas but would like the village to make the decision: o The Tom Cobley Stores o Spreyton Village Shop o Spreyton Village Stores o The Spreyton Community Shop Alternatively, if you don’t like any of these and have your own idea then let us know. There will be a box in the pub for suggestions or you can get in touch.
Newspapers One of the areas we would like a little more information on is the newspapers you would like the shop to have available? What newspaper do you buy Mon-Fri, what weekend newspaper(s) do you read and how often do you purchase them. E.g Sunday newspaper every week, would equate to daily
Something to Sell?We would like to sell items/produce from local people within the shop. If you have anything that you would like to sell in the shop then please let us know – however big or small the quantity might be. We would welcome anything from paintings and crafts to vegetables and cakes. Again, please use the contact details below to get in touch.
Personal InvolvementAs we move closer to the prospect of getting the shop up and running it is vital that we are confident about having enough volunteers to actually help out in the shop each day. Without enough volunteers we simply won’t be able to open. So, we would like to hear from everyone who feels they can give some time to help in the shop – this might be anything from 2 1/2 hrs a fortnight to half a day a week. Please let us know what you think you could manage, again, using the details below.
Contact UsTo provide your feedback, comments, suggestions and ideas about any of the above, to get more involved, or for further information about the plans please contact a member of the Main Committee:
Questionnaire Update - 25th July 2008
Dear Spreytonian,
Hear are the results of the recent questionnaire that was sent to everyone in the village to find out what your thoughts are regarding the need for a community village shop, what it might sell, other services that it might offer and what help the local residents might be able to give.
We have analyzing the 78 completed questionnaires, which is an encouraging 60% of those distributed. The response was very positive and supportive which has led us to form a committee from those who voiced a desire to help.
We think that you will find the results interesting and encouraging. If you have any further questions or comments after reading this, please do feel free to contact me.
The next stage is to look at what we need to move forward. In the last few weeks, we have visited three successful community shops in villages of a similar size to ours. The committees that operate them have been enormously helpful and generous of their time, so we have a great deal of information and advice as to how to operate should we decide to start our own.
We are discussing with ViRSA (Village Retail Services Association - www.virsa.org) the feasibility and business aspects. They have offered 4 days of free business consultancy, which we hope to take advantage of during August. We are also considering potential sites within the village.
Once we have a clearer idea as to the options available to us, we would like to hold an open Village Meeting where we can bring everyone up to date and decide if, where and when our new shop should open.
In the meantime please feel free to contact me on 01647 231553 for more information, or clarification.
Very best wishes Nick Nick Jewell CHAIRMAN, SPREYTON COMMUNITY SHOP PROJECT
Thank you everyone who returned a questionnaire – the response was very encouraging with 60% of the forms distributed, returned, representing a total of 205 local “consumers”. Now, as promised, we are reporting our findings back to you. Please note that all these results are extrapolated from the returned questionnaires and should be considered as a guide, only.
1. The Shape of our Community Spreyton Parish holds 263 persons on the Electoral Role in 135 households. The demographic is as follows:
A fifth of our community are under 16yrs, many of whom attend Spreyton Village School and another fifth accounts for these children’s parents, aged 26-45. Typically, you are busy and budget conscious families.
Just under a fifth of residents are over 65yrs, a number of whom run “single households”. You typically shop in Bow and are least likely to use Internet shopping. From this Group, social interaction, community and convenience are the highest priorities from a local shop.
The majority of the balance are aged 46-65 with older or no children at home. Although this group may have less to gain from a new shop in Spreyton, you rate 5 out of 5 the “importance” of having one in the village and appear most likely to be able to contribute time and resources in supporting a new venture.
2. Shops you are using now (and the “return mileage” / average £cost):
Londis in Bow is the number one Convenience Shop at 54% followed by various Okehampton shops, combined at 21%.
Okehampton is the number one location for your Main Shopping at 58% followed by Exeter at 29%.
18% of you use a home delivery service. Although only 5 use Tesco home delivery, the balance of deliveries are from Riverford / Lincombe vegetables and independent deliveries of bread, milk, meat and fish.
Rating out of 5, “How important is it to have a Village Shop in Spreyton?”
The strength of support for a new shop is heartening but we must take into account that many people like the “idea” of a village shop perhaps a little more than they have historically “used” a village shop.
3. What do you want from a Shop?
Food, household goods and a Post-Office – that’s what one would immediately assume you want from a shop. Actually, it’s not that simple. Broadly you want Goods, Services and a Community Hub, and not necessarily in that order, depending on your age group and mobility. Lets start with Goods.
The quality / cost balance results are telling. Principally, fancy goods are not a priority. Simple, good quality, local food at a very competitive price is a common request and a range of goods is welcome, so long as the basics are there too. So, where 1 is economy and 10 is deli-style luxury, the results are:
There is a considerable demand for Services. These are harder for the shop to make money from but still very important to the Community. Furthermore, in the suggestions box came many more ideas for services than we thought of, including a LiftShare scheme and ToolShare. Many of the priorities again indicate there is less money around, the increasing cost of fuel is perhaps inclining us to seek a greater level of self-sufficiency as a community. With that, are strong signs that you would like there to be more support both generally and specifically, offered locally.
Of the services we could think up for the questionnaire, you requested the following:
It appears that an Internet Café would not be used much but the prospect of a tea-room / café was widely welcomed. Again, contact with the community has been placed as a high priority. There were surprisingly few requests for a fulltime Post-Office and the lack of one at Bow does not seem to have deterred you from using the Londis there.
4. Location?
One question we did not ask you was, “Where in the village you would like a shop to be?”
We have assumed that having a Village Shop as close to the centre as possible is the priority, although parking near the school or Pub may be an issue. Therefore the ideal locations would be either in the main street or in /adjacent to the Village Hall. Both options will be actively explored but cost and bureaucracy may make that decision for us. Offers on a postcard please…..
5. Next steps
Most of you REALLY want a new shop and there is a group of us who would really like to work hard towards achieving that. The next steps we see are:
6. Summary
Building a Community Shop is one thing, keeping it going will be quite another. This venture will need to create what you want initially and then it will depend on you USING IT. Otherwise, it’s not worth bothering.
So far, indications are good. 55 of you have offered your time to physically help in one way or another and there are 62 offers of some form of financial support.
Thank you all for your time in responding to this initiative. If you didn’t have a chance to fill-in a questionnaire, it’s not too late to let your views be known, so please feel free to contact me or one of those listed below.
Thank you also to Spreyton School and The Tom Cobley for both collecting the questionnaires and offering support along the way.
(Current Active Committee Members: Doug Endacott (231420), Bruce and Karen Everett (231603), Joe Hall (231350), Roo Haywood Smith (231576) and Chris Hendy (231416)) |
