An Essential Community Hub

Slaidburn Village Stores Clare and Megan Hardcastle

The mother and daughter team who run the shop at the heart of Slaidburn became the hub of the local community as they coordinated a food parcel delivery operation which became a lifeline for vulnerable residents living in outlying areas. “Our first instinct when the lockdown was announced was: how can we help. The second was: How are we going to cope?!” said Clare. “But the way the community came together to form the local Covid Team was amazing. Within a few days, we were sending parcels out all over the Hodder Valley. “We were struggling to keep up with demand and we were almost totally reliant on volunteers to do the deliveries while we took the orders, sourced produce and packed the parcels so the volunteer drivers could collect and distribute them. “We were struggling to find basics at the wholesalers and I didn’t feel comfortable queueing up only to find the shelves empty so we began talking to producers direct. We started to stock locally produced sausages, lamb, beef and eggs and our pie supplier – Clayton Park – started baking bread and cakes for us alongside the Hark to Bounty’s freshly baked bread. “Walkers Fruit & Veg stall on Clitheroe market provided us with fresh produce and I even managed to get one of the big Lancashire cheese manufacturers to deal direct with us. “We were doing 100-hour weeks and the strain started to tell, so we reduced our opening hours just so we could focus on the orders. “As the lockdown eased off and the weather improved, the socially distanced queue that formed every morning outside the shop and down the street became a real community hub, where people could get that little bit of social contact to keep them going. “I think the new local supply lines that we established during lockdown are here to stay. As long as the demand is there, we will continue to stock items from local producers as that was always part of the plan since we took over back in 2018.” * Slaidburn Village Stores is one of four village shops from the northwest to make it through to the nationwide finals of the Countryside Alliance Awards.