As another year draws to a close, we would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported and volunteered at our village community shop. Their dedication has kept our shop open.

A special thank you goes to those who serve behind the counter day in and day out. Your cheerful welcome at the till makes every visit a pleasure. We are also deeply grateful to the volunteers who fill our shelves with care and attention, ensuring everything is easy to find and well-stocked for our customers.

We would also like to extend particular appreciation to our post office trained volunteers. Their commitment and training provide an essential service to the village, allowing us to offer more than just shopping—a true lifeline for many.

Together, your efforts have made the shop more than a place just to buy milk and bread. It’s a place of connection and community spirit.

Stephen Smith presented the financial report:

A draft Profit & Loss Account and Balance Sheet for 2025 were circulated to shareholders with the notice of the meeting.  The full accounts have subsequently been examined and signed by Haines & Co who have again acted as independent reviewer this year. Full copies of the signed accounts are available at this meeting for members to look at or on request afterwards.

The accounts show a loss of £2,212. This is mainly due to the impact of depreciation of assets acquired in 2021/22 which were fully funded by Covid-related grants which under accounting rules had to be fully recognised as income in 2020/21. It is more meaningful to focus on the position without this historical hangover which is that we sustained a loss of £516.

• Sales of £194,661, footfall of 566 per week and the gross margin of 18.4% were all close to the previous year.

• Expenses of £42,455 were £1,064 (3%) up on the previous year despite cost saving initiatives implemented by the Management Committee. The main driver of the increase was staff costs following an uplift in the National Living Wage.

• Donations of £1,000 from WSM Parish Council and £150 from Meet & Eat mitigated the reported loss.

• On the Balance Sheet, stocks rose slightly to £17,332 whilst cash balances remain healthy.

The result for 2024/25 continues the trend evident post Covid of sales flatlining whilst costs continue to rise for reasons beyond our control. During that 4 year period, sales have been around £195,000 each year despite inflation whilst costs have risen by 8%.

Faced with a similar outlook for 2025/26 the Management Committee decided to mothball one of the freezers in April to save over £1,000 of electricity costs whilst only slightly narrowing the product range. This will largely offset this year’s salary increase.

Further ahead there is a need to re-structure the operation which Linda (Chairman) will talk more about.

Report of the Management Committee for AGM and Parish Council:

As Stephen says now is the time to look to the future of our community shop. Unless we make some changes, we could end up incurring unsustainable losses if sales remain static and costs continue rising.

This report together with Stephen’s and my earlier Chair’s remarks will be put in the August Village Magazine and Facebook for all to read.

We have the opportunity to extend our lease earlier than May 2027 when it is due for renewal. We currently have a 6 months breakpoint in our lease should we need it.

Jackie is due to retire in February 2026. We as a Management Committee will be advertising for a new manager in mid November with a start date of 7th February so that will give a 2-week crossover between managers.

We aim to have applications in by 2nd week of December with interviews in early January. We would prefer to have someone who has experience but training could be given if needed.

Based on the current level of demand/footfall we have no choice but to restructure staffing hours to re-set the cost base. We are looking at ways of dropping down to 27 paid hours per week in March 2026 from the current 33 and opening shorter hours if volunteer support is insufficient.

We have repeatedly asked for more volunteers but hardly ever get any interest, this has been highlighted recently when Jackie was on holiday at the same time as some regular “volunteers” and we had to take the decision to close the shop on both Tuesday afternoons which as a committee we apologise for but was unavoidable.

A few hours by anyone new would help lighten the load of the few who do many hours behind the counter or man the Post Office.

We strive to keep the Community Shop an available and integral part of the village but without some more help this will become increasingly difficult.

To take things forward we have therefore taken the decision to hold an open meeting to discuss what the parishioners want from their Community Shop or do they even want it at all. A sobering thought: in the first year of operation (2017/18) shop footfall was 861 per week – it is now 566.

WSM Shop & Post Office – “AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE” meeting will be held in the Parish Hall on the 25th September 2025.  This will be an Open Meeting for the Parish.

        Linda Cobbledick

        Chair of the Management committee