and

CHALTON

Shop

Our shop is open 10.00-12.00 Monday-Saturday in the church vestry, with a very large range of goods for its size. We stock soft drinks, crisps, sweets, chocolate bars, tea, coffee, biscuits, tinned goods, small gift items, stationery, cereals, cleaning goods, dog and cat food, batteries, greetings cards, stamps, eggs and much, much more. We’re always willing to stock items by request.

We always have with Frank’s delicious sausages milk and bread in the freezer.

We will take your order by telephone or in person and if we don’t stock everything you want we are happy to purchase it for you on our next shopping day and deliver your order to you.

The shop produces a monthly recipe and stocks the ingredients too. The recipes are available in the shop and the meeting place and often appear in the village Newsletter and the Biggleswade Chronicle. You can see some of them on the Recipes page also available on the Menu bar above.

We check our stock regularly for ‘Best Before’ dates and put goods that are getting close to that date into a basket for sale at half price.  We have started putting this basket at the back of the church during opening hours with an ‘honesty box’, so that people can select items and purchase them at a discounted price.

Meeting Place

The meeting place is open 10.00-12.00 Monday-Saturday at the back of the church. We serve tea and coffee with biscuits for a modest amount (currently 50p). The church is heated when needed and there are toilet facilities nearby.

We welcome walking and cycling groups so why not suggest that yours drops in next time you are planning an outing. We would ask you to be there by 11.30 to give the volunteers time to serve you before closing at 12.00.  We would also ask you to let us know a day or so before that you’re coming (on 01767 640124), so that we can make sure we have enough milk!

Although the church is normally closed in the afternoon, if booked a few days in advance, we can open it for groups wanting this service.  Just contact the number above.

The meeting place also hosts the volunteer’s coffee morning twice a year, a monthly Knit and Natter group and a weekly Mums’ and Dads’ group for parents from the Lower School.

Background

In 1999, Rev. Nick MacNeill, vicar of St. John's Church, and the PCC initiated a plan to make more use of the church building by opening it as a meeting place with a small shop.  The venture would be run by the village and not the church although to protect the sanctity of the church the vicar would be the de facto Chairman and the churchwardens would always be de facto members of the committee. The village welcomed these proposals and a committee was quickly formed to carry through plans to open a shop in the vestry and a meeting place at the back of the church.  A grant was applied for, insurance and a bank account were set up and a shop manager appointed.

In 2000, the first grant application having proved unsuccessful, another for £2000 was obtained by church warden Betty Barrance from the Anglia News/Scarman Trust ‘Can Do’ Awards.

In June 2000 the Moggerhanger Meeting Place and Shop opened - for 2 hours in the morning six days a week; for a short time it also opened some afternoons.  Weekly shopping was delegated to a team of 5 shoppers and the shop is still restocked weekly. Gradually frozen foods and some items for the fridge were added and these have proved popular. (The MMPS shares a fridge and freezer with the church.)

For a few years there was a library at the back of the church, stocked by people bringing books no longer wanted.

In 2006 the Moggerhanger Meeting Place and Shop was mentioned in the Church Times and even brought to the attention of the Church Synod that year - the first project of its kind in the country!

2010 saw the 10th anniversary of the project and it is still going strong today.

To see more about our background and history please visit out Timeline page.