A NEW facility offering a mobile groceries service to shopless villages in East Cornwall will be officially launched next week. The St Mellion Village Tenants and Residents' Association is launching its village community mobile groceries van at the Pentille Garden open day on Easter Monday. The idea for the project grew from St Mellion not having a village shop for a number of years. Chair of the residents' association Paul Teale said: 'We discussed the issue that we haven't had a shop for the past six or seven years. It is something that is needed. There are people that may not drive and we have an ageing population. The nearest shop is Tesco in Callington or in Saltash, so it's an eight-mile drive just to go and get a pint of milk.' Paul said there is no land in the village for a static shop so they decided on a 'shop on wheels'. The project received lottery funding to get it off the ground and will visit other villages within a ten-mile radius of St Mellion, selling 'cupboard stock'. The mobile shop already has nine villages signed up to visit and is hoping to increase that number to offer a weekly timetable of stops. The van will be on display at Pentille Garden open day from noon to 4pm, where interested people can view the van and find out more about the project. For more details or to nominate a village to be involved call 08443 303881.