Villagers raise thousands to save only shop

Villagers have smashed a £250,000 target as part of a plan to take over and run their only shop.

The Hesket Newmarket Community Shop project raised more than £300,000 since its appeal launch in June.

The store and its Post Office facility, in Cumbria, has provided services for about 200 years, but its current owner is retiring.

Philippa Groves, who chairs the community group, said they were "ecstatic" and described it as "humbling" to have "so much support".

The full total will be revealed on Friday.

Despite the figure being at least £50,000 more than the original target, Mrs Groves said the group "still had a mountain to climb".

The group estimate the venture would cost £500,000 and hope the government reopens the Community Ownership Fund to finance the other half.

However when the general election was called in July, the future of the fund became unclear, the group said.

It has enlisted the support of Markus Campbell-Savours, Labour MP for Penrith and Solway, who said: "We can't underestimate how vital community facilities like this are."

He said he would be "pushing the government to get the Community Ownership Fund up and running as quickly as possible".

"The community has always been behind us, because we cannot lose this facility," Mrs Groves, 70, said.

She added mountaineer Chris Bonington and his wife Loreto were shareholders and had been "fully supportive" of the project.

"We now have shareholders from all over the world... It's humbling to know that people from far and wide think it's so important to keep it alive," Ms Groves said.

"People call it the heart of the community."

The shop was also visited by the then Prince Charles in 2004 and 2007.

He bought some Shearing Cake, a Carrock Crunch slice and a John Peel slice, which especially interested him when he found out it contained rum butter, according to Mrs Groves.

She added: "It's a fantastic community effort by a fantastic community and a fantastic team - we all get along so well."

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