I am sure you will agree watching the Coronation of our new King, King Charles III was a magnificent sight and something I will not forget in a very long time. Those of you that visited the shop the week before the Coronation will have been asked to donate a product to our foodbank collection on behalf of the North Cotswolds Foodbank. On behalf of the Trustees of the foodbank we would like to say thank-you for your very generous donations, weighing in at an amazing 54kg. A record amount from Bledington Shop.

Your generous donations also entered you into our “Right Royal Raffle”. Many congratulations to those of you that were successful in winning a Royal Prize.

There are so many beautiful and delicious new fruits and vegetables at their best right now from early salad leaves, such as rocket and lambs lettuce to juicy English strawberries. All available fresh into the shop every day.

As you all know back in March we won the Countryside Alliance Rural Oscars Award 2023 for Best Village Shop in the South West of England. This week I went with Louise Jackson to the House of Lords to attend the Grand Final. Unfortunately we did not win, but we were in the top 3 businesses
out of 15,000 nominated across England, Wales and Scotland which is an amazing achievement. Without our great team of staff and volunteers, incredible customers this would not have been possible. So thank you.

Coming up in June we have many events happening in the village which we are very proud to be supporting. At the beginning of June is the Bledington Music Festival 6 to 8 June. Tickets are still available at the shop. (Cash or cheque only). Plus we have the Bledington Summer Fête on Saturday 10 June.

In the shop we will have lots of cards and presents for Fathers Day Sunday 18 June so please pop into the shop and pick up something special for your father.

Don’t forget, if you are new to the village, or surrounding area volunteering in the shop is the perfect way to meet new friends, introduce yourself to your neighbours plus you are giving something back to our community. For more information about volunteering please do pop in and
ask. I look forward to seeing you all very soon.

April has brought us many showers, but as the proverb says, let’s hope it brings lots of May flowers. We have enjoyed a very busy month in both the shop and café with lots of visitors to the village during the Easter period. Our award winning bread supplier, Marks Cotswold Bakery, supplied us with lots of delicious hot cross buns and the Cotswold Chocolate Company supplied the most delicious easter eggs in various shapes and sizes, from chicks to bunnies.

We have lots of fun events coming up in the weeks ahead, with the first ever Bledington Community Shop and Café dog competition! As you know we are dog friendly and love to see our canine friends coming in with their well-behaved owners! If you own a dog, please bring a photograph to the shop and we will display your furry friend for all our customers to enjoy. We are asking pupils of Bledington Primary School, who live in Bledington and surrounding villages, to come and visit the shop and vote for their favourite dog. The winning dog will enjoy something tasty!

To celebrate his Majesty the King’s Coronation we are holding a fun “Right Royal Raffle”, with all prizes being royalty related. To enter simply donate a product to the North Cotswold foodbank box at the shop or pop a few pennies in the collection tin. Good luck.

We have lots of new goodies coming in for the Coronation from Coronation Chicken crisps to King Charles sweets, so please pop in and have a look.

Finally, Louise Jackson, one of our super volunteers, and I, will be off to the House of Lords on the 17May 2023 to attend the finals of the Countryside Alliance Rural Oscars awards. Please keep everything crossed and hope that we win the Best Village Shop in the whole of the United Kingdom. We look forward to seeing you soon.

March certainly arrived like a lion, we have had some very cold and snowy days. Lets hope it goes out like a lamb and that the longer days and the gorgeous Spring bulbs means that Spring is finally here. Have you seen the Spring bulbs and flowers that we have planted up just outside the entrance to the shop?

We have been celebrating a few national food weeks, with “Real Bread Week” championing our amazing local supplier Marks Cotswold Bakery a 5 star award winning bread maker. We then had national “Pie Week” again promoting another local supplier the Outdoor Pig Company who make all our delicious pork pies, quiches and traditional pasties.

Last Sunday was Mothers Day so a big thank you to all our amazing mums, mothers, grannies and grandmothers who live in our village. I hope you were able to spend some time and say thank you for everything that they do for you. I know if it wasn’t for my amazing Mother I would not be the person I am today, so thank you Mum.

We will soon be celebrating Easter. We have an amazing choice of cards, gifts and of course chocolate so please pop in and pick up some chocolatey treats.

Finally I am proud and delighted that the very talented Amy Jackson has personally designed for us our very own Bledington Tea Towel. As you may know Amy designed the labels for our Old Orchard Bledington Gin and Sloe Gin. She also designs the Bledington Christmas card for us. The tea towel which features the ducks which live on the village green comes in 3 colours, cream, mustard or sage green. So why not pop into the shop and purchase your very own Bledington Tea Towel. Many thanks Amy for all your hard work and attention to detail; they look incredible.