Black Horse surprise party marks the sale of Caroline and Gerry Cartwright's Lower Heswall Village Shop

By Mark Gorton

15th Jun 2022 | Local News

Above: a gallery of party pictures

When Caroline and Gerry Cartwright put their Village Shop business up for sale over a year ago, there were inevitable worries about how Lower Heswall would cope with their departure.

They have been a vital part of the community for two decades, and their small business performs many vital services, and proved an enormous asset and local morale booster during the tough times of the pandemic.

The good news, of course, is that Caroline and Gerry are not saying goodbye: the new Village Shop owner, Simon Birchall, will be keeping them on in part-time capacities as he gets to grips with his new business, for which we wish him all the very best. The Lower Village wouldn't be the same without it.

Of the party, Caroline said: "It was a wonderful, wonderful surprise. I was supposed to meet Kate, who works with us, outside the shop at five o'clock, go and have a drink with her and the other two lovely girls who work with us.

"But my car broke down, and I knew we were going to the Black Horse, so we got the car to the garage and then Gerry and I said, well, we'll just go to the Black and wait, and I phoned Kate to tell her and she went, 'No! Stop! Stop! I'm on my way!' You see, she wanted to walk in with us, but we just carried on because we didn't know anything about it.

"And when we got there, there were all these people, and they just kept on coming in. It was very emotional. I just couldn't believe it, that all these people had been told about a party without us knowing anything about it. I always think I know everything that's going on in the village. How they kept it a secret when almost everyone who came was going in and out of the shop for weeks I don't know.

"And they'd done this beautiful cake, and they'd organised balloons and things. The three girls, Nicky, Steph and Kate, had organised it all, and given these little leaflets out which announced this surprise party, and there were loads of people there.

"It was amazing."

Gerry Cartwright added: "Twenty years - and never a cross word."