• Sherington welcomes Mr Kana Sisodiya and Mrs Bhavna Meraman who took over the lease of Sherington Village Shop and Post Office from 17 August 2014.

• Udi and Dina have announced their intention to step down from running the Sherington Village Shop in August, in order to focus on their Castlethorpe shop. It is therefore necessary to identify new management to take over, otherwise the shop will have to close.     Read the full anouncement

  ShopCo - Sherington Community Shop

• Sherington Shopco is a group of villagers who are seeking to establish a new community shop to replace the retail facilities previously provided by Virginia House Stores until its closure in January 2010. It is planned to operate from a temporary portakabin to be located next to the Village Hall car park on Church Road. Shopco's own website has been closed.

  Update - 12 February 2012

• The Portakabin arrived on site on 19 December 2011.
   
• Following Pam And Alan Sim's announcement that the Virginia House Stores newspaper delivery business was being transferred to Udi and Dina Modhwadia, who will be running the new Shop, their final invoice was sent out attached to the papers on Monday 16 January. Since then the newspapers have continued to be delivered, presumably by the new owners.
   
• The minutes of the Parish Council meeting on 3rd January 2012, released in the last few days, records that the trench for the utilities was being dug and an exterior sign was being made locally (now attached to the Portakabin). The Post Office is reported to be starting Post Office Counter services on 29 February 2012. The leases between the Parish Council and Shopco, and between Shopco and the new proprietor, were being negotiated. The minutes also record that the anticipated opening of the shop would be the end of January. However, there appears to have been no public announcement yet about the opening, the latest update on Shopco's own web site being before Christmas reporting the arrival of the portakabin.
   

  October 2011 Update

• There has been a change in the plans. The shop will now be run on a full commercial basis by a shopkeeper with previous shop/post office experience. It will also be taking over the newspaper delivery service from Virginia House Stores.
   
• Discussions are taking place with the Post Office regarding the possibility of offering Post Office Counter services.
   
• The portakabin from Frensham is no longer available and an alternative supplier is being sought. An architect has been appointed to oversee the building work and initial ground work has started.
   
• Shopco has now applied for Company status. At the beginning of September, Shopco had raised nearly £16,000 with another £5,000 pledged and was investigating applying for grants from various sources.
   
• The new shop may be ready to open in December.

  The following announcement was published in the May issue of SCAN magazine.

  Establishing Sherington Community Shop

• The Committee continues to work hard to establish a new Community Shop in Sherington. Most importantly, it is now time for all of Sherington Village to become more deeply involved and help these exciting plans come to fruition.
• In most villages, the shop and Post Office are vital - a lifeline, particularly during spells of bad weather, for the elderly, for those caring for relatives or children and those without transport. Village shops provide a focal point, a place to meet, a communication hub and are the lynchpin of everyday life. They help us to recognise our neighbours and give us the opportunity to interact. This, in turn, helps develop our sense of community, belonging, responsibility and safety.
• Village shops are not intended to compete with local supermarkets. They are a convenience store or the 'top-up' shop which can offer further enticements such as freshly baked breads and locally produced goods. They can serve as a pick-up or collection point for additional services and provide a focal point to advertise events and provide village-related information.
• As many of you will know, the Committee have located a purpose-built temporary shop which, subject to final planning permission, we wish to purchase and move on to the site at Sherington Village Hall. In order to do this, and to cover the initial set-up costs for our new community shop, we are now urgently seeking funding.
• Although some of the funds required will hopefully come through a number of grant applications to be written and submitted by the Committee, it is fundamental to the success of the project that a significant amount, we estimate approximately £20, 000, comes from within the Village. Without a generous amount of local support we have little chance of attracting funding from elsewhere. If we can not access funding it is highly likely that we will never have another Shop or Post Office facility in our Village.
• And so it is that we ask the residents of Sherington, and the surrounding area, to consider supporting this project financially. We are currently researching a number of schemes through which villagers can contribute. We are now equipped to accept donations and interest- free, unsecured loans, and very soon we will be providing each of you with more detailed information about how you can buy Shares in your Community Shop and therefore have a say on how it is run.
• On May 2nd, we are very much looking forward to presenting our 'ShopCo Caravan on the Knoll' from which we'll be providing you with more information about the plans for the shop and how you can help. We hope to see many of you there to discuss your ideas and suggestions. After the Easter break, we will also be writing to all residents about how to get involved through the Sherington Community Shop Share Scheme.
• These are difficult times for many of us but the cost of a donation or share purchase compares favourably with, for example, having to drive elsewhere for every newspaper, pint of milk or loaf of bread. If we assume three journeys per week to Newport Pagnell for the inevitable odds and ends, or for the Post Office, this could cost you around £249 extra in petrol per year, not to mention the burden on the environment and the extra time expended. Please think about how much you would be prepared to give to help put the heart back in our village and provide a truly vital service to all residents.
• If you are interested in making a donation in support of this project, would like to register your interest in the Sherington Community Shop Shares Scheme or need to know more before making your commitment and would like to speak with a Committee Member one-to-one, please contact Committee Co-Chair Nigel Blight at 33 Carter's Close (01908) 760100 or email Committee member Caroline Barrass at [email protected]
• Finally, should you wish to be involved in any aspect of Sherington Community Shop, be it fundraising, providing sound legal advice or acting as our Treasurer, the next Committee meeting will be held in the Church Meeting Room (within the Chapel), on the 11th May 2011 at 8pm. Please come along and join us. This is your Community Shop and getting involved at any level means you'll have the opportunity to have your say on how it is financed and managed.

The following are the slides from the presentation at the Open Meeting held in the Village Hall on Saturday 5 March 2011, which was attended by approximately 80 villagers.

www.frensham-village-shop.co.uk

The following announcement was published in the February issue of SCAN:

• As I am sure you are all aware the Shop Committee have been considering a number of options within the village to house a village shop. This has admittedly taken a long time, but what with many on the committee having full time jobs, families, social commitments and holidays, and with the committee also wishing to conduct a thorough review and analysis of this very important matter, we believe we have undertaken this task with some rigour.
• I should like to start by reminding you that one of the first things we did was to canvass your opinion about the desire to have a shop and how it should operate, what it should sell and how you had previously used the old shop. There was clear evidence from that survey that the village wanted a shop and on that basis we started to look at a number of options, which are explained below. We have extensively investigated all the options that you, the village, and the committee members have suggested. The main highlights of our investigations are;

The Swan Pub:

• This was one of our preferred options but as we investigated any opportunity to take over the pub it became very apparent that: we could not buy it unless we took it on as a pub first at £550 pw lease - which affected it's viability we could not risk leasing it, funding even a moderate shop fit and then have the property sold from beneath us, which would have put us back to square one - and planning permission has now been sought to change it into a private dwelling the landlord was not really interested in us using it without a sizeable rental cost we could not afford to purchase it outright and then fit out for a shop (we'd have loved nothing better than to have a shop, post office and coffee house to be established at the Swan.

The Existing shop:

• We would have had to buy out the existing owner, inc the house, which is not on offer, and in any case the price would have been in the same region as the quote to build the shop as a permanent structure on the already approved village hall site, which we have already established is not viable.

The Manor Farm:

• Although a unit is available, after many discussions it was concluded that the corner adjacent to the entrance would be highly dangerous as it had no footpath, the arrangements would have been complicated, and subsequently the option was then withdrawn by the owner.

The Church:

• It was suggested that the Church may hold the answer but the issue of stock storage, certain restrictions within the Church, lack of parking and restrictive access meant it was quickly dismissed as not feasible.

A Mobile Shop:

• This was also one of our preferred options, but it fell down on some fairly vital issues such as; where would it and any stock required be stored securely (as it is would be a target as all packed and ready to travel), a specialist driver would be required, a difficult position to fill if staff are all volunteers, servicing and maintenance costs to keep it on the road and then the main issue with it travelling around it wouldn't be guaranteed to be there when you needed it. (It is clear from the previous shop, and from the survey that after papers it is the "forgotten essentials" that bring in the most custom and a mobile shop would not fulfil this requirement enough to sustain viability).
• In addition to these main options we considered a number of other alternatives but none of them presented a viable proposition. However, with the help and advice of the Plunkett Foundation, who support the creation and continued running of village shops in the community, we have been presented with an idea and a viable and real alternative, that has been proven to work elsewhere in the country, and that is a temporary structure, which we believe to be the only viable option open to us if we want a village shop in Sherington.

Decision to seek temporary structure:

• As you can see from the above we have not have reached this conclusion lightly, and this is not just the easy option. We should like, therefore, to recommend that the village approves this idea of a temporary structure to be positioned on the same location as had been approved by the Milton Keynes Planning Department.
• Please understand that every possible location has been considered, and each presented its own challenges, but when investigated at some depth they have all come to nothing.
• We would, therefore, like to host a meeting in the Village Hall in February (date to be arranged) to discuss this final option in more detail. This will be an open debate and we welcome all to attend, those in favour and those less so, and in particular we invite anyone with alternate propositions to join the committee in our determination to find the best location to reintroduce the shop to Sherington.
• However, please note that it is swiftly becoming a decision of little options and we would urge you to ask yourselves "Do I really want a village shop?" If the answer is a resounding YES then please get behind this proposal and help us bring the heart back into this village. If the answer is NO, then we will bring this matter to a close and the Shop Committee will disband.

• We took our recent findings from our viability studies regarding location to the Parish Council on the 2nd of Nov. Our statement was as follows; "The steering committee, following the survey, recommends the establishment of a village shop. It has looked at and rejected all other options and now concurs with the Parish Council's location. However it suggests the establishment on the site of a low cost building in keeping with the Village Hall".
• The Parish Council has given full agreement to this low-cost build plan as it would give a temporary and expedient solution, with which to gather full working knowledge of shop and PO facilities before committing to a much larger build project as originally planned. The Chairperson of Shopco will meet with Milton Keynes Unitary Authority to discuss this further.
• We consider this to be the best option considering the timeframe, the expense and village concerns with building a new permanent structure. The temporary solution would require a full time manager plus a team of approximately 30 volunteers and it will only be situated on the site for a maximum term of 3-5 years. We will be investigating further the temporary structures available to us while continuing to plan towards a more permanent shop build, should this temporary model prove viable.
• For further information or to air your views regarding this development contact the committee via email [email protected] or alternatively call Anita on 01908 610970

• The following announcement was published in the December issue of SCAN:
• We took our recent findings from our viability studies regarding location to the Parish Council on the 2nd of Nov. Our statement was as follows; "The steering committee, following the survey, recommends the establishment of a village shop. It has looked at and rejected all other options and now concurs with the Parish Council's location. However it suggests the establishment on the site of a low cost building in keeping with the Village Hall".
• The Parish Council has given full agreement to this low-cost build plan as it would give a temporary and expedient solution, with which to gather full working knowledge of shop and PO facilities before committing to a much larger build project as originally planned. The Chairperson of Shopco will meet with Milton Keynes Unitary Authority to discuss this further.
• We consider this to be the best option considering the timeframe, the expense and village concerns with building a new permanent structure. The temporary solution would require a full time manager plus a team of approximately 30 volunteers and it will only be situated on the site for a maximum term of 3-5 years. We will be investigating further the temporary structures available to us while continuing to plan towards a more permanent shop build, should this temporary model prove viable.
• For further information or to air your views regarding this development contact the committee via email [email protected] or alternatively call Anita on 01908 610970

• We would like to update residents on the progress of this new project.
• At the open meeting on 19th June the overwhelming majority of residents attending voted to continue the project of establishing a new shop and post office in Sherington. After this meeting a number of residents volunteered to offer their expertise, time and support. In July, ShopCo was formed to progress the work already carried out by the Parish Council. Planning permission has been approved by Milton Keynes Council for the proposed new shop adjacent to the village hall.
• Our role is to now take the project forward and several meetings have been held to discuss a number of issues with various parties. Our group would like to give every resident the opportunity to have their say and ShopCo members delivered questionnaires to every household during August. This will enable us to complete the first part of the project plan on feasibility. These findings will be presented to the Parish Council at their September/October meetings. Their next meeting will be held on 7th September at 7.30 in the village hall.
• Meanwhile, please do not hesitate to contact myself or other members of ShopCo for any further information.
   
  Many thanks,
  Tony Pilcher 01908 21100

Given:

• Two well attended village meetings have overwhelmingly stated a continued need for both a Village Post Office and Village General Store.
• Parish Council have initiated a survey of requirements from the village.
• Parish Council have, with accountant & general store owner provided trading figures.
• Parish Council have identified a site and have obtained FULL PLANNING PERMISSION.

Meeting 1. 30/6/10 Pavilion. 20:00 Handover of papers from p.c. to a group of people interested in taking the above project. (unminuted).

Meeting 2. 7/7/10. Pavilion. 20:00 Project Plan initiated. Informal election of chair and officers. (Notes taken by Sarah Davies)

Meeting 3. 21/7/10. Swan P.H. 20:00 - proposed timing 1hr. 15 minutes.

Agenda:-

1. Apologies
2. Declared interest.
3. Sign off of the notes as above as a record of our previous meetings as a group. (Chair)
4. To review notes/minutes of mtg. No.2 (Sarah Davies) - 10 minutes
5. To formalise the roles and responsibilities of the honorary officers as indicated in mtg. No.2 (See setting up a committee info. attached) (Chair) - 5 minutes
6. Reports from working parties (Review of previous documentation) - 3 minute summary per item.
7. Items
8. Close meeting agree next venue / date (Chair)
9. Any other business (Informal and unminuted)