AN EMERGENCY village shop set up to help residents during the coronavirus crisis has been featured on a BBC Radio 4 show.

On Monday (July 13) customers and volunteers at Brent Knoll's Emergency Shop were interviewed on BBC Radio 4's 'The World Tonight' program for a feature on communities coping with Covid-19.

The BBC was responding to a national report by the Plunkett Foundation, which has supported more than 300 village community shops, and the Co-Op: Their Ripple Effect report highlights the Brent Knoll Emergency Shop as a case-study.

BBC reporter, Paul Moss spent almost three hours interviewing volunteers and customers at Brent Knoll’s Emergency Shop to probe why and how a community shop can thrive after a commercial shop closed in the village.

David Sturgess, a member of the shop's steering group, said: “The answer is simple. As a community shop, we have more than 30 unpaid volunteers who devote their time to helping run the shop.

"We do need to make a profit to remain viable, but we do not need to make a living from that profit.

“We have also had superb support from our volunteers, from our community customers, from our Parish Council, from the owner of the shop premises, and from the Plunkett Foundation."

Mr Sturgess said the latest community consultation survey about the shop has resulted in the shop extending its opening hours.

“We’re now making progress towards our aim of delivering a permanent Community Shop, with the potential to re-open a Post Office," Mr Sturgess said.

“While lockdown restrictions are eased, we must keep our Emergency Shop under regular review, but our preference is to keep it trading until we can secure that permanent Community Shop."