When I moved to Devon I asked a joiner when he could replace a window on our house and he said May. May came and went and as the following May loomed I asked if now was the May he was thinking of. “Oh I didn’t say May” he replied with a cheeky grin “I said may-be”. The window got changed that May.
So here in Payhembury we have moved into the early summer and there is change about. Graham Smith, our stalwart IT man has moved away and Richard McCarthy has stepped into his boots, for which we thank him. Rich and Nan have also moved away and left a hole in the rota. Maybe the new people who have moved in to their houses the village see the benefit of a shop in the village – we don’t run it as a convenience store but it is very convenient when you have run out of a necessary ingredient for a recipe and customers are always surprised at our range “wow, you have fresh ginger!” Maybe Ed East will use some in the volunteers’ supper at the end of the month – the committee’s thank you to all the shop’s volunteers – you can only come if you’re an invited helper … just saying.
Now we have the super long lease we will be able to make changes to the layout of the shop to add further benefits for all users by utilising the space as best we can. We are always open to suggestions for new stock or reintroductions of lines we once had – though please bear in mind wholesalers aren’t always so keen to let us little shops have stock in small quantities but maybe things will change, always for the better we hope.
Tim Woolgar
