One-stop community shop in Rogiet hits lottery jackpot

Rogiet Community Junction has been awarded £465,450, spread over the next three years, from the National Lottery Community Fund.

The money will allow them to start work on a community shop and café, which will be open from Monday to Saturday, and set up a teaching kitchen, gardening space and shop selling affordable essentials.

The funds will also cover salaries for shop and café managers for the next two years.

The community café is currently open for two hours on a Wednesday at Rogiet Community Church Hall, Green Close, with a kid’s café every six weeks. With a home of their own on the horizon, they hope to be able to welcome “anyone” in the village.

Project manager Sara Warshawski hopes work on the bespoke building can begin in the spring.

“It means this is going to happen now – and that’s amazing,” she said. “The hall we use is lovely, but it’s used by other people. We have to build it up like a café then take it down again.”

Ms Warshawski has paid tribute to the women who started the Community Junction with an idea – a concern – that the community spirit in Rogiet was gone.

“They were worried it was becoming like a commuter town. People said they want to save the post office and shop, and they wanted a community café,” she said.

“We set it up with three cakes and five volunteers. Now, we have 15 café volunteers who serve 60 to 70 per session.

“Everyone knows it doesn’t matter if you don’t know anyone because you will leave knowing someone. People come as customers and leave as volunteers.

“I’m still a bit in shock, because it’s a lot of money and a lot of work has gone into it,” Ms Warshawski said. “All I do is facilitate it – the boring stuff – but it’s what the community wanted and they have created it."

Accounting for “bad weather”, they expect the new hub next to Rogiet Sports Pavilion will be ready for its first customers in 2025.