Pete J's Community Challenge

In 1996 the villagers of Tytherington proposed the building of a village shop to mark the millennium. This idea gained much support from everyone, it was believed that the shop could be placed in the old village hall bicycle shed. Unfortunately the site wasn't big enough and multiple potable cabins were turned down by the planners. Substantial funds were raised by the villagers to build a brand new building on a piece of church land, with the shop paying an annual lease fee of £365 or £1 a day. With £16,000 in the bank already a donation on £1000 pounds from ARC was a big bonus, as well as this when construction got underway in ?? they supplied 40 tonnes of concrete, workers and machinery. Also the shops funding gained £2,500 from Country Work.

In June 1998 the shop was officially opened by one of Tytherington's oldest residents Ambrose Johnson. A month later a post office was set up and opened inside the shop, both facilities were run by a team of around 30 volunteers. In ?? the post office was placed on the governments hit list of post offices to be closed, this was met by strong opposition from the villagers of Tytherington with petitions being signed and a rally outside the shop which was attended by the local mp Steve Webb.Unfortunately their efforts were not enough and the post office was closed ?? years later, leaving people to go to Cromhall or Thornbury to get stamps and collect their pension. But the people loved the post office and didn't give up and in 2009 they managed to gain funding from South Gloucestershire Council, the parish council and donations from committed villagers. With this money and some hard work the shop was reopened on the 29th of June 2009. Among the people at the ceremony were Steve Webb MP and to cut the ribbon the original opener of the shop and now oldest man in the village Ambrose Johnson.