It was only eight months ago that a determined committee of enthusiastic villagers started to explore the possibility of reinstating their village shop.

Now the ribbon has been cut and the new shop - run entirely by volunteers - is up and running, proving to other villages that a community shop can be feasible so long as you have the determination to see the project through.

Julie Allen

Julie Allen, a relative newcomer to Blunsdon, moved in only a year ago and as a member of the village shop committee she was somewhat taken aback by the numbers who turned out to celebrate the shop's official opening.

"I feel a bit choked actually - it's brilliant! We didn't expect to see this number of people here."

And the turn out probably said a great deal about the people of Blunsdon - something Julie recognised whilst working on the committee: "What I found important was that this team of people have become my friends and I wouldn't have made friends so quickly had I not been in the team."

Blunsdon's village shop is in a portable building - in fact, an old site office from a building firm, not that it bears any resemblance to what arrived off the back of a lorry at the end of January.

In the space of just two months a rather damp, grubby shack has been transformed in a bright, clean and extremely well stocked store.

Volunteers helped replace the floor and roof, and there were plenty of hands to add a lick of bright paint inside and out.

Malcolm Ward

Malcolm Ward, the chairman of the Blunsdon Shop committee says that success of the project was due to the strength of the committee and he too was delighted to see so many people from the village at the shop's official opening.

"When the last shop shut it took the heart out of the village and there was no gathering of people like you see today. And this is absolutely fantastic!"

Malcolm says that the shop now needs all the support it can get - including volunteers to help run the shop on a day to day basis along with a steady flow of customers."

"We now have to get across the point that people have to keep coming here, that they've got to keep supporting the shop and buying the produce in order to keep the shop open," he says.

Blunsdon Village Shop

The shop sells pretty well everything you'd expect for a store of its size. The committee went to their larders to draw up a list of provisions and according to Julie, those villagers who've called in have been surprised to see the variety of goods available.

"Customers have been very complimentary about the range of goods on offer and it has been commented that the shop seems bigger once inside.

And looking to the future, Julie says: "We are a community enterprise for the benefit of the village. Once we have paid back our loans, the profits will go back into supporting other village ventures."

The project hasn't come cheap - despite the offers of practical help, the shop has cost around £34,000, £4000 coming from the villagers themselves

Your village needs you: volunteers help out at Blunsdon's new community shop.

The balance was found from a number of sources, including Cooperative Futures, which, through its coordinator, Jane Ryall, worked with the Blunsdon committee, helping the team locate a number of funds and resources.

Jane recalls: "I met this group very early on to help them through the process of finding partner organisations which could help with funding and resources, such as Vital Villages, Blunsdon Parish Council and the Oxford and Swindon Co-op."

And Jane is kept pretty busy in the county: "I have an enquiry about every other month of a shop that is closing in Wiltshire; the rate of village shop closure in is quite high," she says.

"Blunsdon has now joined two other community run shops in Wiltshire and I think the more there are, the more support and knowledge there is to be shared."