Stoke Stores (Stoke By Clare)
Stoke Stores is a result of community effort
The pretty village of Stoke by Clare felt marooned when its village shop and Post Office closed down some two and a half years ago.
Villagers were facing journeys to either Clare of Haverhill to buy essentials, buy stamps, collect pensions and use the other Post Office services.
A number of villagers, led by Rita Pinson, put their heads together and decided to explore the level of demand for opening a community shop. The involved the whole village in a survey to find out how many villagers would support a community shop, and how many would be prepared to help with fund raising and actually running the shop. The results of the survey were clear cut. There was a good level of demand and a committee was formed to try and make the dream a reality.
Rita became chairman, supported by Jim Bailey as vice chairman, Colin Holt as Secretary, Don Goodman as Treasurer and Miranda Dowie as fundraiser in chief. The committee sought help from Suffolk ACRE and social enterprise specialist Cynthia Schears provided her expertise.
Rita explained that the first job was to find a suitable site for the shop and the quest led them to a redundant stable block at The Lion pub, a Greene King pub in the heart of the village. In this respect Stoke by Clare villagers had found a very similar possible home for their shop as Monks Eleigh villagers found for their own highly successful community shop and Post Office, which is housed in a building leased to them by the landlord of The Swan public house.
Rita and her committee are delighted by the support they have received from Lion publicans Stuart and Irene Hayes landlords at The Lion since the start of the project. A variety of fund raising events took place including a book sale, a barbecue and a car boot sale to develop the village’s contribution to the overall funds needed. In the event it took just one year to reach the £50,000 target, with grants from a number of sources.
Another Stoke by Clare villager, Dawn Deane took on the role of researcher for choosing the goods that the shop will sell, and also had an important role in developing the style and look of the shop.
At the time Rita explored the rules, regulations and requirements of running a Post Office. She already had experience of working in the old Post Office before it closed, which was a tremendous help to the project.
As a result it became feasible to incorporate a Post Office with the shop, and it is equipped with a time-delay safe as good security for staff and cash.
It was a proud day for Stoke by Clare when the shop was declared open on Monday 17th October 2005, and when fully 10% of the village community had volunteered to help with the running of the shop.
The committee has adopted the policy of sourcing local products whenever possible and several baked goods from Hawthorne House at Baythorne End just across the border in Essex are to be found on the central display table. There is a good selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, seasonal items, dairy goods, and tinned food on the surrounding shelves, plus confectionary and household basics. A freezer cabinet completes the set up.