READY for Christmas!!

Our Christmas tree, kindly donated by Charlie Frost in Newdigate, is happily planted on the island outside the shop, and Ant Hamilton has spent several hours of his precious time installing Christmas lights on the tree and on the fascia, as well as inside the shop. Heather Simister has done a wonderful job decorating the shop window - it looks stunning.
Inside the shop is a hive of activity. Masses of Christmas stock is in store now - look out for the local hand-made chocolates, beautiful Christmas bouquets to order, and a great range of locally produced jams, chutneys, mincemeat, preserves, oils, cakes etc etc. Nearer to the time we shall have home-made mince pies as well.

WE ARE TAKING ORDERS FOR FLOWERS, FRESH VEGETABLES AND BREADS. THESE CAN BE COLLECTED CHRISTMAS EVE, OR EARLIER BY ARRANGEMENT.

Summer in the store

We now have prize-winning local honey in store, plus a wide range of locally grown vegetables - beautiful romanesque cauliflowers (so pretty: shall we eat them or photograph them?), new season's parsnips, beetroot, radishes, french and runner beans, huge marrows and local onions. Richard Ramsden is supplier of the month for his dedication in providing the shop with a steady stream of just-picked veg: courgettes several times a week, plus his beans and cucumbers. We are looking forward to his squashes and pumpkins!
The shop is as busy as ever and we were very pleased to find that sales didn't drop during the holiday period, when so many of our local customers were away.

Village of the Year Award

Yesterday we received the new that Brockham has been voted Surrey Village of the Year in the Business category, thanks in part to the launching of our community shop this year. Other factors were the new and well-run Brockham website(www.brockham.org) and the village's fundraising efforts for the Surrey Air Ambulance appeal. We are very proud to have helped bring this award home.

Local produce

Our new fruit and veg chiller is stocked full this week with redcurrants, blackcurrants, strawberries and whitecurrants, plus broad beans, beetroot and beautiful fresh courgettes picked in Brockham this morning. We also have red spring onions, lollo rosso and other lettuces, and baby spinach - ready to make an interesting salad.
Champion pork pies, great-quality ham and free-range eggs are all on sale for those summer meals. Lots of chilled white wines and local ales to wash it all down - or the non-alcoholic option of our gorgeous Chegworth Valley juices.

Summer produce is a-comin' in!

Today we take delivery of our new fruit and veg chiller, thanks in part to a generous donation from Brockham Parish Council. We need it! In addition to the local veg we buy in from Guildford, and the staples we get from Covent Garden, we are stocking more and more of our own village produce. We have gooseberries, redcurrants, beautiful new potatoes, radishes, and fresh lettuce leaves, all from the village - as fresh as fresh can be, and putting into practice Alan's (our mentor's) motto, which is:'food yards not food miles!'

Two months on and going strong

We have been too busy to write anything for two months!
The shop has gone from strength to strength, gaining new customers all the time, and adding new lines and new ideas. We are starting to find our feet and have settled down with our suppliers, although we have made life a bit harder for ourselves by having over 20 local suppliers in addition to our main wholesalers. This is what makes us special, though - and the people that visit us invariably remark on the range of products. We also want to do our bit for local businesses and farms so we are proud that we have become an outlet for so many of them.
Top marks so far have got to go to Debbie Nicholas, our absolutely amazing cake supplier. Debbie lives a couple of miles down the road and from her kitchen and her garden she produces the most stunning cakes, jams and chutneys. Because she uses her own hens' freshly laid eggs, the cakes are as light as a feather. We sell them by the slice or as whole cakes.
Claire's flowers are doing very well and she has brought in a range of hanging baskets. There are tomato plants for sale at the moment, and some of our local gardeners are donating courgette plants etc. We are now also selling freshly dug new potatoes (gorgeous) and we always try to have a basketful of fresh local asparagus - only a couple more weeks to go in the asparagus season, so hurry! It's fantastic with some fresh South Downs butter and some slivers of Twineham Grange italian-style hard cheese from West Sussex!!

Off to a flying start

The first three weeks of trading have been absolutely amazing, and our weekly turnover has turned out to be 50 percent higher than anticipated. We are delighted of course, especially because of the wonderful support from the local residents and all the positive comments. We soon realized that we had underestimated the number of staff needed to run what is quite a complex business - as the cafe side of the shop is turning out to be a big hit with locals and passing traffic alike.
We have quite a few dedicated volunteers which is helping,plus the students on their Easter break are putting in extra hours, but our dedicated and somehow ever-cheerful manager, Jane, is looking forward to her first day off on Easter Sunday!
We have had lots of press coverage, particularly when the Post Point was launched on Monday 6 April. We can also now offer cashback, and the Internet service is up and running, with two terminals plus free Wi-Fi for anyone bringing in a laptop.
The flowers by very talented Claire Bryant, cakes by the tireless Debbie Nicholas and local produce from nearby farms are all very popular and we are finding that people are seeking us out for these things. Jane and the rest of the committee are hard pushed to keep up with the deliveries, but we shall keep on keeping on!!

WE ARE OPEN!

On a beautiful spring day, The Shop at Strood Green opened its doors for the first time to a large crowd waiting patiently on the freshly mown green outside. John Beavan, one of our older Strood Green residents, shared the honour of cutting the ribbon with young Toby Songhurst, who at 8 years old is our youngest volunteer! The press were there in force, and the crowds didn't lessen all day. At one stage it was taking nearly an hour to reach the till (which had only become fully operational about 14 hours previously!). We had to rely on everyone's patience as the shop was overwhelmed with the amount of customers. It has been a great start! The hard work continues for the committee for a little while, as we get to grips with new routines and staffing arrangements, but this is the time to say a huge thankyou to those volunteers like Jim Tucker, Ant Hamilton, Mike Palmer, Richard Ramsden, Hilary Budd, David Ludlow and many others who turned out to be fantastically helpful and tireless in the last few days when we worked against the clock to get the shop open.

Huge progress

There has been huge progress made at the shop, the building work completed, the new shop front installed, the floor tiled, the interior decorated, the counter built and miles of cabling and electrics laid. Phew!!! No wonder we haven't had time to update this!!
The decorating was undertaken by the Community Service arm of the probation service and a great job they did too. Some even mowed and tidied up the green.
Ant and Mike have created up to date lighting and alarm systems from nothing and been working long days and are still smiling. They have been working alongside all the other trades and so far have survived the freezing cold, brick and mdf dust and the chippies singing!
Today we had a delivery of freezers and chillers, giving us an idea of how much space we will have left to put in the shelving and other units.
The staff have been recruited and can't wait to start serving. Jane Holmes is joined by Sean Kennedy, Tracey Clinging, Scarlett Cummins and Louise Stone. They will be training over the next couple of weeks and getting ready for the big day.
Volunteers are now being sought to assist in the day to day running of the shop, alongside the staff. Anyone interested should contact Jane. It should be a friendly welcoming place to come to and fun to work in.
The winning numbers for the February 200 club were 1st nbr 172, 2nd nbr 104, 3rd nbr 149. Unfortunately all we unsold this time, the first time that has happened since the club started.

A thing of beauty!

The new shop front has now been installed and is being finished this week. It will be painted in its true colours of cream and jade later in February. We are very pleased with it! Meanwhile a massive amount of work is being done behind those boards, with state of the art security, all the wiring, lighting and suspended ceilings, new doors etc.

Goodbye shop front

The hideous old shop front ended up in the skip a few days ago, and not many tears were shed about that! The work inside the shop is proceeding at a frantic pace, with Ant and Mike the electricians working all hours on the electrics, security, and data wiring. The shop will be truly up to 21st century standards! Clive Murrell and his carpenters have been transforming the space inside, and the air conditioning units have been installed. On Monday the new shop front will begin to be fitted, and the interior will soon be ready for the plasterer.
Behind the scenes is very busy with equipment and stock sourcing, setting up contracts and services, advertising for staff, and designing the 'look' of the shop, as well as preparing for the grand opening.
Put the 21st March in your diaries!!