A COMMUNITY shop in Hawkesbury is celebrating the chance for a new look in the New Year after winning £45,000 in grants.

The Hawkesbury Store, which was due to close in June 2016 after the owners had said they planned to sell the property back in January, was bought by the village, thanks to investment by almost half the residents and launched in July.

Following a series of applications for further funding, the store’s volunteer management group has announced plans to refurbish it after winning the impressive sum thanks to two grants - £35,000 made up of a £27,000 grant from Rural Development Programme for England with a supplementary fund of £8,000 raised by the village.

The second grant of £10,000 came from an as yet unnamed source only days later.

“We've had an amazing first six months as a community-owned shop, and this news is such an exciting boost for everyone, ending 2016 on a real high,” said Jane Shepley from the store’s volunteer management group.

“We were applying for grants as we didn’t have enough capital to fund the refurbishment ourselves, so to have our first application come through was incredible.”

The plans include the refurbishment of part of the building and the office, with the stock room being converted into a rentable space which would be made available to a local business.

New chillers will also be bought for the store, allowing them to display more stock.

Plans are also being discussed to develop a small café area in the store, offering coffee, tea and cakes.

The news of the first grant was announced at the volunteer’s Christmas party on December 18, the village was able to celebrate festively with an abundance of mulled wine and mince pies – with news of the second grant coming through only a few days later.

“It was brilliant that we could announce the first grant at our volunteers' Christmas party, because this project has been driven and enabled by scores of people giving their time and skills freely.

“Just a day or two later we received the news about the second grant. It feels like all Hawkesbury Stores' Christmases have come at once and we can't wait to get cracking in 2017!

“A huge thank you goes out to everyone who has given their expertise, energy, enthusiasm, time to the stores. We wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near this far without their continual support.”