LAST weekend the people of Sandford celebrated the ninth birthday of their Community Stores and Post Office.

On December 11, 2006, the village became the proud owners of the premises.

Within five years, the business was debt free and since then has been able to donate money to organisations in the parish.

Many people have been involved in making the shop and Post Office a success.

Stu Wight, the Postmaster and shop manager has been there from the very beginning and Vicki Maya, the assistant shop manager, has been working alongside him for almost as long.

A strong team of volunteers are involved both in the shop and behind the scenes and several of the original volunteers continue to give their time to keep this jewel shining.

As well as selling basic goods, the shop managers try hard to stock a wide range of foodstuffs from local producers.

There are products that are unique to the Stores, such as the Sandford Calendar and some that have very few outlets, such as Copplestone Old Kitchen’s florentines.

Profit margins are carefully controlled to tread the delicate line between providing a service to the village and being a profitable business.

This means customers can often find goods at very good prices.

As a birthday present the shop has been given a new logo.

Children from Years 1, 2 and 3 at Sandford School took part in a competition to design the logo in the Spring of 2015.

The winning design was by Sebi Gibbs, aged six.

His design was converted into digital format by Hannah Huggins, a talented local designer who is a customer of the shop and a parent at the school.

Charlie Werner, spokesman, said: “Sandford Community Stores and Post Office is much more than a shop.

“It plays a significant part in the life of the village. It is the beating heart of the village and long may it continue.”

Alan Quick