We had another very succesful party/meeting again on Saturday 1 October – yet again around 70 people came to socialise and catch up with friends and neighbours, and the news.
At our previous meeting we reported that two of our group had met with the freeholder of the Three Horseshoes, Edward Bolton, to discuss options. That threw up the possibility of taking a tenancy alongside an ‘option to buy’. That might have given us a good way to get things going. Anyway, following correspondence with his solicitor it is now clear that option is no longer on the table. He is only interested in an ordinary tenancy (on not vary good terms) or selling the freehold. Given that respondents to our questionnaire overwhelmingly rejected the possibility of an ordinary tenancy (certainly not while the freehold looks a possibility), we do not propose to pursue that any more (at least for now). We will focus for now on the potential for a freehold purchase.
In that light, we are taking up the offer of free consultancy on setting up a community enterprise from the C0-Op. Our current thinking is that we will set ourselves up as ‘community benefit society’ a corporate structure designed for community enterprises which seems ideal for us. Here are some documents which describe and analyse how a community benefit societies work. First, a guide for potential investors, then a guide for advisers; finally a more detailed analysis. If you have any comments on that idea, do let us know. We would be particularly pleased to hear from anyone with specialist or technical expertise in this area.
Anyway, if that is the road which looks most appropriate, then we could be looking to set up a community benefit society in the next month or two. Then we would invite you all to become members. And we would turn properly to raising funds.
The other news at the moment is that we are looking at options for grants and other similar sources of money. One of those is Village SOS, the ‘big lottery’ in conjunction with the BBC (as seen on TV). We will be applying shortly. If succesful that, and other sources, might contribute part of the money we need to raise. But of course, in the end, we probably have to raise most of it ourselves.
Finally for now, don’t forget our next two party/meetings – Saturday 12 November and Saturday 17 December. We are also thinking of having a New Years Eve party – confirmation and details to follow.
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