A VILLAGE shop which "changed a lot of lives" by meshing the community together is celebrating nine years of achievement.

Radley Village Shop, which defied the credit crunch after opening in May 2007, has survived with the help of a sixty-strong team of volunteers.

Heather Rogerson, who made her retail debut at the shop the year it opened, said: "I thought it was such a good idea to have a community shop.

"It's nice to get people out and about, especially elderly people who can walk here. It's an enormous thing for the community and people who are lonely. It's changed a lot of lives, the social side of it. When I first started I thought I knew most people in the village but I didn't."

The retired business worker, who has lived in the village for 25 years with her husband, added: "Before this there was a shop but it was nothing like as successful as this - it was a commercial shop which was very different."

Old flats and retail units which once stood in the Church Road patch were demolished and replaced in 2005, but the shop unit sat untouched until a mystery benefactor bought the freehold.

The purchase followed a village campaign by specially-formed Radley Village Shop Association, which was helped by community fundraisers to kit out the store.

It has since survived on its own merits and has bought the lease from the benefactor, opening seven days a week.

Bob Earl, chairman of the association, said: "We are independent of any authority. The shop is run for the village, by the village. Nobody benefits financially.

"A certain amount of money from our fairly modest profits is put aside so that local organisations like Brownies and Guides, the church or the youth club can apply for grants. The shop is a vital hub, it's a place where people come and meet up and talk. You are bound to bump into somebody when you're getting your morning paper.

"We get a huge number of regular customers, especially with Radley Train Station and the Radley College boys just up the road. We get people passing through and when there's building work in the village the builders soon find our hot bakes."

He said the team tries to source much of their stock, which is crammed in shelves boasting almost 2,000 lines of produce, from local suppliers.

John Goodenough, who has managed the store in Church Road since it opened, added: "I worked in retail for years - you get to know people better here because it's a smaller store."

He said one of the shop's biggest achievements was buying a defibrillator which resides on its outside wall.

He hoped to recruit more volunteers who can find out more on 01235 526231.