Rocklands, Norfolk The Villages of Rockland All Saints and Rockland St Peter

Dear all this is to update you about the incredible progress made with your community shop over the last month.

We are working closely with The Plunkett Foundation, an organization which works with rural communities offering information, advice and support to help them take control of community and social enterprises. Rocklands Community Shop team was recently featured in the Plunketts online newsletter. We are getting a great deal of help and mentoring both in person and online or telephone from them, and we are very grateful for this.

The legal structure of your community shop is being decided and we hope to hear soon from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Rocklands Community Shop Ltd will be a business that trades for the benefit of the community, and anyone can become a member. More on this next newsletter.

We have decided on a logo, which you can see above to give use a recognisable "brand";. As most of you will be aware the rook is part of the etymology of Rocklands or "Rooklands", and a rook features on the village sign and as part of the school logo. The committee felt this was a symbol of the village, its history and community spirit and the addition of the shopping bag encompasses the essence of a community shop.

Seventy nine households have returned their questionnaire from some 300 which were delivered or collected in person from the shop (we are still keen to hear from you if you want to drop very late ones at the shop) and the results are shown below. It is very important that we know what you want in your shop, and the replies are critical in shaping the future layout and stock of your community shop. 81% of you rated the shop as very important, all extra comments in the questionnaires have been noted and will also play a vital role in the kind of store we intend to become and what specialist products we stock and events we run. So far we have a list of 50 volunteers; people prepared to spend a couple of hours helping out at your shop. The more people we have the less time everyone will need to commit to, volunteers are always needed, please contact Victoria (ve.mcarthur@btinternet.com) or speak to Alan and Elaine.

Many of you will also be aware of the fundraising and promotional activities we have held outside Alan and Elaine's shop (and this weekend at Little Ellingham Working Event). This is to keep everyone up to date with the progress of your community shop and answer queries. It also allows us to raise a bit of petty cash, and the cake tombola has proved very popular. Many thanks to the people who have turned up to donate freshly baked cakes. We will continue to appear at various village (and local) events and at the shop.

A reminder that this shop is your shop and is being kept open for the village. Minutes are posted and displayed every week in the shop, for more information contact any of the steering committee members (contact details on the minutes). All meetings are open to the public and are presently being held at the Pavillion, 7.30pm every Wednesday.

 

How often do you use the shop?
Daily...30%; 2-3x per week...44%; Weekly...20%; Occassionally...6%

Deliveries? Yes...40%; No...60%

Later Hours Yes...46%, No...54% (50% of those wishing later hours wanted to see 1 night a week)

Interest in a Veg Box Yes...40%; No...60%

Coffee with your paper? Yes...41% No...59%

What do you want to see in your shop? (% of replies)

Newspapers/Mags	81
Local Produce	80
Fruit and Veg	84
Meat & Dairy	86
Bakery	81
Sweets/Ice cream	74
Booze	57
Packet Groceries	48
Cigs/Tobacco	20
Cleaning Materials;	56
Toiletries	58
Sandwiches	25
Organic/Fair Trade Products;	41
Ready Meals	36
Frozen Food	52
Greetings Cards/Wrapping Paper	80
Pet Food	37
Household Goods	58
Stationery	66
Fresh Flowes	30
Plants from Local Nursery	37
Craft Items	28
Toys;	21
Gifts	27
Coal/Logs	3

Other products/services wanted (% of replies)

Postal services	90
Advert Board	48
Photocopying	34
Dry Cleaning	40
photo processing	13
Tea/Coffee	46
Tickets for local events	39
Internet	5
DVD rental	17
Mobile Top-ups	51
Lottery	8