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

Dear all, this is is to let you know what is happening to your shop.

Alan and Elaine intend to retire at the end of this summer. They wish the village shop to remain open and be a vibrant part of the community.

An open meeting was held in mid June and as a result a working party has been formed with the intention of providing the necessary structure to allow your community shop to be set up. So far three meetings have been held in less than a month, these are open to everyone, if you are interested please come along, times and dates are available from the minutes posted in the shop.

The intention is your shop will remain in the same premises and trade as before, including the Post Office services. This will transfer to a Post Office counter and provide everything the present Post Office does.

Your shop will be staffed by two part-time staff-responsible for the operation of the Post Office and the management of the shop, and shop volunteers will be needed to help them. Many thanks to all those have volunteered already, if you have email please contact Victoria (ve.mcarthur@btinternet.com). Volunteers are needed for all aspects of the shops day to day running: working the till, shelf stacking, date checking, stock assessment, cleaning, running the cafe and many others. Wherever your skills lie from window dressing to IT to wielding a pricing gun, your shop needs you.

Your shop intends to be open from 7.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Saturday with no lunch break and Sunday 9am to 1pm.

We hope to open a small coffee/tea shop and intend to bring in more local produce. We want everyone to come forward with ideas and suggestions. This is your opportunity to define what your ideal village shop would be like and commit to supporting a thriving village community.

A considerable amount has been done in a very short period of time: the relevant agencies have been contacted to set up the legal structure, a business plan has been written, a bank account is about to be set up and solicitors and accountants have been engaged.

Some funds have been already obtained. Initially we are approaching local businesses for donations for start-up funding and applying for grants.

We fully support the White Hart Association, both these ventures can only benefit a dynamic Rocklands community.

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 committee members (contact details on the minutes). All meetings are open to the public.

If you have a moment please complete the questionnaire and return to the village shop.