August 2022

As many in the village will be aware (and was reported to our members at the recent AGM) we are pleased to announce that we have made some great progress in recent months, firstly securing planning permission for the shop building and then subsequently receiving confirmation of a £15,000 grant from the Buckinghamshire Council Community Board and a £30,000 grant from the Rothschild Foundation. All of which means that I'm pleased to say we are now in a position to proceed and aim to start building later this summer with the target of opening later in the year. We will continue to update on progress as and when we get more certainty in terms of likely dates.

In the meantime, we need to firm up the list of potential volunteers from the village who are willing and able to either help in the shop and/or with any other part of the next stages of the project (e.g. the build, marketing, potential supplier). If you are such a person, please can I ask that you visit the volunteer page and enter your details. In so doing, you are not formally committing to anything, but it is important for us to have a clear idea of those who are genuinely willing to help as it will inform the services we feel able to provide and also the hours that the shop will be able to open.

Many of you previously indicated an intention to volunteer when we did the initial consultation so I am confident that the community will step up to the mark as it always does!

Typically, we are looking for people who are prepared to do a 2-4 hour shift once a week or once every couple of weeks in the shop but there may be (in fact I am sure there will be) other ways that people can help that we have not even thought of yet! Appropriate training will be given to any volunteers working in the shop.