'Local legend' celebrates six decades at same Cornwall shop

Ms Bastard has worked at the village shop for 61 years

A 75-year-old woman has been celebrated for working at the same shop for more than six decades.

Ivy Bastard has been working at the village shop in St Tudy, near Bodmin, for 61 years, starting when she was 14 years old.

In 2011, the shop became a community shop run by volunteers, funded by Prince Charles's Countryside Fund.

Community shop manager Karen Roberts said she was known as a "local legend" by all who shopped there.

HRH the Prince of Wales visited the shop in 2018 and was served by Ms Bastard

This picture shows Ms Bastard at the upstairs window of the shop, which has moved locations over the years, when she started working there

She said: "She's given her whole life to the village shop and it's quite amazing that people who come back year-after-year will strike up friendships.

"She has got a lovely rapport with everybody that comes in.

"Everybody knows she's a bit of a local legend, really."

Ms Bastard said she used to work full-time but now does two mornings a week: "I just get up in the morning and think: 'Yeah, lovely. I'm going to the shop to meet all my friends'."

Ivy Bastard (right) with other staff members as a 19-year-old

A volunteer described her as a "massive font of knowledge", knowing everything about everyone in the area

Ms Bastard said she hoped to hit the seven decade milestone and continue working at the shop.

"Hopefully, perhaps 70 years ... it all depends how my health is, but I would like to still continue yet," she said.

A Co-op employee working in west Cornwall celebrated a similar milestone, celebrating 50 years of employment for the company in July.