At our meeting, we reviewed the questionnaires filled in at (and after) last week’s party. Everyone wants a thriving pub in Charsfield and nearly everyone was prepared to invest some money if the terms were right in helping make that happen. There were lots of good ideas about how the pub could be improved and made the hub of village life, which is great. There is definitely enthusiasm in the village to carry on with looking at how we can get together to save the pub.
Edward Bolton has wrritten to us again, this time asking if ‘the village’ would like to take a tenancy of the pub from him. We welcomed his friendly approach. We will respond thanking him for the offer and saying that we will consider it and get back to him. We will evaluate it and present it as one of the options in due course.
We also now have more financial information from Martin & Emma (thanks for that). Along with other stuff, it means we can now start to look at various options and produce a report on what could be done and what choices need to be made. We discussed how to do that and what information to present. We will aim for a further report at the party/meeting on Saturday 23 July.
We noted that the community in Battisford (near Stowmarket) is just launching as their community pub (having joined together to take a tenancy)(link to it from the ‘community pub’ section of this site). Meanwhile, villagers in Shottisham are raising money to buy their pub (also a link from this site). So we are not alone, even in Suffolk!
Anyone who wants to join the steering group or wants to know more about what we are doing should email froth@charsfield.org.uk or check on www.froth.org.uk
The members of the steering group at the moment are: Amanda Illing, Andy Wyatt, Clive Gregory, Dave Whitley, David Wolfe, Di Alexander, Jane Beard, Mandy Morton, Pauline Llewellyn, Steve Moor, Tim Goddard. Simon Baily will also join us when he can.
Dates for your diary:
• Open meeting/Party – Saturday 23 July
• Open meeting/Party – Saturday 20 August
