Adam Symons visits Buckland

Report from Bideford People.

Second committee meeting

The shop committee met on 18 January in the Methodist Church. We had a good turn out with a few new members of the committee.

Pete reported on his meeting with Torridge District Council where he briefed the Economic Regeneration Officer and Community Development Officer on our plans. They were able to give valuable advice on taking the project forward as well as keeping us up to date on the potential use of the previous shop premise. The committee agreed to invite an officer from Torridge to the next meeting in February.

Securing a premise will be a key issue for the committee and that subject took up most of the meeting. There are several options. These options require discussion with third parties. So, at this stage, we are not ready to talk publicly about the options. But, we will update you on this as soon as we can.

We also discussed fund raising. There were a number of good ideas. We will put some flesh on the bone of these ideas at our future meetings. We’re aiming to hold our first public fund raising event in the coming months.

Before we can do that the committee needs to be formally established and we will work with Torridge and the Plunkett Foundation on drafting a constitution.

Thanks to everyone who has offered help so far. If you have time or expertise to offer, please leave a comment or contact Pete (telephone number in the January Village Scene).

Committee – first meeting

Following the public meeting in November, the community shop committee held its first meeting on Thursday 17 December.

Peter McClymont chaired the meeting. Marie Douglas agreed to act as secretary. A couple of people who had volunteered were unable to make the first meeting. The committee will try to accommodate as many as possible in fixing future meetings.

All agreed that securing premises for the shop is the highest priority. The committee has identified a number of options which will be pursued over the coming weeks.

Committee members hope to meet shortly with Keith Holwell who ran the village shop until March 2009. Keith has offered practical advice which will be invaluable in putting together a business plan.

There was discussion about funding. The committee will approach the parish council for out of pocket expenses. Fund raising will be discussed at future meetings.

The committee agreed to contact the Plunkett Foundation to ask for assistance in taking the project forward.

The committee would like to thank all those who have supported the project and have offered help in fund raising and/or running the shop. We will be contacting you when the need arises.

If any wants to join the committee or offer help, please leave a comment here.

Special thanks go to Larry Davies who got the project up and running and the parish council for its ongoing support.

Further updates will appear in the Village Scene and here.

Presentation

I have loaded the presentation from last Tuesday’s public meeting so that everyone can have a look.

View this document on Scribd

The service I’ve used -  Scribd – allows you to download the full presentation in a number of different file formats.

Thank you!

Tuesday night was a success thanks to all of those involved:

• everyone who turned up on what was an inhospitable evening
• the group members, some of which will not be part of the committee going forward
• particular thanks to Judy, Larry and Janet

Thanks to all.

We will be in touch in the next few days with those who have volunteered to sit on the committee. An early meeting is essential to keep the ball rolling. At the very least, we need to establish the committee, choose a chairman and agree our first actions.

Public meeting – the outcome

The  public meeting attracted over 35 people on a wild and windy Tuesday evening.

Larry Davies introduced the meeting. He said that following the loss of the post office and the village shop, an informal group had met to look at a community shop option. The group had put together a survey to see if the community would support a shop.

Peter McClymont presented the survey results to the meeting. There were 70 responses, all supporting the idea. Most people wanted a shop offering newspapers and general provisions with support for stocking local products. Respondents also wanted other services to be offered, including a cash machine and Paypoint facilities.

A lively discussion followed with many good points made and practical suggestions. Everyone agreed that it was not an easy task and there were many practical issues to resolve, including location and raising capital.

The meeting concluded with general agreement that a formal committee should go ahead with the project. Several people have volunteered to join the committee. If you would like to offer your help, to run the shop or help out in any other way, please leave a comment here.

Further updates will appear in the Village Scene and here. Hopefully Jamaica cake will be available!

Survey results

We will go through the survey results at the public meeting on Tuesday 24 November.

But, you can now get a look at the results beforehand.

Public meeting – revised date

Apologies for moving the date of the public meeting. We’ve now confirmed the details.

• Time: 8.00 pm
• Date: Tuesday 24 November
• Venue: Buckland Brewer Village Hall

Public meeting – ?? November

The survey results have been added up and the group has agreed to hold a public meeting.

The meeting will cover:

• the plan – creating a community shop
• survey results – what you said
• your views – a chance to voice your opinion
• what next? you decide!

If you want a local shop in your community, then it is vital that you come to this meeting.

Thursday 12 November at 8.00 pm, date and venue to be confirmed.

Leave a comment to get in touch.

Your views count!

Survey being distributed

Most of the village should by now have received a paper copy of the survey. We’ll get to outer lying places and the rest of the village soon.

If you want, you can fill out the survey online. It helps us add up the numbers!