Why the Shopping Challenge?

Some people have asked; Why the Shopping Challenge?, and others have asked 'Why February?'.

Well, the concept was pretty straightforward really; February is a tough trading time for our village shops, so the Shopping Challenge was created to encourage all of us to shop in the village for a week.

Love Milford Week has been timed to coincide with School Half Term & close to Valentine’s Day to fit in with the ‘Love Milford’ theme. It will also now run in alternate years to Food Week.

Things then started to grow a bit (a lot!), with additional ideas to include everyone in the village in one way or another - so we soon added shows and entertainment, and also ways for people to meet others in the village who are local producers, craft makers, home businesses, tradesman, professional services, artists, authors, musicians, - plus the chance to discover village clubs, classes, support groups and charities, and much more...

The end result is: Love Milford Week.

Anyone who lives in, or visits, Milford on Sea will know what a fabulous place it is to be. So, what better than to spend a week celebrating what makes the village so special, and at the same time to boost trade and community interaction. 

As previously mentioned, the core to the week is the 'Shopping Challenge'. So, we are challenging everyone to only shop in the village during Love Milford Week. - No visits to large supermarkets, no cheating, just spending time showing the shops you love them. As a village of just 5000 people, we are fortunate to have such a wonderful array of shops and we need to do all we can to ensure people use and appreciate all that they have to offer.

Many of our village shops will be running exclusive special offers throughout the week, and there will be a Free £50 Prize Draw, giving two great reasons to stay out of the car and to enjoy shopping around the village.

Food Week is generously supported by the shops and restaurants as sponsors. However, we are running Love Milford Week differently, as this time we want to keep the cash in their tills.

Indeed the entire event has only one sponsor; Hall & Woodhouse, the generous owners of The Beach House, and we also very well supported by Brand New Forest.

All of the events are run by volunteers, but there are of course expenses for the programmes, posters and other marketing, so the net result is that the Love Milford Week will run at a loss, but life is not all about money, - and all that really matters is that everyone has a great time!

Friend of Love Milford Week

For those who would like to show their support as individuals, families or as a local businesses it is just £25 to become a Friend, and we are delighted with the generosity shown across our village community so far. Why not join us?

To become a Friend please click here.

To see our Friends to date please click here.

Love Milford Week

www.lovemilfordweek.org