A community shop has celebrated its 10th anniversary.

Broadwindsor and District Community Stores came about after the village suffered the loss of its shop in 2011 and residents agreed a community shop was a great idea.

On March 3, 2013, the shop was opened. Some 10 years later, Broadwindsor has celebrated its shop’s 10th birthday.

The shop team organised a birthday party with a beautiful sunshine cake, a raffle with great prizes from suppliers and village businesses, and a children’s poster competition.

“It is thanks to all of you here that we have a thriving shop in our village; our managers, our staff, our volunteers and above all our customers, without you there is no shop!” said chairman Andrew Hookings before handing over to Fraser Hughes, the community shop’s original chairman.

Mr Hughes said: “There is a big difference in setting up a shop and running it. We were incredibly lucky in getting Sue Williams as our first manager as she knew all the ropes.

"We recruited young Jane Sloman as her assistant and we’re delighted Jane is now our manager! We also want to extend our thanks to Kevin, Steve and Mike who managed the shop over the years and all brought different expertise.

“The shop has been lucky to have had such goodwill from the community. Over the years we have had experts in the disciplines we needed volunteering as trustees, and our wonderful volunteers and staff who work in the shop.

"A special thank you to Robin and Carol who since the beginning have often filled in at the last minute, or at unsocial hours, but a heartfelt thank you to all our volunteers and our staff,” added Mr Hughes.

During the pandemic Broadwindsor Community Stores was open as usual, the team got together to help people stuck at home by organising deliveries, click and collect, and the community really appreciated having a shop in the village.

Now with the cost of living crisis, and people trying to use less petrol for environmental reasons, many customers find that walking to the shop is a great way to buy what you need without having to drive and realise having a local shop is very precious.

Chairman Andrew Hookings said: “Moving forward, the shop is in the process of buying the premises.

"We are very grateful to the current owners for a reasonable rent for the last ten years, and now agreeing to sell The Old Telephone Exchange for the benefit of the community. May the shop be celebrating another 10 years in 2033!”