Locals rally to help in shop

BY MARTIN WALSH

THE Courtmacsherry Community Shop has rallied round to overcome the current restrictions in relation to Covid-19 that has resulted in some of their volunteers being unable to help behind the counter.

Even though the facility that was opened in June 2016 and was borne from the demise of the closure of the village’s last shop in 2015, is classed as essential service during the current restrictions, Dara Gannon explained their initial concerns.

‘Some of our volunteers were restricted because of the vulnerable category. Out of the 30 or so volunteers that serve in the shop, about 25% were not available.’

All volunteers were advised that the decision as to whether or not to continue giving their time during the current situation, was purely personal. The closure of schools and colleges brought a silver lining to the community shop. 

‘In that regard we have seen five or six new people coming along to help out in the shop for a few hours. We had been anticipating that we would have to reduce hours in the light of a drop in volunteers, but thankfully, that hasn’t happened. It is great to see it.’

Commenting that the value of the community shop is underlined at this point in time Mr. Gannon said, ‘More people tend to be using the shop as they don’t want to be travelling for provisions like before as they could easily have hopped into their car.’

Unsure of what the summer holds and with a possible decrease in the footfall across all businesses, he concluded, ‘I think we have to wait and see what happens in terms of restrictions. But the thing about Courtmacsherry is that people will do day trips.’

Approaching its fourth anniversary, the shop continues in popularity and young and not-so-young are more than willing to add their names to the rota of volunteers to ensure its continuity in the community.