A VILLAGE shop is celebrating after picking up a top village shop award on its 10 anniversary.

The Thorncombe Village Shop hosted a birthday party on October 17 to see in the milestone year.

The shop is run by an association whose aim is to serve residents of and visitors to the village of Thorncombe.

Most of the staff are volunteers who give up their time in the shop.

As well as celebrating their anniversary, the team have also launched a new venture in the form of a calendar.

The new 2020 calendar features the volunteers as never seen before.

A spokesperson said: “The shop was packed on Thursday as we all celebrated 10 years of being a Community Shop.

“There was a beautiful cake made by Claire Clifford and lashings of tea.

“Everyone enjoyed looking at the slide show put together by Mike Carr showing the construction of the present shop front, the shelving, and the electrical work installation.

“ For newcomers it must be quite an eye-opener.

“The slide show is in the shop for a while yet, so do come in and see it.

“Rose launched the amazing shop calendar called ‘The Bare Necessities…and Much More!’…certainly worth buying at only £5.50 with all proceeds going to the shop.

“A photo for every month showing the volunteers as never seen before…..all in the best possible taste.

“The calendar is on sale in the shop now.”

In addition to groceries, papers and drinks, the shop also houses a part-time Post Office, and provides a two-course home-cooked lunch every Tuesday for £7, and bacon sandwiches are served every Saturday morning from 9am-11am.

The spokesman added: "We are proud to announce that our shop has been judged Joint Winner in the Dorset Best Village 2019 category for Best Village Shop.

"To mark this important milestone, we hosted a birthday tea in the Shop on 17th October, which was attended by volunteers and customers alike, when we launched our 2020 calendar – a rather special calendar featuring our volunteers in poses hitherto never seen – and all done in the best possible taste.

"The calendar is on sale in the shop at £5.50 and, we suggest, would make a unique Christmas gift."