A SHOP in a Blaenau Gwent valley village is celebrating its first anniversary despite a year of misadventure.

Williams of Aberbeeg opened on the Square in Aberbeeg in February last year after owner Daniel Williams realised there hadn’t been a community shop in the town for around 25 years.

Mr Williams, originally a gardener from Watford, told the South Wales Argus he had always dreamed of living in Wales as his were Welsh.

But after moving here with his family, - wife Christa, and children Jessica, Cameron and Harley, he realised getting gardening work would be harder than he had thought.

After his father passed away, Mr Williams put his inheritance into opening an old fashioned village shop.

But the grand opening in February last year got off to a shaky start, he explained.

“The day before we were supposed to open, my son had his first asthma attack,” said Mr Williams.

“We rushed him into hospital and he was diagnosed with severe asthma.

“But I had to leave him there to come and open the shop, which was hard.”

To add insult to injury, Mr Williams suffered a heart attack within a month of the store opening.

Doctors could only put it down to the stress of running a new business.

“We had to hire staff then to help out, because I was supposed to be taking it easy,” said Mr Williams.

“But within a few weeks we had been robbed. You just couldn’t make it up.”

But despite the mishaps, Williams of Aberbeeg is still in business, and Mr Williams is cautiously optimistic about the future.

“It’s been a tough year, but we’re still here. The accountant actually is very impressed by the numbers, which is encouraging.

“The best thing about it is that we’ve gotten to know everyone. When we moved here we didn’t know anyone at all.

“It’s great to be part of the community and it’s definitely something that has been missing.

“But sometimes that habit of getting on a bus to pick up a couple of things from a shop can be hard to break.

“I often get people telling me they forget that we’re here. But it’s slowly changing, so there’s definitely hope.

“Just being able to be here for the community is what makes us happy.”