One of the most inspiring things to come out of the challenges we have faced is the growth of ‘community’. Small acts of kindness for neighbours alongside the growth of community focused activities. You may have seen these on the news or programmes like ‘Countryfile’, including our own Plunkett Advisor, Chris Buckham, talking about the community shop he is involved with. In a more local context – it took me over 90 minutes to walk home from checking up on the pub last week because I was talking to so many lovely people, neighbours old and new, who were asking how things were going and offering support.
“A village without a pub is like a scone without clotted cream, a bank holiday without rain, Bake Off without the innuendo and a crucial football match without penalties. It just isn’t British.”
We wholeheartedly agree with Hugh Graham in The Times this week – his article was all about campaigns like ours and ‘how to save your pub’. Across the country communities are working together to save their locals. Communications with the developers who currently own The Oddies have recommenced so we are hoping for some positive steps soon in our own journey.
The importance of community ownership and input into local services has been recognised by the Government in the Community Ownership Fund which offers a range of options and includes matched funding. Some of the Steering Group attended a webinar about it soon after its launch last week and we will be applying for funding alongside the other options we have discussed before. We continue to work with Plunkett, CAMRA and other organisations to refine the plans we have in readiness for buying the pub.
However, we still need your support: the GoFundMe page is still live for anyone who wants to contribute towards things like fees for specialists. The Share Pledges keep coming too – we’ve had yet more commitments in the last few weeks so if you want to help with the funds or to pledge to buy shares then please do – it’ll help with the matched funding too!!
You can also use the ‘contact’ page on this website to pledge ‘in kind’ and offer your skills – if you can offer a service, such as helping with building renovations, painting, legal advice or other specialist services then we’d love to hear from you.
We’ve still got the list from our community meetings but the more the merrier! We are, after all, a community of talented people who share a goal to bring so much back to the local area.
If you want to be added to the mailing list of supporters then you can do that on the contact page too.
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