How it all started
It all began in late 2002.................
At an open Parish Council meeting in September members of the audience were invited to form a steering group to produce the Elston village Plan. Those original volunteers met for the first time in November 2002 to find out what was involved.
Funding for the project came from the Countryside Agency and after that the committee was guided through the process by Notts RCC now Rural Community Action ( Nottinghamshire).
The steering group decided, from the range of options available, to carry out a village appraisal. It was believed that only by asking everyone what they thought could the results be said to represent the wishes of the whole community.
They then set about deciding on the range and number of questions to be included. This involved several meetings lasting many hours as the topics and questions were discussed and agreed.
By June 2003 the questionnaires were ready and volunteers called at every house in the village to deliver copies and explain their purpose.
Two weeks later the volunteers called back to collect the completed questionnaires and the results were analysed by Notts RCC.
An impressive 80% of the forms were received back and, as a follow-up, an open meeting was held in November 2003 to let people know the results of the appraisal.
Following on from that event Elston Village Plan was prepared and launched at another open day in May 2004. Although there were many issues identified in the plan – some of which have already been resolved - one issue that dominated all the others was the community’s desire to have a village shop once again. (The only shop closed in the late 1990s).
And the ‘shop in a box’ is exactly what it says. A shop in a portable building next to the Village Hall. Elston Village Shop opened for business in May 2005 - after a lot of effort and fundraising - made possible by Rural Community Action ( Nottinghamshire), without whom this project would never have got off the ground.
