VILLAGERS who lost their local shop and post office two years ago have pledged to dip into their own pockets to help build a new outlet.

Hundreds of people living in villages and farms around Newsham, between Barnard Castle and Richmond, were affected when their local shop closed in 1998.

They were dealt a further blow when the post office in Newsham closed two years later, forcing residents to travel to Barnard Castle, Richmond and Darlington to do their shopping.

But despite the setback the community has always been determined to restore a village shop, and some residents even opened up short-term makeshift outlets in their front rooms providing people with newspapers and milk.

In an attempt to gauge how strongly the community felt about establishing a new shop in Newsham, a questionnaire was sent out to hundreds of local people who would be served by a store, which includes residents in Barningham, Dalton, Gayles, Kirby Hill, Whashton, Ravensworth and outlying farms.

The response was unanimous with more than 80 per cent of the forms completed and returned, with all strongly in favour of extending the village hall to create a shop.

The majority of people also pledged financial support to the scheme, which members of the parish council's village shop committee estimate at costing £40,000.

Richmondshire District Council has already granted outlined planning permission for an extension to create a store, and the parish council was confident that it could secure funding of £20,000 from the Countryside Agency if the other half of the costs were raised locally.

Allan Lamb, treasurer of the shop committee, said: "We have no pub, church or school, so when the shop and post office closed the community lost our only community focal point. But the support in the community is strong and this questionnaire illustrates that. And the fact that so many people are willing to help financially will prove invaluable. We also need to secure a retailer interested in running the shop to secure any future grant."

Anyone interested in running the shop on a commercial basis, or would like to make a donation, is asked to call Mr Lamb on (01833) 621461.