Trefeglwys Community Shop awarded £247,604 lottery cash

A Mid Wales community group has been handed a near £250,000 boost to help transform a garage into a village shop and tearoom it hopes will become the focal point of the community.

Trefeglwys Community Shop has been awarded a Big Lottery Fund grant of £247,604.

Educational and community facilities will also be a part of the development taking place in the village in Newtown.

The award is part of the People and Places programme, which is supporting 14 projects throughout Wales.

John Green, spokesman for the project, said he was delighted with the money awarded.

He said: "It will really bring the community much, much closer together and benefit residents of all ages.

"Following the closure of our local shop and post office and the potential closure of its garage, the Trefeglwys Community Council called a public meeting to see if anything could be done to prevent these closures.

"The meeting was attended by around 100 people and a steering committee was formed.

"It concluded that there was support for not only a retail post office and garage but for additional facilities including a cafe, various workshops, internet access, a florist and other produce."

Residents of the community have been fighting for the shop for months and internet access and workshops are set now to become a reality.

The community shop is being opened by villagers, who banded together when the shop and post office in Trefeglwys closed in 2008 as part of the Post Office's scheme to axe 2,500 branches across Britain.

Since then post office services have been based in the village pub.