Feckenham Village Shop in Worcestershire, a community-owned shop in supported by the Village CORE Programme has won a national award for the best village shop and post office at the Countryside Alliance Awards at the Houses of Lords this week, (Wednesday 3 February).
Sue and Grey Darby
The shop in Feckenham is one of over 230 community-owned rural shops currently in the UK, 37 of which opened in 2009. The shops come in various shapes and sizes, reflecting the needs of their communities. Some are based in purpose-built premises whilst other are based in previous shops, village halls, portacabins, churches and pubs. The Plunkett Foundation supports rural communities wanting to set up and run a community-owned rural shop, providing practical assistance through a network of community retail advisers, its website, various publications and a national office.
Jenny Mason, a volunteer in the winning shop said: "We were so happy and surprised about winning the award and we owe much of our success to Plunkett's support, which enabled us to build our business and have the confidence to stick to our original aims of supplying the village with convenient shopping and at the same time creating a social enterprise which would bring the heart back to the community."
Feckenham Village Shop was helped by financial support and advice through the Village CORE programme, managed by the Plunkett Foundation, in partnership with the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Co-operative and Community Finance. It provides financial start-up packages and advisory support to communities and has supported 48 community-owned rural shops since the programme started four years ago.
Peter Couchman, Chief Executive of the Plunkett Foundation said: “The successes of Feckenham community-owned village shop, demonstrates what can be achieved by rural communities given the right support. This award is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of their growing group of volunteers.”
A record three community-owned shops were crowned regional winners with the other two being in Blockley, Gloucestershire and Berrynarbor in Devon. A total of eleven community-owned shops were finalists in the awards.
This winning community-owned shop has also been supported by Making Local Food Work, to assist them with creating better links with their local producers and to enable them to stock and sell more locally produced food like the Feken'ham' above!
For further information please contact Ema Murphy at the Plunkett Foundation on 01993 814386 or at ema.murphy@plunkett.co.uk.
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NOTES TO EDITORS
The Plunkett Foundation (www.plunkett.co.uk) is a national organisation based in Woodstock, Oxfordshire helps rural communities to take control of issues important to them through community-ownership. The Plunkett Foundation works with other organisations that share its aims of helping rural communities respond to challenges to jobs, services and community vitality. Community-owned rural shops are one example of the growing number of rural social enterprises in the UK. A social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in to the community.
The Plunkett Foundation works with the Office of the Third Sector (http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector.aspx) to promote the role that social enterprise can play in rural communities in England. As part of the Cabinet Office, the Office of the Third Sector (OTS) leads work across government to support the environment for a thriving third sector (voluntary and community groups, social enterprises, charities, cooperatives and mutuals), enabling the sector to campaign for change, deliver public services, promote social enterprise and strengthen communities. The OTS was created at the centre of government in May 2006 in recognition of the increasingly important role the third sector plays in both society and the economy.
The Village CORE Programme (http://www.plunkett.co.uk/whatwedo/core/Core.cfm) is a three year support programme managed by the Plunkett Foundation in partnership with the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation (http://www.esmeefairbairn.org.uk/) and Co-operative and Community Finance (http://www.co-opandcommunityfinance.coop/). It provides financial start-up packages and advisory support to communities looking to set up a community-owned rural shop. The Village CORE Programme will have supported 60 community-owned rural shops over the three years.
Making Local Food Work (http://www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk) is a five year programme supported by £10 million from the Big Lottery Fund’s Changing Spaces Programme, which aims to help communities connect with the land and to have easy access to locally produced, healthy food. A consortium of seven organisations, led by the Plunkett Foundation, is pooling its expertise to develop and promote different types of community food enterprise, giving advice to people all over England looking to re-engage and help others access good, fresh, local produce with clear origins. The programme aims to secure the long term future of thriving communities that are strongly connected with the land, that understand where their food comes from, and are empowered to respond to their own needs using community-led solutions.
The Countryside Alliance Awards (www.countrysideallianceawards.co.uk) are designed to celebrate the achievements of unsung rural heroes. The grand final will be held at the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday 3 February 2010.