Brent Knoll’s Community Shop is gearing up for the festive season, offering seasonal hampers and locally sourced Christmas trees and meats.

The shop’s team are in good spirits after the business received a five-star hygiene rating from Somerset Council. The council also extended planning consent for their Portakabin to allow time for the delayed redevelopment of the public toilets and new shop building.

The community business, created as an ‘Emergency Shop’ when the village lost its village shop and Post Office, continues to trade profitably.

David Sturgess, Secretary of Brent Knoll Community Shop , said: “This is entirely thanks to the hard work of our dedicated team of volunteers.

“We would like to expand our opening hours and reduce the load on some of the key members of the team, but this needs more volunteers to join us.”

The shop team would love to hear from anyone who has few hours spare and could help with shopping for fruit and vegetables, take over the weekly ordering of supplies or spend an hour in the shop to check on the use-by dates of products. Please contact their Volunteer Co-Ordinator, Ali, by phoning her on 07411-571038 or by email: a.mages33@outlook.com, or call at the shop for an application.