The Buckland Brewer shop committee held its third meeting on 15 February. Our group aims to bring a community run shop to the village following the closure of the old shop and post office in 2009.

We

welcomed the community development officer from Torridge District

Council. He came to hear how we are progressing on the project, to

offer guidance and to let the community know that Torridge fully

supports our efforts.

Shop premises is our main concern. We

had a very informative presentation on what's happened at St Giles in

the Heath. That community has helped the shopkeeper/postmistress move in

to a new portakabin. The parish council provided land and startup

funding. Other funding has come from Torridge DC and Devon CC.

Although

the St Giles venture is - for the shopkeeper - for profit, it shows what can

be achieved and how it is essential for the whole community to get

behind such a project. Of particular interest is the use of a

portakabin. Our committee is evaluating several options including using

a temporary structure. We will have further news for the village in the

near future.

We are close to deciding on the details of our first

fund raising event. The committee has agreed to invite fund raising

volunteers to the next meeting when we aim to agree on the details of

at least one event. We hope this will be an opportunity for everyone to

be part of a very visual event.

Committee members have been busy

with other matters, including writing to local political

representatives to get their support. The parish council has kindly

agreed to our request for funds to help pay for our initial outgoings -

meeting rooms, out of pocket expenses and so forth. We hope the council will continue to back our project.

We have also met again with the Plunkett Foundation which has

given us advice on our constitution and on possible funding sources.

If you have any questions, please post a comment here and we'll get back to you.

We'll post further on our blog and at Bideford People.