Star comment: Village is building a connection
The village of Pontesbury is facing the same sort of pressures as villages across the county and the residents will be fairly typical of folk who live in these places.
If we accept the notion that Pontesbury is not some sort of haven where freak, benign circumstances apply, and is representative of many Shropshire villages, it is a place which can be held up as a guiding light for the future.
The loss of services in villages and small towns has been steadily depriving them of their vitality and lifeblood. Once the post office, shop, pub and school have closed, there is not much left to cement the community together and to give villagers a reason to come together to chat and socialise. They become lesser places and those people living there become more isolated from those around them.
The model in Pontesbury has seen different elements of the traditional scene come together. It is called Connections and is one centralisation of services which does not harm villages, as it centralises certain services in the village itself. Connections comprises a pet shop, sewing room, dress agency, cafe and store stocking things that are useful around the home. Royal Mail decided to move the village's post office to the building last month.
According to Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski, other villages should take a look at what is happening at Pontesbury and consider doing the same.
Initiatives like Connections require people with the commitment to carry them through and make them a success. The enterprise has been in the same family for 28 years – it was originally run by Roy and Sue Pickin, and then when they retired last year their daughter and son-in-law took over.
It is an impressive record of stability. Not everyone will be able to match that sort of long-term commitment. And even if Pontesbury is a "normal" village, we should not assume that the dynamics in every Shropshire village are the same, and that a hub like Connections would be the answer in every small community.
After years of decline, there are signs that the tide may at last be shifting in a way which will favour smaller, local outlets. Tesco's crown is slipping as shopping habits change. Connections proves that loss of local services need not be inevitable. Something can be done.
