Amberley Shop and Cafe wins prestigious rural award
Amberley Shop today announced it has won recognition at the CPRE Gloucestershire Awards 2024 for creating a shop and café by and for the community while sensitively considering the church where it is located.
CPRE is The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England – The Countryside Charity. The awards aim to promote high environmental standards and celebrate benefits for local people and the environment while recognising good practice and positive change.
Amberley Shop and Café’s award was for “Delivering a complex project that demonstrates both a vision and a strong commitment by a community to achieve the goal of replacing its village shop, combined with an exemplar of the sensitive adaptation of a listed church building to accommodate much wider community use.”
The CPRE also noted: “Feedback has been incredibly positive, and the church is now a bustling, lively place, every day of the week. One must congratulate all those who have helped deliver this project. It also shows how listed buildings can be sensitively adapted to provide an asset that engages and energises the whole community.”
Helen Demuth, chair of Amberley Shop from 2021 to 2024, received a plaque and framed certificate on behalf of the organisation. In her acceptance speech, Helen highlighted the commitment of the 90-plus volunteers that keep the shop and cafe running as well as the support of the whole community. She remarked on how, thanks to the goodwill of customers from near and far, the business has grown, in just over a year, into a well-known and well-loved local hub.
Six diverse projects across the county were presented with awards including an animal pound in Arlingham, an eel pass at Arundel Mill (Gloucestershire), housing in North Cerney, a community pub in Woodcroft, and a heathland restoration near Lydney.
The CPRE Gloucestershire Awards 2024 were held at grade II* listed Elmore Court, near Gloucester. To be considered for an award, projects had to meet at least one of the following criteria:
Demonstrate innovation and sustainable best practice
Improve the quality of the built or natural environment
Help enrich local communities
Help mitigate climate change
Be viewable from public places.
Contributors to the project in the areas of design and construction, together with representatives of the church and diocese, also received certificates to recognise the collaborative nature of the project.
