Eastern Borders Development Association award for community enterprise group

EBDA Trustee and Mayor of Berwick, Coun Mike Greener, presents the EBDA Award to Marion Lauder of the shop committee, with left to right, Coun Trevor Cessford, Civic Head
of Northumberland County Council, Richard Copland (shop committee), Captain James Evans, EBDA Chairman, Mrs Jeanna Swan, Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire, and Coun
Watson McAteer, Convener of Scottish Borders Council. — EBDA Trustee and Mayor of Berwick, Coun Mike Greener, presents the EBDA Award to Marion Lauder of the shop committee, with left to right, Coun Trevor Cessford, Civic Head of Northumberland County Council, Richard Copland (shop committee), Captain James Evans, EBDA Chairman, Mrs Jeanna Swan, Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire, and Coun Watson McAteer, Convener of Scottish Borders Council.

When the old village shop closed following the death of its owner in 2020, the Cockburnspath community of 1,100 residents – already isolated by coronavirus lockdowns – would have been left without such a vital resource had it not been for the initiative of a dynamic community group.

They, with the aid of their partners, came together to form a viable and enterprising alternative.

The subsequent success of the venture has greatly impressed the trustees of EBDA Award – established in 1976 to recognise outstanding achievements in the social, economic and environmental fields in the Scottish Borders and north Northumberland – and so, despite stiff competition, they gave their accolade for 2022 to the community enterprise company.

At an award ceremony in Berwick Town Hall, EBDA trustee and Mayor of Berwick, Coun Mike Greener, presented the award certificate to Richard Copland and Marion Lauder of the community group.

Working in a model partnership, the community council and community development facilitator Jennie Sutton, with a group of local residents, formed Cockburnspath Community Enterprise Ltd, a not-for-profit company, to re-establish a shop adjacent to the village hall to serve the village and the wider local community.

It was originally meant to be a temporary outlet, but it has proved so popular that a planning application has now been submitted to Scottish Borders Council to retain it on a more permanent basis.