A CAMPAIGN backed by hundreds of people to save a village store has welcomed the laying of a ‘shop in a box’.

A shop in Broughton could have been lost after Bob and Judith Gillespie, who own West View Stores, decided to retire after 16 years.

But a committee of passionate villagers decided that a shipping container would be a perfect base.

Julia Jenkins, co-chair of the Broughton Community Shop committee, said: “A group of people got together and said they couldn’t lose the village shop and over the last 18 months, having sent out questionnaires and done a lot of research, we are going ahead and setting up a community shop.

“It is owned by the community, run by the community, for the benefit of the community.”

To buy the container and get it up and running, the group raised £50,000 with 210 shareholders, mainly village residents, offering to help.

The shop was due to open on Monday August 20, the day after West View Stores closes for the final time.

Julia, who runs the committee alongside Jane Tabor, said: “When the container landed it all of a sudden became a reality, we have been talking about it in the third person and now it is a reality – it is really exciting.”

The committee has also been overwhelmed by the number of people willing to volunteer, with 90 offering to help out with anything from serving behind the till to cleaning, but the shop needs more people to come forward.

“We are aiming to open Monday to Friday 8am to 5.30pm, Saturday 8.30am to 12.30pm and Sunday 9.30am to 12.30pm and we have 39 volunteers shifts a week to fill.”

To help the committee get to this stage it has enlisted the help of nearby community shops in Abbots Ann, Goodworth Clatford and Braishfield.

The store will stock the basics, but it is hoped that it will be able to offer supplies from local producers in the future.

However, the container is only a temporary solution as the shop will move into the extended village hall by mid-2019.