"There is so much talent locally": East Yorkshire villagers who saved their local shop reflect on its success a year on

Swiss-born Annina Diston, who came to the village just over three years ago with her husband and children, was one of the instigators and, as a designer by trade, set out the new shop with a café area at the front, a mezzanine at the back and plenty of storage.

“From the start we had thought of the shop as more than just a shop, but a hub, a meeting place,” said Annina.

“Having a café space and a lot more floor space to enable us to sell more local produce was important and while we haven’t been able to use the mezzanine or the café as much as we would want before lockdown the mezzanine did prove popular with the older schoolchildren coming for a hot chocolate and talking about homework.

“The way things have gone, we opened at just the right time and we’ve had massive support from everyone in the village.

“There is an amazing community atmosphere here and from the time we started talking about re-opening it to having planning meetings, the shop has proved a real opportunity for everyone to get to know each other.”

Bishop Wilton is five miles from the nearest larger towns of Pocklington and Stamford Bridge with very few shops in between, which Annina said was one of the main reasons residents wanted to keep their village shop open.

“We had always wanted to live out in the countryside and Bishop Wilton is such a lovely village, but without a shop it can make a community more isolated,” said Annina.

“I didn’t know many people here when the previous shop owner decided to close but I knew Ruth Rowland who owns Wolds Edge Holiday Cottages in the village and we set up a meeting with others in the village hall.”

Annina said the first meeting was pretty nerve-racking, but an attendance of around 30 was “very encouraging”. It also proved very rewarding as it led to her meeting many others who were all keen to play their own significant parts in the shop’s re-opening.

The volunteer team took advice from The Plunkett Foundation that supports the opening or reopening of community shops and community pubs, particularly in rural areas.

They also received encouragement from Lord Irwin whose family owns premises in the village. The village group approached him about a possible new location for the community shop when they came across difficulties with the lease agreement for the present site. “Lord Irwin suggested that we should just buy it,” said Annina.

“Ruth Rowland’s father, Peter Marriage, who owns flour mills provided funding for the purchase and we as a community pulled together to raise the funding for the interior, its design and fittings.

“There really were so many of us who became involved and we now have a team of around 50-60 volunteers who help our shop manager Sue Dixon.

“What is amazing is how much talent there is in this small village. Our shop committee includes experts from all industries.”

Annina’s professional expertise saw her stripping the shop back to be able to maximise its potential for improvement. She said she has aimed to put character back into the property that was once a Primitive Methodist chapel.

For all the residents involved in the project, longevity is the primary concern.

“It’s impossible for us to compare anything to a ‘normal’ after our first year of being in and out of lockdown, but we have expanded our stock massively during the year as we have responded to customers’ requests.

“Our aim has always been to have the shop open as much as possible.”

A questionnaire was sent out to all the villagers to ask what they wanted to be stocked in the shop and Annina said red wine is a particularly big seller and they now stock their own branded Bishop Wilton Merlot.

The shop is managed by Sue Dixon, a long-standing member of the volunteer team. Sue lives a mile outside the village on the Garrowby Estate and took on management of the shop in October last year.

“Our volunteers fill 53 sessions every week and without them it couldn’t operate,” said Sue. “Everyone gives what they can and that all helps make this more than just a shop. It’s somewhere everyone can come to, obviously more so when the restrictions are lifted.

“We now stock a really good range and a lot of local produce. It has been a real village effort by everyone and we have our shop back hopefully forever.”