A POPULAR village shop is celebrating 25 years of successful trading.

Few village community shops can lay claim to a quarter of a century’s worth of a thriving business but Halstock Village Shop is celebrating serving its community since 1991.

To mark the milestone the store held a ‘come-one-and-all’ party that attracted the crowds.

An estimated 150 people from Halstock and surrounding villages enjoyed a barbecue, live music and in-store bargains.

Richard Fry, co-founder and Chairman of Halstock Village Shop Limited, welcomed guests including West Dorset MP Oliver Letwin and district councillors Peter Barrowcliff and Tony Alford. In his greeting, Mr Fry thanked volunteer staff and full time managers for their hard work over the years. He especially recognised those who had been in at the start of the ground-breaking venture 25 years ago, including Alison Smith, wife of co-founder Derek Smith, and Betty Harris, the shop’s first volunteer manager. Both Betty and Alison were presented with bouquets by Mr Letwin.

Halstock Village Shop benefits from having both an experienced full-time manager and assistant manager, who also operate its much-valued Post Office service. The remainder of the staff comprises a team of about 15 volunteers, who give their time on a regular basis to ensure the shop is open for business from 8am, seven days a week.

Staff and volunteers describe it as a “community enterprise”, and aside from providing a service, say it fulfils many other roles including being a social meeting place for the village, a busy focus for ‘what’s-on’ information and even for a bit of a gossip.

Tony Woodroffe, chairman of the Halstock Shop’s management committee said: “The long-lasting success of our community venture has been down to many things not least our loyal customers and hard-working staff and managers. We often hear that our example has helped to inspire others to follow suit and we are always happy to share our experiences with other community shops, and to help one another to grow and flourish.”