Village’s open larder to help yourself
When the nearest shop is a 12 mile round trip away, getting the basics has to be planned.
Now the shopless village of Colmonell has created its own store . . . and it’s absolutely FREE.
The Colmonell Larder has proved a valuable community asset since village janitor Dawn Campbell came up with the idea.
Dawn engaged the services of her partner Mark Bradley who built the larder in the grounds of the community hall.
And Dawn said: “I work, live and love Colmonell and its people.
“We want to make sure our residents are well looked after, fed and safe during this very unpredictable time.”
Mark knocked up the lean- to larder in an afternoon and Dawn reckons the longer the lockdown goes on, the greater the help it will give.
Dawn, a South Ayrshire Council janitor, said: “As i dont think the true financial impact has yet hit us, we plan on keeping this scheme running for as long as it is being used.”
It is packed with toiletries, pasta, sauces, beans, tea/ coffee, sugar, soup, cornflakes, pet food and some fruit and veg.
The six foot by six foot larder may be rather bijou, but per square inch it packs a punch.
Country folk are happily more self sufficient than townies, and the village distributes meat delivered by Hendries the butchers and Purdies the greengrocer in Girvan.
The nearest shop is in Ballantrae and just before lockdown Colmonell had its own resilience meeting to best plan for the pandemic.
Busy Dawn volunteers for the Scottish Ambulance Service as a Community First Responder and is the Youth Leader of Colmonell Youth Club.
And she revealed the larder is being well used, saying: “We have used the title as village larder so anyone and everyone can use this - people in need due to financial pressures or people wanting to avoid unnecessary travel.
“If anyone is in a situation that they would like to pay for their goods they can do that or donate something later when they do a shopping.
“I love the people that live here and if I can make anything a little easier for them I will always try my hardest.”