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Extract from the Mid Devon Advertiser Friday July 20 2012:

More than three years of fundraising paid off in Ilsington on Wednesday when villagers celebrated the opening of their new community shop. The original intention was only to provide an extension to the popular village hall, which is used by groups every day and was short on space. But when their shop went the way of so many others, residents decided to stretch themselves and add a store into the mix. That pushed the cost to £224,000 and a last minute hitch at Defra almost scuppered their chances.

Erica Williams, chairman of the community projects committee, said: “With the Village Hall Committee and the Shop Committee we’ve worked very hard together to make this happen. Defra granted us £179,000 but just as the award was about to be approved, cuts meant the decision had to be taken nationally, but thankfully we still got it.

Everyone has been working like Trojans to get the stock in and labelled and now it looks fantastic. We’re selling everything you’d want from a village shop at prices we think are fair, we’ve even got wine and local meat.

Because we are lucky enough to have had more than 50 people volunteer to work in the shop, together with the part time manager, we are hoping to open 8am to 7.30pm Monday to Saturday and half day on Sunday, too.

Even youngsters like my 15-year-old daughter Mikala have signed up and it’s funny because people who didn’t think they had missed the old shop now want to get involved because they realise the social role it played, too.

I can’t believe we’ve actually got here after so long, everyone’s really excited and it’s absolutely brilliant.”

Pupils from Ilsington Primary School sang to the crowds and the guest of honour, broadcaster Tony Beard, the Wag from Widecombe, performed the honours.

We are very proud to present the video made by the lovely people at Pangaea TV of our Grand Opening Day. Reach for the hankies before you start watching as there won't be a dry eye in the house when the children of Ilsington Primary School start singing!

Ilsington Village Shop Opening Day Movie

July 18th 2012 was a very special day in the village of Ilsington. After nearly four long years of planning, fundraising and organising, Ilsington Village Shop finally opened its doors to the public for the very first time. It was a very proud and emotional day for everyone and the opening speeches reflected that. Tony Beard, BBC Radio Devon presenter and local celebrity cut the ribbon for us "disguised" as his alter ego, the Widecombe Wag. The children from Ilsington Primary School sang a beautiful song and refreshments were served in the hall as well as food tasting in the shop. The time capsule that was found during the building of the shop was displayed so that everyone could read the newspaper cuttings and look up the signatures of Ilsington Villagers – some sadly no longer with us – who supported the building of the Village Hall 50 years ago. The whole community turned out to celebrate the opening of THEIR shop and not even the rain could dampen their spirits:

Our new shop is well on the way to being completed and so we decided it was time to gather together all those lovely people who had offered to help at the shop three years ago when the Country Store first closed. A lovely spread of cheese and wine combined with some uplifting speeches from Alan Hobbs and Sue Norris helped answer any questions and reconfirm that people still wanted to volunteer their services. Jane and Neil Turner from Bovey Construction very kindly donated all the wine for the evening and also bought down the keys to the shop to allow us all a sneaky peak inside at progress so far. It was both emotional and exciting to see how fantastic the new shop looks. After over three years of fighting and working towards this goal, it is amazing to think that it is finally happening for real!

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer or helping in any way, please look at our Volunteer page.

Emma Schram

Please join us in wishing a warm welcome to Emma Schramm, our new village shop manager. Emma has worked in Waitrose and Sainsburys aswell as being a manager at John Lewis. She has also spent five years working in a small family-run greengrocer too. She has a great deal of experience in finance, catering, customer services, security, stock handling and administration and is also used to managing a "diverse group of people" – which we think sums up our volunteer workers perfectly! Emma's experience, knowledge and enthusiasm will make her a wonderful addition to our team and ensure the success of Ilsington Village Shop.

It's amazing what you find when you are building a new shop! Bovey Construction discovered a small wooden box while they were digging out the foundations for the new Ilsington Village Shop. It turned out to be a time capsule that was buried in 1962 when the Ilsington Village Hall was first built. Phil Gibson, a member of the Ilsington Village Shop committee, remembers when the capsule was first buried, because in 1962 he was the secretary of the Ilsington Village Hall committee! One kilner jar contains the names of everyone who bought a brick and contributed to the building of the Hall and the other jar contains newspaper cuttings about the Village Hall from the year it was built.

More information about the history of the Village Hall can be found on their website – Ilsington Village Hall

Philip Gibson

Phil Gibson today is a valuable member of the Ilsington Village Shop committee.

The time capsule will be opened fully at the Village Hall AGM in June – exactly 50 years after it was first buried. We are planning to rebury the capsule at the official opening ceremony of the Village Shop and Meeting Room after adding the names of everyone who has helped with this new build by buying shares and slates and by donating time and funds. 

It is incredible how this story has come full circle and it is also incredible that one man's enthusiam and committment to community life can stretch over more than 50 years. Thank you, Phil!

Extract from the Mid Devon Advertiser on Friday March 23 2012:

A three-year project to build an extension at Ilsington Village Hall is nearing completion.

The £248,000 development has been funded by a £179,000 South West Rural Development Grant, £40,000 from Ugbrooke Environmental Ltd, £10,000 from Dartmoor National Park Sustainable Development Fund and £10,000 from the community.

The extension will house a community shop, which will be run by an Industrial and Provident Society and any profit will be ploughed back into local causes.
The village shop was closed three and a half years ago and was one of the main reasons the extension was necessary. It will also provide space for a meeting room.

“The village hall is used three times a day currently and is vital for the community,” said Erica Williams, secretary of Ilsington Village Hall Committee. “The shop will be stocked with local goods and there will be volunteers running it. Youngsters can also get involved with the shop, to help give them experience.”   It is hoped the extension will be finished by June.

The photo shows from l-r: Rob Parkinson (Village Hall Committee, Chairman), Greg Kaminski (Bovey Construction), Erica Williams (Village Hall Committee), Neil Turner (Bovey Construction, Managing Director), Brian Major (Village Shop Committee), Dawn Presland (Architect) and Alan Hobbs (Village Shop Committee, Chairman).

Keeping true to our desire to use local people for our community project, we approached Mike Bullous from Teign Signs based in Teigngrace to spruce up our logo and design two styles of shop signage to be displayed on the shop when it is open.

http://www.teignsigns.co.uk/about.htm

Local building firm Bovey Construction has been selected to turn our paper shop plans into bricks and mortar. Jane and Neil Turner and the rest of the Bovey Construction team are well known within the community and have always been big supporters of all community projects – from wading into the river to catch fundraising Pooh Sticks for the local Primary School to spending the weekend making a new hard standing area in the playing fields for the Ilsington Charity Ball! They are a traditional, independent construction company specialising in high quality renovations and new builds and we are very happy to place our precious new shop build into their experienced and caring hands.