The First Year

The Carpenters, Electricians, Plumbers and Decorators of St Mabyn, along with many other people and notably a local building firm, responded enthusiastically to this appeal and the Portacabin was quickly transformed with woooden cladding and a slate roof, with a covered walkway to allow access to the door of the shop. Over the following months various addition were made so that storage and display areas were available for fruit and vegetables, coal and logs, potatoes, and the daily newspaper delivery. A recycling area was established where various things not covered by the council recycling scheme can be disposed of responsibly.

In February the first shareholders' meeting was held, where the steering committee reported on the very positive start that had been made. Some members of the Steering Committee stood down at this point and a new Committee was formed. To quote from the report at the meeting...

"Chairman Martin Bailie said it was remarkable that so much had been achieved in such a short period of time. It was only nine months since St Mabyn learned that the old village stores was to close. The meeting was regularly punctuated by applause, as members celebrated the success of the venture. Martin said one of the additional benefits of the shop was how it had so quickly become a focal point for community life, attracting customers drawn by the welcoming, cheery banter of the volunteers."

Initially, Neil and Gill Embley acted as Shop Manager. Their business skills, knowledge and experience gained from running the old shop some years previously meant that the shelves were full of the things local people wanted to buy, and very soon it became clear that we did have a viable business. Neil and Gill initailly agreed to help out for 6 months.... in actual fact they continued until the summer of 2019, when it was evident that enough money was being taken to pay for a Shop Manager, and eventually two Managers were appointed on a job-sharing basis.

On the 1st October we celebrated the first anniversary of the opening of the shop, with a visit from the children of St Mabyn School in the morning and a volunteers' party in the evening; we were very fortunate to have captured the attention of the BBC Spotlight programme, who put out a live broadcast featuring the evnt. Customers were offered cakes and sweets all week to thank them for their use of the shop.

The process of transferring the Post Office to its new location took longer than expected, but eventually the new counter was installed and on the 23rd October 2019 we finally started to offer Post Office services; there was a period of only 6 days between the closure of the old PO and the opening of the new, and we are delighted that villagers can still now access a range of postal and banking services. A number of volunteers have been trained to serve behind the Post Office counter and a new rota arranged accordingly.

We now look forward to consolidating our position, hopefully increasing our turnover and the ways in which we can serve our community and visitors to our village.