Somersham & District Community Shop
A shop for Somersham and the surrounding villages, largely run by volunteers. Our shop supplies daily essentials as well as useful ingredients, and quality goods from Suffolk and East Anglian food producers - many of whom are local, regional or national award-winners. Some producers deliver direct to us, so we all get to know each other!
Our shop is also a social & information hub, and is welcoming for volunteers and customers alike.
We were awarded the first 'More Than A Shop' certificate - this initiative aims to inspire local shops to be more than just provisions stores, encouraging them to be places of friendship, welcome and connection - this is a Rural Coffee Caravan project, which acknowledges the vital role played by Suffolk’s rural shops, "On Monday 25th November 2019 the initiative was launched at the Somersham & District Community Shop, Suffolk, with the help of their Meet Up Mondays group!"
We also sell standard postage stamps - as well as greetings, Christmas and Easter cards; a wide range from CardLine, along with Christmas Cards from the Suffolk Wildlife Trust - and cards by local artists, including Helen Maxfield. Our Gift Corner features work by artists, craftspeople and authors from the local area. Plus, we stock household cleaning items, goods for cat and dog owners, some toiletries, batteries, anti-freeze, kindling, bird-food, firelighters, some family healthcare items and much more!
Our customers may order (regular or one-off) items for collection - or make requests for items to be added to our range of goods (which we aim to, but cannot always, fulfill).
OPENING HOURS
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Monday
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8am - 4pm |
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Tuesday
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9am - 4pm |
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Wednesday
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9am - 4pm |
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Thursday
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8am - 6pm |
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Friday
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9am - 4pm |
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Saturday
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9am - 1pm |
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Sunday
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CLOSED |
• There are alterations to our Opening Hours at Easter, Christmas, New Year and for Bank Holidays, Half Term etc
Community Groups that meet at our shop
Meet Up Monday – 2pm, every Monday (except bank holidays) - an opportunity to meet up and catch up, with hot drinks and biscuits provided - and on specified Mondays, in partnership with the Rural Coffee Caravan, who provide delicious refreshments and have lots of information & advice on offer. They will be visiting us again soon, please join us!
Petrol Heads – 2pm, second Thursday of the month and all are welcome - to join in discussion of all things vehicle and mechanical!
Delivery Days
Deliveries are received on the following days:
• Monday: bread, milk, fruit and vegetables
• Tuesday: eggs, pies, general groceries
• Wednesday: bread, cheese and deli
• Thursday: milk, fruit & vegetables, meat, cakes
• Friday: bread, general groceries
Volunteers
Without volunteers the shop would not exist, it is as simple as that! Although we have a dedicated team, we could always do with more help. Please speak to our shop manager, Jennie Hutchinson, on 07931 857471 if you could spare even just a couple of hours a month – you volunteering will help the shop and is sociable and good fun too! Your contribution could be as a regular part of the rota, or something more casual.
- 16.3m people volunteered through a group, club or organisation in 2020/21 - source: National Council for Voluntary Organisations
Orders
Customers can place regular or one-off orders for collection - please call 01473 833416 to find out more or to place an order - including for meat, bread, cakes, pies, milk, fruit & vegetables.
Our Suppliers
Somersham and District Community Shop offers delectable goods from more than 25 local producers, including fresh meats, country pies and cheeses, fruit juices, honey, beers and ciders, cakes, and even local chocolate. Much of our product range comes from very local, Suffolk or East Anglian producers and suppliers - including:
• Alder Tree - unique award-winning fruit cream ices - local, real fruit mixed with fresh British Cream. Over 60 Great Taste Awards and a Golden Fork Award East Anglia. Alder Tree's blackcurrant ice cream, was crowned Grand Champion of the Great British food awards 2023 - Alder Carr Farm, Needham Market
• Chalky Bottom Orchard, they produce both cider and raw cider vinegar - Baylham
• Country Pies, meat pies, vegetable pies, pasties, quiches, sausage rolls, pork pies, fruit pies etc - Capel St Mary
• Fairfields Farm Crisps, award-winning hand-cooked crisps, made using potatoes they grow themselves - Wormingford, near Colchester, Essex
• Gate Farm Eggs, producers and packers of high quality free-range eggs - Flowton
• Hamish Johnston, quality cheese and fine deli products, including from Pinney's Smokehouse in Orford, and the award-winning Baron Bigod cheese from near Bungay - Clopton near Woodbridge
• Hilly's Honey - Willisham
• Maynard House, orchard-pressed apple juice, including Cox & Bramley, Egremont Russet, Discovery, Kidd's Orange Red, Apple & Raspberry, Apple & Elderflower - Bradfield Combust, Suffolk
• Oak House Farm and Butchery, a family run business rearing Gloucestershire Old Spot and Large White pigs, and Red Poll cattle - supplying bacon, beef, chicken, pork, liver, lamb (and hogget when available to order) - Sproughton
• Palmers Bakery, a traditional family run bakery of over 200 years standing - Haughley
• Walnut Tree, Vegan Gluten-Free Frozen Redi-Meals, plant-based frozen ready-meals, from hearty stews to flavourful curries - Thwaite, near Eye
• Wheaten Mill, handmade cakes, cupcakes, tarts and all things sweet - Sproughton
Many of our suppliers are award-winners and/or hold Great Taste stars for their produce.
• Gluten-free products - we keep a small range of GF produce, if you wish to request an addition to this list we will do all we can to source your requested product.
• Dairy-free products - we also stock non-dairy milks.
• Product Requests - please ask in the shop or contact us if you’d like to see a new product in our community shop - we will always try to source requested products, but on occasion they are not available to a small outlet such as ours.
From our shop manager
“We try wherever we can to support local businesses,” says Jennie, our shop manager, “All our meat is Suffolk-raised and produced, in Sproughton - and we stock goods from numerous other Suffolk producers. Alongside these local treats, there are essentials too. Pastas, tins of soup, fruit and veg. All the things people might really rely on. We have cold drinks, lunchy bits, confectionery, ice creams. And we serve teas and coffees. We’re right next the village playing field in the middle of the village, with tables & benches outside - so find walkers and cyclists do like to visit us, which is nice.”
Events at our shop
These include:
Coffee Morning | Macmillan Cancer Support - each year our shop hosts a Macmillan Coffee Morning event. This year the official Macmillan Coffee Morning is on Friday 27 September 2024, but we can host when we like, so please look out for our date!!
Trivia Quiz - question sheets for this Christmas & New Year quiz can be purchased from our shop, raising funds for our village church, St. Mary's.
Additional Services
In keeping with the philosophy of the shop, it is the intention to offer additional services to our customers which we feel will help them and enhance the shop role as a community service. These services include:
• Food bank collection point
The shop is a collection point for donations to FIND (Families in Need), based in Ipswich. Items do not need to be bought in the shop to be donated.
• Dry Cleaning
We are an agent for Danes Launderers and Dry Cleaners.
• Library/Book Recycling
Bookshelves are provided in the shop. Customers are welcome to borrow or swap books from the shop ‘library’. Donations of books are very welcome, as long as there is suitable space for them on the shelves.
• Rural Coffee Caravan Information Project
Delivers information and friendship, making a difference to rural communities throughout Suffolk - visits our shop on specified Mondays.
• 'More Than A Shop' certificate
This recognises the rural Suffolk stores who have been nominated by their communities for the outstanding service they have provided to them, before, during, and beyond lockdown.
Click here to learn about
'More Than A Shop'.
• Noticeboards
The shop has two noticeboards for customers to display notices; a ‘What’s On’ noticeboard and a ‘Local Services’ noticeboard. The What’s On noticeboard is for posters and flyers advertising events and activities in the local area. There is no charge to add information to this. The Local Services noticeboard is a place for local businesses to advertise their services, and there is a charge of 25p a week. We also display the local bus timetable and postal collection times.
• Childrens' Art
Especially at Christmas, we display artwork by children from our Village School - so that pupils can show people in the village their artistic skills and creative learning through imagination & inventiveness.
• Home Delivery
If a customer is struggling to get into the shop, we are happy to offer a home delivery service. This service is aimed at parishioners who are disadvantaged in some way and are unable to get to the shop or perhaps unable to carry their purchases home.
• Defibrillator
We raise funds for the upkeep of the Somersham defibrillator, which is based across the road from our shop, in the red telephone box.
• Florists
Bouquets and flower arrangements can be ordered to the shop for customer collection. The florist is Pollen & Petals, based in Stowmarket.
• Mobile Library
The
Suffolk Libraries library van visits the car park outside the shop every 4 weeks on a
Thursday, between 09:35–10:25am -
Ipswich Mobile Library Route 16 -
remaining dates for 2024: 16 May, 13 June, 11 July, 8 August, 5 September, 3 October, 31 October, 28 November.
No visit in December. If health or mobility problems are preventing you or someone you know from visiting a library branch or mobile library, ask our Mobile Librarians about the
Home Library Service
Somersham Playing Field
This is adjacent to the Somersham & District Community Shop, and is maintained by the
Somersham & District Community Association - various events take place on the Playing Field, including the annual
Wheelie Fun Day, Cycle Speedway meets and Somersham FC football matches. The Playing Field has a play equipment area; a hard-court arena which includes a basketball court and space for football and other training; two tennis courts; a cycle speedway track and football pitches - plus a Pavilion and a car-park. There are several benches and picnic tables.
Car Park Repairs and Resurfacing, April 2024 - these works were funded by the Somersham Parish Council and Mid Suffolk District Council, and have made the car park a safer, more accessible and useful space for all.
Our Beginnings
Following the closure of our village shop, the Parish Council held a public meeting in March 2008 to test the support of parishioners for a community project to replace the shop. 80 people attended the meeting, all were in favour of creating a community shop and 36 people volunteered to help in some way. A steering-group was formed of 9 people and their objective was to create the shop. After jumping over all sorts of hurdles the location, design, planning permission and legal agreements were agreed and in excess of £100,000 in funding was raised to build the shop. Four years later, the roller coaster came to an end and the shop became a reality. The shop is owned by the Somersham & District Community Shop CIC (Community Interest Company). A CIC has a similar structure to a normal company, but the key difference is that any profits not needed to sustain the business are used to provide funding for village community projects. The Somersham & District Community Shop opened July 2012.
Our Mission
“To enable the residents of our village and surrounding villages to have access to local shop services which they can influence and which becomes the heart of the village for shopping, for social interaction, for helping disadvantaged residents and to introduce a strong community focus for our village.”
Our Supporters
There have been many people who have volunteered their time and skills to create the shop and we hope will continue to do so to sustain the shop. Local people have also donated money and items of equipment to the cause. Funding organisations who provided advice and/or the capital for us to build our shop include:
• Big Lottery Fund - Reaching Communities Fund
• Suffolk County Council - Regeneration Fund
• Suffolk County Council - Reuse and Recycling Capital Grants
• Suffolk County Council - County Councillor’s Locality Budget (Julia Truelove)
• Mid Suffolk District Council
• Suffolk Rural Economy Scheme - Enterprising Communities
• The Suffolk Foundation - Transforming Suffolk Community Fund
• The Plunkett Foundation
• Somersham Parish Council
• Somersham Land Charity
• Lord Blakenham
• Mr C Binder
• Muntons Ltd
Our Structure
Somersham & District Community Shop is a CIC non-profit organisation approved by the The Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies - a CIC (Community Interest Company) is a special type of limited company which exists to benefit the community rather than private shareholders.
Management Team
Stephen Bullard, Kate Dines, Jennie Hutchinson, Peter Jousiffe, Gloria Sherwood, and Pat Woolhouse.
Local Transport
Bus routes
111 and
111A serve Somersham -
click here for the bus timetable - at
SuffolkOnBoard, Suffolk County Council’s passenger transport and sustainable travel information service - including free travel pass information, SEND travel training, live bus and rail news, school travel, roadwork updates and much more.
