Apologies from Amanda Willson
- Ratify minutes of last agenda
All in agreement to ratify minutes of last meeting.
- Update re Owners of the Stag
NM met the owner by chance and he told her that he might be ready to sell around the end of the year. We discussed how this is a long time away but may be beneficial to us as the longer this takes the longer the pub has been without books or running as a business, which will seriously affect the value given to the property by a surveyor.
It was also discussed that since NM’s conversation with the owner, others on the committee have heard that the owner may want to only sell part of the property, the hall/ function room. However, the size of the space previously used by the community was greatly reduced when the pub was refurbished so we don’t even know if this is a functional space(1). It was decided that purchasing this would not be of interest to us as the CBS because the remit of the group and the purpose for setting it up in the first place was and is to purchase the pub and run it for the benefit of the community, so this would be outside of our remit. Our purpose is to buy the whole property not just a part of it. On a positive note the longer all this takes gives us more time to organize ourselves – we only have one hit we need to raise the money in one go but the longer this goes on the worse the state of the building will be in, again this will effect the sale value and may mean we need to raise more than the purchase price in order to carry out substantial repairs.
(1) The owner of The Stag has told us that the hall was not “greatly reduced” but only 50cm was taken to allow for a new wall that met with fire regulations.
- Village day stall:
Setting up next to Devon Culm so that PG and AG can be on both pitches.
Stall for the pub communicating with and updating the village- list what we have achieved:
- The CBS is set up and is a functioning legal entity.
- We already have a bank account set up.
We need to make it clear to everyone that we are ready. Everything is in place to move, we are just waiting for The Stag to come on the market.
This is a positive because we are organized and prepared for the off; we are not asking for pledges for what might come to be, but telling people that this will be happening. Our preparedness is also a strength in our story when the time comes to fundraise.
Our aim at the Village Day this year is collecting email addresses to build a database of contact details to keep interested parties informed on any progress and be ready to send out share offers to as many people as possible when the time comes.
It was decided that we should have an interactive brainstorming activity at the stall on what a pub means to the community, what do they expect and want.
12- 3.30. village day
This is a public relations exercise. Some people do not believe that what we are doing is possible. We really need to convince them that it is and we are doing it! We need to make sure that more people understand the importance of this project for the community as a whole. If we are successful in getting this message across then more people will want to get involved.
We need to make it clear how successful community pubs are it is really only private pubs that are struggling – last year a lot of people were worried about the cost and thinking we would not be able to raise the money or how much it was going to be up for sale for but no one knows until it is valued. What we do know is that the law has changed and instead of having 6 months to raise the funds when we have put in an offer we have a whole year.
This needs to be publicized and an update on the CBS Socials and Rackenford Community
Action.
NM to organize village day activity
HAA to email owners of the Stag out of courtesy to inform them that we will be having a stall at village day.
HAA to check board does it need renewing also check minutes for last year’s slogans print and laminate.
AG and PG bring the empty barrel.
Successful pubs case studies IW
HAA to show IW size of frame for banner and check suitability of last year’s banner.
Social media
All members of the group to send content if they have it to HAA or post direct on the CBS Facebook page. HAA will cross post onto Insta.
HAA Action sort out Tik Tok
Website:
Posters in the shop that communicate that we have all our minutes on the site and that there is news on our Website.
Place the community pubs success stories onto our website.
Actions:
IW to place all minutes on the website
Next steps –
We need to explore where to get grants and funding from in greater detail. NM has compiled a list in ‘Funding’ folder of the shared drive. We should do some more research to check if these options are still available and any other new options.
We should also find out who is willing to get grant or fundings applications together both within the group and outside of the group? Is there anyone in the village that might know about writing these and be able to help us.
Is it worth drafting a funding statement? – can we ask around in the village and see if anyone has contacts in these areas or with funding organisations.
Going back to ask some of the contacts we have made at the Drew Arms for instance – asking who had helped them. Also looking online for other funding statements that we may be able to “adjust”.
We should be getting our case ready- thinking about who we are going to go to. Information gathered on the stall at village day will help with this. Helping us form arguments for what it is that the community want.
We should not get complacent. We need to know who the key funders are and where to go, so that we are just as ready in this field as we are in other areas when the pub is put up for sale.
The CBS need to understand the intricacies of the Batworthy wind farm- they could be useful for small grants or are they able to offer larger substantial grants?
Who might we be able to get to help with the initial valuation of the property? Who do we know?
We should also think about get started on grant applications so that they are ready to go when we need to. We should approach Flora Blackburn about Batworthy as she did all the groundwork with the shop.
Is there any new funding opportunities because of the change in law with community assets- a kit that we can give people who are specialists?
Actions
NM to have a look at what is available –
PG to put together funding statements for different funding categories.
We need to work out what fields people in the village may be able to help with – then find an expert or use local expertise.
Fundraising for the pub – running the fundraising campaign etc. HAA has some experience of fundraising.
When we are at that point – or should we set out a
Action plan now, to give us some idea or timetable – this can be reviewed / changed when the time comes – does
Plunket have an action plan? Have any other community pubs published their action plans on line that might help us.
Action
HAA to talk to Ian at the Drew Arms
IW to talk to his contacts
NH to check for Plunket action plan
Gather info and place on the shared areas
AOB
NH- we need to tell HMRC- that we do not have to pay corporation tax- NH to action
Banking with the Coop- NH finds them difficult to deal with – moved money to savings account and we have made 7p.
This was discussed although Coop may be difficult to use. We have used them because they are free for charities and a good bank to work with if you are a charity. They are also ethical. It was decided to stay with Coop.
Let money sit in the savings account until we need it- we should have plenty of notice when we need it
- Next meeting- 7th October at Henri’s 6.30.