How it all Began
In 2010 Helen Rimmer, the village Post Mistress, decided to give up the retail side of her business and contacted the Parish Council who formed a steering committee to look at how our local shop could be supported as a community business. A small group of residents soon got together to research the idea of a community shop, they wanted to find out what customers wanted and to raise funds for the project. With a lot of help from the Plunkett Foundation and Virsa, they developed a business plan and presented it to the community. Residents were invited to become members of an Industrial and Provident Society and through their contributions £8,000 was raised and the Parish Councils of Ashton Hayes and Mouldsworth donated £7,000 enabling the committee to apply for grant funding of £30,000.
The above is a rather simple summary of the hundreds of hours that went into this project. Regular committee meetings, correspondence with various organisations, researching how other community shops started, raising money, applying for grants, recruiting volunteers; this all took a lot of time and effort on behalf of the committee members. The shop will continue to develop in response to the needs of the community so we hope you will keep supporting us to maintain this essential part of village life.
Who’s Who
The Community Shop has one full time manager and five part-time staff to provide continuity
Staff
- Deb Deynem (Manager)
- Sam Denny
- Dawn Hearne
- Sarah Jones
- Lesley Groves
- Linda Peppin
- Jill Martin
- Margaret Papworth
- Richard Groves
Committee
- Lisa Allman
- Maria Lindley
- Kate Harrison
- John Hirst
- Lionel Greaves
- Nikki Partington
- Margaret Papworth
- Richard Stradling
If you wish to contact the shop please speak to the shop Manager Deb Deynem on 01829 759023 or via email at amcshop@btconnect.com
Our Committee Chair is Lisa Allman who can be contacted on ljallman@btinternet.com
Our postal address is:
Ashton Hayes and Mouldsworth Community Shop
Kelsall Road
Ashton Hayes
Chester
CH3 8BH
What is a Community Shop?
A shop that is owned and run by a community for the benefit of the community. There are now over 230 rural community shops across the UK. The Plunkett Foundation “promotes and supports co-operatives and social enterprises in rural communities worldwide, providing support, networks and knowledge to help rural communities to be aware of, understand and implement practical solutions to the challenges that they are facing.” You can find out more by visiting the Plunkett Foundation.
What is an IPS?
An Industrial and Provident Society (IPS) is an organisation set up to carry out a trade or business for community benefit. It is incorporated, which means that it has gone through the registration process that converts a new or existing business into a corporate body, making it a legal entity in its own right. IPSs are regulated by the Financial Services Authority, which took the job over from the Registrar of Friendly Societies (both being supervised by the Treasury). Industrial and provident societies may in general conduct any legal business except that of investment for profit.
An IPS has:
- a written set of rules
- a legal identity
- the ability to own property
- the ability to enter into contracts
- additional legal requirements e.g. company law
- limited liability (i.e. the liability on management committee members is usually limited to a nominal amount)
- a profit-making ability, which is put back into the organisation.
Become a Shareholder
You can still subscribe for shares in the shop – download an application form here.
If you wish to get in contact with us about any aspect of the website please email us at ashtonmouldsworthshop@gmail.com providing as much information as possible.