First of all … A Happy New Year to all our followers! Let’s hope for exciting things in 2025!
Echoes in the landscape
I went for a crisp and sunny walk the other day, trying to get the impetus to work through my ‘to do’ list including ‘Oddies’ stuff! The winter sun was low in the sky and shining off the frost that was picking out the ridge and furrow in the fields behind the house. I love these echoes of the past! Our area is famous for the evidence of Georgian ‘enclosure’ superimposed on the old open field system. I used to teach about these landscapes, using local examples to show the patterns of change.
I was reminded that the 'General Enclosure Acts' were passed in the early 1840s and realised that our beloved pub was in operation then! I imagined the workers who would have been planting the hedges popping in to The Oddies for a beer! We are part of a long tradition of community – renewed and determined, I came home and got to work on my emails!
Planning updates
When we last wrote, we were awaiting the determination of the latest application for the Oddies. This was refused by the planning department but the owners have told us that they plan to appeal this decision so we will keep our discussions with them open whilst that occurs.
We have continued to engage with the owners to try to identify an acceptable purchase price and have repeatedly stated the community desire to reopen the pub as soon as possible and that we are in a position to proceed. This work will run alongside any appeal.
Supporting the project
The Parish Council have secured financial support to purchase the pub and Higham CBS (that's the STOP group!) will aim to refurbish and reopen it as soon as possible after we have secured ownership. Part of this will be via community shares, which the most common way of financing community businesses like ours.
We love hearing from people who want to support the community project, each publicity splurge sees more people signing up for info and pledging to buy shares. If you’ve not done that yet, please consider it.
If you would like to show your support by pledging to buy shares you can do that on the ‘pledge’ page of the website. You can also get in touch and sign up for news updates via the ‘contact’ page.
If you shop online then we’d love you to get the Easyfundraising app and join supporters who are bringing in donations as they shop. There are hundreds of shops on the platform and it’s a really easy way to contribute to our funds. It’s a great example of ‘look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves’!!
Join the team
We are always keen to hear from people who have skills to offer too! We welcome offers of all sorts of skills - services like architects and industry experts alongside ‘trades’ and, of course, lots of willing volunteers so if you’d like to offer your expertise then let us know! We have a huge team of people waiting to get stuck in so please have a think about what you can contribute.
We're hoping to be wielding paint brushes and then pulling pints in 2025!
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