[Bathford Shop images courtesy of RL]
I have been sent a copy of the April edition of the Bathford Bulletin by two friends who live there.
This local community magazine is highlighting the fact that the village shop is under threat.
In a two-page spread, Sue Moore, who is Chair of the Community Co-operative that has been running the store for the past twenty years, warns that ‘without a new generation of committee members alongside our wonderful volunteers, the shop – our shop – will be lost. This is the moment for you, the community, to step forward and secure its future.’
It was local people who banded together to form the co-operative – Bathford Enterprise For All – twenty years ago, when the shop was under threat of closure.
She continues: ‘It’s the ‘co-operative’ bit that’s key. Being a co-operative provides a viable retail business model for a village shop to serve the community, as it puts the ownership in the hands of local people who become member owners. But it needs the community to sustain it. A lack of people coming forward to be member owners and for member owners to serve on the BEFA committee as Directors in the last few years is putting the shop at the risk of closure.’
Once it’s gone, Bathford, you may have lost a local facility and community focus for good.
You can put yourself forward for election to the committee at the AGM in May by emailing Sue Moore at befasecretary@gmail.com or by leaving your details in the shop.
Call in too if you want to volunteer to help in the shop. Manager Rachel Wyatt would be pleased to tell you more.
While we are in Bathford, it is also sad to report that the Bathford Society will be winding up this month. After nearly 40 years of organising talks and recording the parish’s history and artefacts, the Society has been unable to find new volunteers to continue its work.
All of this begs the question, are such focal-points of village and parish life of no interest to more recent generations?
Prove me wrong!!
Please note you have to live in Bathford to be a co-operative director, but anyone can volunteer to help run the shop.
Sadly Richard I think the idea of community volunteering is now being lost – buried in a sunami of social media where people connect at a superficial level. Just plain old style one-to-one interchanges, and pleasantries, like you would get in a village store or a pub in the past, have no value to people and so do not happen any more. So why would anyone bother to volunteer when they can get all the things they need on the internet and they don’t have to leave the house or talk to anyone (face to face that is) ?