October 2019
On Friday 18 October, Vonnie and Lesley went to Canterbury for the regional finals of the Best Rural Business Awards, 2019. Much to our delight, we won the category Best Rural Social Enterprise, Charity or Community Project, for the south-east region. 

The national final is in February 2020, in Manchester, where we will go head-to-head with other regional finalists: a pub, another community shop, an organisation providing community transport and two organisations supporting vulnerable children. How these different enterprises can be compared is unknown but we are immensely proud to have got this far. 

October 2019
Breaking news - we are hoping to set up a community shop orchard. The scheme will be based on a plan and design produced by Andy Howard of Heritage Fruit Company - his talk at our GreenFest event inspired us!  http://www.heritageappletrees.com

We aim to plant a seasonal range of new fruit trees, to include heritage varieties of apple, pear, cherry, plum, gages and damson, with supporting hedgerows to help the natural pollination process. ​​
A range of early, mid and late season fruit trees will be planted to give a spread of crop across a large part of the year. The fruits that are picked will be used in the shop and café. The fruit can be sold or donations sought for surplus. Varieties of apples and pears will be made for juice, or for jam-making or cooking generally in the café kitchen, and we are investigating options for storing and drying the fruit.

The project will be overseen by the shop committee, with a volunteer sub-committee appointed to work with people from the community to run the project.  We would like to organise open days during the year to engage the wider community, for example: a fruit-picking day, juicing day with picnic, and educational visits for school children, helping us all (young and old) to live more sustainably in our environment.

If you are able to support this enterprise you can do so through the Good Exchange who will match-fund donations. Thank you!
https://app.thegoodexchange.com/project/17432/the-hampstead-norreys-community-shop/creation-of-an-orchard-for-hampstead-norreys-community-shop-cafe

September 2019
On Saturday 7th September, after only four months of planning, Hampstead Norreys was host to an amazing, free event held in multi-locations across the village. 
Nearly 3000 people came for the day to find out how to live more sustainably. We had eminent speakers such as Lawrence Woodward OBE and Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, we had a panel discussion including our MP Richard Benyon, we had speakers helping us to eat locally, seasonally and sustainably, we had advice on building a sustainable wardrobe, and we even had a 10 year old talking about climate change.  So many speakers offered their services that we needed two venues!

We had workshops (e.g. building bird boxes, planting fruit and veg) and there were even circus workshops and performances with a sustainability theme. We had an electrical repair café and a free bike check for cyclists (who got a free drink and cookie to reward their green transportation). We had all sorts of specialists giving us advice on such things as electric bikes, solar panels, ground and water source heat pumps and environmentally conscious building methods. 

The school playground was open so we could unveil 'Sammy' the eco-bench (for more information see 'activities') and we had a 'pledge tree' where people of all ages committed to change. The shop courtyard was full of stalls from local small businesses showcasing green products and services. We provided over 25 free activities for children and/or adults, thanks to the generous sponsorship from NFU. The activities included making your own body scrub and eco-glitter, no sellotape bags, CD owls, button necklaces . . . there was so much to do that people who thought they were coming for an hour or two mostly stayed all day.

One of the many highlights of GreenFest was the artwork display from 14 different schools. The only brief we gave was to focus on 'our planet'. The resulting creativity and originality was awe-inspiring and a real credit to the children who took part (and of course their teachers). Just look at this magnificent papier-mache giraffe with used scrubbing brushes for its mane and empty tins for its feet!

​It was a fantastic day, bringing together over 14 different villages and towns. We are proud that our community shop played such a pivotal role (three of the four main organisers were from the shop's sustainability group) - it was hard work but it was definitely worth it!

Huge thanks to the many, many people who helped make this event so very special.  
So many people asked us to run it again next year that we agreed.

Hope to see you there in 2020!
June 2019
Having won the regional final for the south-east of England in the Countryside Alliance Rural Oscars, Avril, Barbara and Lesley went to the House of Lords for the national final - here we are with our MP Richard Benyon shortly before the judging.

We won! 
To be named best rural shop in Britain is an amazing honour. The resultant TV, radio and newspaper publicity was incredible but we couldn't have achieved this without our amazing staff and volunteers so thanks to them all!