WITH over £2000 to award to projects within the Parish of Yarpole, Yarpole Community Shop (The Shop in the Church) is proving a real benefit to the local community.

The final amount will be decided by the Shop Board once accounts for 2015 have been confirmed by the accountants. The projects will be debated and voted on by shareholders at the Community Shop's AGM on Thursday, June 2 which will be held in St Leonard's Church, Yarpole. All Community Shop shareholders are eligible to vote.

Yarpole Community Shop was the winner of the Countryside Alliance award for Best Village Shop and Post Office in the UK in 2010. Few community village shops in the UK have been in a position to distribute funds back to their local communities.

So far applications have been received from several sources and these include additional footpath gates on popular footpaths, improvement of the projection facilities, equipment for the Yarpole dog agility class, improvement to the access to the church, purchase of sheet music for the local male voice choir.

Last year the shop was able to dispense a total of £1,650 from profits to local schemes.

Andrew Praill the chairman of Yarpole Community Shop Management Board said 'I am delighted that due to the continued successful trading of the shop in 2015 we are able to fund local projects which will benefit the whole community. And if the local community continues to support the shop we will be able to fund further local projects in coming years. We are unable to compete with the big supermarkets on price but we do offer a wide range of local and convenience products which are similarly priced and do not involve the need to travel to the nearest towns. The saving in petrol more than makes up for any price difference in your shopping basket. We are proud to be at the heart of our community and especially proud of the hard work of all our volunteers and also our two paid part-time staff.'