Before you rush to grab a bargain on Black Friday, or load Amazon up with daily deliveries, why not look more locally for your Christmas gifts?

This year, more than ever, we’ve all appreciated our local area and the people in it who moved heaven and earth to keep the food supplies coming and the shops open when we really needed them – and yes, made sure we all had enough loo roll.

Those same businesess are still there, have made huge numbers of costly changes to comply with ever changing regulations, and need your help!

There are some wonderful local initiatives to help with this, such as #shop local Chesham, Amersham, Chalfont,  a virtual christmas craft fair, and https://tringbuzz.com/shop-local a showcase of local producers, makers, suppliers & services that provide home delivery, click & collect, or online services.

The Chilterns Conservation Board, the statutory body for the AONB, has helpfully put together a starter list of some of the local producers and makers who you can turn to for your daily requirements.

The full article covers the whole Chilterns AONB but the most relevant sections for us are “The central Chilterns” and  “Tring and the northern Chilterns”. There’s also information specifically on the wonderful community shops that are springing up in villages all over the area – our nearest are at Wigginton and The Lee.

We’ve attempted to put together our own list of very local sources of food and other provisions, please do contact us if you know of any others, or would like your business to be added to the list. The list is for information only, and doesn’t imply a recommendation.

Help and advice

• Chesham Help for Coronavirus Assistance for those unable to leave the house for shielding reasons. We’re coordinating with them to allocate volunteers for anyone in need of assistance. If you volunteered to help last time you should have received an email from us today. If not, or you’d like to help this time round, please get in touch.
• Chiltern Foodbank Food parcels are now distributed Tuesday to Friday from our centres in Chalfont St. Peter, Chesham and Wendover. Food donations can be dropped off at Chesham TUESDAYS – FRIDAYS 10.00-15.00. Food vouchers are still required from one of our referral partners. The Citizens Advice Bureaux are our largest referral partner with branches in Chesham, Amersham & Prestwood. They are all currently closed for face to face meetings but are operating via telephone number 01494 785660. This is a line dedicated to Foodbank vouchers requests. If there is no reply please leave a voicemail message and they will return your call within 24 hours.
• Citizens’ Advice Bureau

Food and other provisions

• Chesham Community Fridge: free food for everyone that has been donated by local businesses/supermarkets. Food is now pre-bagged for social distancing reasons. Open Wednesday and Saturday 10-12.
• Kennealy’s Fruit and Veg at Chesham Market: Wednesday and Saturday, can deliver.
• Darvells Bakery, Chesham: free next day delivery in a 5-mile radius of Chesham.
• The Refill Project: take your own containers. Offering a delivery service for anyone isolating or not able to get out.
• Goddens Butchers in Chesham. They have a new online ordering system too!
• Bacon and sausages from Michael Bowden 
• Milk, papers, potatoes, bread and egg deliveries: Dave Hawkes – 01494 758989 or 07778 637583

If we’ve missed anything, or you’d like us to include your businesss here, please do get in touch, we’d love to hear from you!