Author Archive

The snow caused a bit more than frozen fingers and toes this month. It fell with such speed that it caused a large tree branch to snap off and fall into the road right outside our shop! The branch blocked the whole road, narrowly missing a parked car. The only "tools" we keep in the shop are some cutlery and a ruler so we were pretty helpless to fix this problem! Luckily for us, the first person driving up the road was a local farmer, well equipped with a chainsaw in the back of his car and who was able to set to work clearing the scene. Thank you, Andrew, your help was very much appreciated. Please pop into the shop next time you are passing for a free cup of coffee!

We are very pleased to announce that a whopping £180 was raised from our Christmas Hamper Raffle.

All the proceeds were given to Rev David Harris to put towards the repair of our church clock.

Thank you to everyone who took part and congratulations to the lucky winners!

Please can you help us? We are supporting the Exeter Foodbank which gives emergency food to local people in crisis.

When you next visit us, would you consider adding another item to your shopping list to put in our foodbank? All donations must be non-perishable and in date and a list of suitable items – from UHT milk to tins of fruit – can be found on our noticeboard.

There is a box in the corner of the shop for all your donations. When the box is full we will take it to the collection point where it will be distributed to people who really need it.

For more information about Exeter Foodbank, please see their website: http://exeter.foodbank.org.uk/

Your generosity and support will help stop local people going hungry this Christmas.

The shop has been up and running for three months now and we all felt it was time to say a big THANK YOU to the lovely folk who volunteer at the shop and who are responsible for making it the success that it is. Alan kindly emptied out his barn (apologies to any sheep or alpaca who were suddenly homeless for a few hours) and soon it was full of smiling people. The evening was an opportunity for volunteers and their families to meet each other and to enjoy some delicious hot food cooked on the bbq (indoors, of course!) and some scrumptious desserts. There was even time for some impromptu skittle games too! It was a lovely evening with a wonderful atmosphere and it makes us very proud to say that we are members of this very special community.

Ilsington Village Shop has just been awarded a 5 star food hygiene rating from the Food Standards Agency.

Well done to Emma and all our volunteers for such high standards. First class!

Winston Oh is a celebrated watercolour artist who exhibits his work all over the world.

We are incredibly lucky that Winston's local connections have inspired him to create a calendar based entirely on our little corner of Dartmoor. With beautiful paintings of Haytor Vale. Smallacombe Rocks, Holwell Lawn, Widecombe, Buckland and Ilsington, this is more than just a calendar – it is a work of art!

All proceeds from the sale of this limited edition 2013 calendar will go to St. Michael's church in Ilsington and Ilsington Village Shop.

This is a unique opportunity to purchase a beautiful gift to keep or to share.

For more information on Winston and his work, please visit his website: http://www.winstonoh.com

Extract from the Mid Devon Advertiser Friday July 20 2012:

More than three years of fundraising paid off in Ilsington on Wednesday when villagers celebrated the opening of their new community shop. The original intention was only to provide an extension to the popular village hall, which is used by groups every day and was short on space. But when their shop went the way of so many others, residents decided to stretch themselves and add a store into the mix. That pushed the cost to £224,000 and a last minute hitch at Defra almost scuppered their chances.

Erica Williams, chairman of the community projects committee, said: “With the Village Hall Committee and the Shop Committee we’ve worked very hard together to make this happen. Defra granted us £179,000 but just as the award was about to be approved, cuts meant the decision had to be taken nationally, but thankfully we still got it.

Everyone has been working like Trojans to get the stock in and labelled and now it looks fantastic. We’re selling everything you’d want from a village shop at prices we think are fair, we’ve even got wine and local meat.

Because we are lucky enough to have had more than 50 people volunteer to work in the shop, together with the part time manager, we are hoping to open 8am to 7.30pm Monday to Saturday and half day on Sunday, too.

Even youngsters like my 15-year-old daughter Mikala have signed up and it’s funny because people who didn’t think they had missed the old shop now want to get involved because they realise the social role it played, too.

I can’t believe we’ve actually got here after so long, everyone’s really excited and it’s absolutely brilliant.”

Pupils from Ilsington Primary School sang to the crowds and the guest of honour, broadcaster Tony Beard, the Wag from Widecombe, performed the honours.

We are very proud to present the video made by the lovely people at Pangaea TV of our Grand Opening Day. Reach for the hankies before you start watching as there won't be a dry eye in the house when the children of Ilsington Primary School start singing!

Ilsington Village Shop Opening Day Movie

July 18th 2012 was a very special day in the village of Ilsington. After nearly four long years of planning, fundraising and organising, Ilsington Village Shop finally opened its doors to the public for the very first time. It was a very proud and emotional day for everyone and the opening speeches reflected that. Tony Beard, BBC Radio Devon presenter and local celebrity cut the ribbon for us "disguised" as his alter ego, the Widecombe Wag. The children from Ilsington Primary School sang a beautiful song and refreshments were served in the hall as well as food tasting in the shop. The time capsule that was found during the building of the shop was displayed so that everyone could read the newspaper cuttings and look up the signatures of Ilsington Villagers – some sadly no longer with us – who supported the building of the Village Hall 50 years ago. The whole community turned out to celebrate the opening of THEIR shop and not even the rain could dampen their spirits:

Our new shop is well on the way to being completed and so we decided it was time to gather together all those lovely people who had offered to help at the shop three years ago when the Country Store first closed. A lovely spread of cheese and wine combined with some uplifting speeches from Alan Hobbs and Sue Norris helped answer any questions and reconfirm that people still wanted to volunteer their services. Jane and Neil Turner from Bovey Construction very kindly donated all the wine for the evening and also bought down the keys to the shop to allow us all a sneaky peak inside at progress so far. It was both emotional and exciting to see how fantastic the new shop looks. After over three years of fighting and working towards this goal, it is amazing to think that it is finally happening for real!

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer or helping in any way, please look at our Volunteer page.