They got the bug when the biggest business in their historic market town was threatened with closure.
Then, the doughty residents of Hawes got together, bought out the firm and, 25 years on, it’s a major success story.
With the undoubted help of Wallace and Gromit, the Wensleydale Creamery hasn’t looked back since the day the local management bought out the dairy.
In the intervening years, families in the quaint Yorkshire Dales market town have found that when the authorities want to cut their basic services, they roll up their sleeves and do it themselves.
HawsThe Yorkshire Dales market town of Hawes has been forced to take over running the basic community services to save its rural way of life
A local fills up her car at a petrol station in Hawes, which is being ran by a community group
First they took over the library, then they set up a bus service to replace rural services being axed, and three years ago the Post Office and mail sorting office came under their wing too.
The police station in Hawes shut down almost 20 years ago but the force still has a physical presence in town – thanks to a room in the community building.
And the latest threat to the timeless existence in this idyllic location was the fear that the only petrol station for miles around could be sold to a property developer.
This week the Upper Dales Community Partnership, a not-for-profit company now controlling all these services, stepped in again to secure the lease and ensure residents and tourists can fill up with fuel seven days a week.
The model of community stepping in where private enterprise has failed is being hailed as one for others to follow across rural Britain.
. Locals get on the bus service that is ran by Terry Billingham, a local voluntee
Kathy Haygarth, who is part of a community group, running the library in Hawes
The community partnership employs 18 paid staff as well as 40 volunteers and has an annual turnover of around £350,000.
The Little White Bus service began in May 2011 with one ‘clapped out’ vehicle and one volunteer driver – John Blackie, a county councillor.
Now it has ten minibuses and one Land Rover and carries 60,000 passengers, both locals and tourists a year.
Hawes Post Office was threatened with closure in 2014 and so the community provided the service in its main library building and took charge of the sorting office.
‘If we didn’t run the sorting office people would have to drive 17 miles to Leyburn if they weren’t in when a parcel was delivered,’ said Abbie Rhodes, the community office manager.
Jill McMullon, who is part of a community group, serving a local customer in the post office
The Wensleydale Creamery was facing closure 25 years ago but was bought out by the locals
With the undoubted help of Wallace and Gromit, it hasn’t looked back since the day the local management bought out the dairy
Commenting on their success, she said: ‘Everyone is a winner. Services are maintained, employment is created and people don’t suffer from losing something important. We are used to looking after ourselves in Yorkshire. If we don’t do it no one will do it.’
Hawes, which has a population of 1,500, still has a small supermarket and a variety of mainly tourist-related shops and businesses.
The Wensleydale Creamery, which has a turnover of £27million, 200 staff and uses the animated characters on many products, only survived thanks to the DIY approach.
In 1992 Dairy Crest closed the creamery and six months later four ex-managers and a local businessman completed a buy-out.