Rural shop meeting success

Over 80 people attended the recent Village Shops Forum at Battle Memorial Hall, organised by Rother District Council.

The forum featured talks and presentations by business experts and provided an opportunity for shop owners to network.

The evening also saw the launch of a business support scheme run by Ten Sixty Six Enterprise and funded by the Council.

The event was the culmination of the work of the Council's Village Shops and Post Offices Working Group and involved input from proprietors of village shops and post offices throughout Rother.

Representatives from local and national organisations such as Business Link, Booker, Train to Gain and the 1066 Federation of Small Businesses were in attendance, along with local producers and over 35 traders.

The meeting received presentations from Kerry Kyriacou of Business Link, Hilary Knight from A Taste of Sussex and Josephine Fairley of the award winning Judges Bakery and Green & Blacks Organic Chocolate.

By having a selection of local produce from Judges Bakery, Great Park Farm, Stonelink Farm, Carr Taylor Wines Ltd and Northiam Dairy available at the forum, it was hoped that connections between producers and shops would be strengthened with the ultimate goal of introducing more local products to local stores.

Over 40 'Shop Rother, Shop Local' reusable shopping bags were given away to shop owners.

Jacqui Carr Taylor, of Carr Taylor Wines Ltd, said: "We would definitely be interested in any future events Rother decides to hold."

Councillor Tony Ganly, chairman of the Village Shops and Post Offices Working Group said: "I really hope that we can build on the foundation created by this forum and that village shop keepers will set up their own group, with our support, for joint bulk buying, joint promotions and the exchange of ideas.

"It is encouraging to see that some shop keepers have already taken advantage of the Ten Sixty-Six Enterprise initiative funded by Rother District Council and I urge others to follow suit".

The working group will now consider whether this success means the forum should become a regular event.

For further information on the help and advice that was on offer at the forum phone 01424 787834.