January 2025

Share Launch is a Go!

Following the Hybrid Funding Model in our Business Plan, our Share Sale target is £250,000, with a minimum of £200,000 achieved for us to continue with this project.

We are proud to have achieved all of our milestones that we set out at the beginning of December:

• HMRC Advance Assurance, offering tax relief opportunities for investors
• Community Share Standard Mark
• Leaflet drop to over 1200 houses (the digital version can be found here)
• Arranging a village meeting post Share Launch (see below)

It is disappointing that there are no further application windows for the Community Ownership Fund, but our costed alternative funding model is a fantastic Plan B.

Updates will appear soon, now we need to secure funds!

December 2024

We’d like to share an important update on our journey toward community ownership. The decision on our Community Ownership Fund (COF) application, which was due at the end of June, has finally arrived. Unfortunately, we have been informed that our application was unsuccessful. With first-time success rates at around 40%, this outcome wasn’t entirely unexpected. The formative feedback we received would have greatly increased our chances in a future bid, as subsequent applications typically have much higher success rates. However, the Labour Government, citing the “challenging inheritance left by the previous government", has decided to end the COF program entirely, meaning no further applications will be possible.

While this news is disappointing, we had planned for this outcome and already developed an alternative funding model. This plan, outlined in our Business Plan and Share Offer Document, ensures we remain on track to achieve our goals.

On a positive note, we’re proud to have earned the Community Shares Standard Mark, which demonstrates the strength and credibility of our Share Offer. The assessment for this mark was paid for with funding from the Co-operatives UK Share Booster Fund. Any changes to the wording of our Share Offer Document would require a full reassessment, which we would need to pay for ourselves. To avoid this, our assessor recommended creating a simple addendum to highlight the updates—ensuring clarity for everyone without incurring additional costs.

We’re excited to confirm that our Share Offer will officially launch on 6th January 2025, with all supporting documents available on our website. We are grateful for your patience and support as we move forward together. Stay tuned—exciting times are ahead!

We wish you and your loved ones a joyful Christmas season. Let’s make 2025 our best year yet!

October 2024

We are thrilled with the publicity our project has received this month. Our local MP, James Cartlidge, visited the Community Shop, which gave us a great chance to share our vision with him. It was encouraging not only to gain his continued support but also to hear about successful community projects in his constituency.

We found his feedback very helpful and appreciate him sharing information about our project on his social media.

If you haven't seen it yet, Cockfield was featured on the BBC’s Escape to the Country (series 25, episode 7). During the episode, presenter Alistair Appleton highlighted why Cockfield is such a wonderful place to live and mentioned our group's efforts towards community purchase of the pub. Both James and Alistair emphasised the importance of having volunteers, which is crucial for our project's success.

When we surveyed the village a couple of years ago, we were delighted that nearly 160 people expressed an interest in volunteering.  We currently have about 15 volunteers who regularly help run the shop, but we'd love to have more people join us. Given that there will be additional opportunities in the future, if you're interested in volunteering your expertise, please reach out to us through our website at www.cockfieldvillagehub.co.uk. This will help us update our records and contact you when opportunities arise. Don’t worry—expressing interest, like pledges, doesn’t commit you!  Regarding pledges, we’re excited to announce that we’ve reached £70,000! We are still welcoming new pledges even before we launch our share offer.

Our pre-planning meeting with Babergh District Council was well attended by representatives and consultants.  The purpose of this meeting was for our group to confidentially share our plans for creating a Community Hub.  While we await the report, and without prejudging its contents, we feel very encouraged.

The shop continues to thrive, due in no small measure to our wonderful volunteers. We try to source and stock anything you ask for and as a result we are constantly adding new produce - at last, there is now a viable source of mushrooms, please come and try them! It was rewarding to discover from James Cartlidge that our white wines are very competitively priced! We will be starting to get Christmas things on the shelves soon and hope to get you in the festive mood.

Without sounding like a broken record but we really do need more volunteers. There are always volunteers away for a huge variety of reasons and that needs to happen without any feeling of letting the team down. A larger pool of volunteers means this is never a problem. A couple of hours a week, when you can, is all that is needed, and we are sure that once you start you will enjoy the stimulation of a new environment and lots of people to talk to!! If you have any doubts, come in and talk to the volunteers and try your hand on the till. It is so important that we keep this facility going.

Hope to see you all in the shop soon!

September 2024

We are moving closer towards applying for the Share Standard Mark Award.  Acting on advice from Plunkett UK, our financial models have been tweaked to include an alternative funding model in case the Community Ownership Fund is not awarded.  We are fortunate to have expertise within our group to devise five year projections and first year weekly cash flows and trading profit/loss accounts.  Our assumptions have been reviewed and validated by a professional pub owner and additionally assessed by a third-party accountant who runs a local practice supporting several public houses and hospitality businesses.    

James Cartlidge, our local MP, is due to meet with us on the 20th September and we are looking forward to updating him on our progress since the summer and to learn what further advice and support he can offer us.

Another point of note is the consideration of planning relating to the reconfiguration of the pub site to create a Community Hub.  One of our group members is a practising architect, with experience in the commercial, housing and private residence sectors.  A pre-planning application has been submitted to Babergh Council, so that we can gain their advice, in confidence, on our plans before a formal planning application is submitted once we have purchased the pub.  It is important that planning matters are addressed as soon as practicably possible, hence we are acting proactively.   

If you have not already visited our Community Store, you will be pleased to read that sandwiches are now stocked!  We decided to appoint Sarnivores, a Suffolk-based company who have operated since 1998.  Their appeal to us was the company’s aspiration to use local produce from Suffolk, as well as their coverage - they supply several business and coffee shops and we are proud to now be added to this list.  They have an extensive range and can supply not just sandwiches - baguettes, baps, ciabattas, toasties, to name but a few!  Freshness is important and the heat-sealed containers help to ensure the sandwiches remain as fresh as they can be.

As always, if there is anything missing, something you would like sold, or would like to give feedback on your shopping experience please contact us through our website (navigate to ‘shop and post office’ to complete and submit the form directly).  Your feedback is essential in helping us to keep the shop relevant and attractive to residents of (and visitors to) this lovely village!

August 2024
 

The sun was shining at the Village Fair and we were delighted with the support that we received at the event.  We would like to thank the many people who either pledged or took away documentation in the consideration of making a pledge.  If you were unable to speak with us at the Village Fair and you have any questions, please do contact us.

We were pleased that our local MP, James Cartlidge, accepted our invitation to the Village Fair (in a non-official capacity).  Our discussions on the day galvanised the letter of support that we received from him in April.  He will be meeting with us in September to further discuss our plans.  In the meantime, James has written to the Community Ownership Fund requesting an update on our application.

Working on matters within our control, we have been collaborating with Plunkett UK and have agreed the following scope of work:

1. Develop a Community Share Offer Document ready to be assessed for the Share Standard Mark Award.
2. Review of our Business Plan, especially in respect of how it complements the Share offer Document and meets the needs of the Standard Mark Award.
3. Guidance on governance issues and the management of share data, including the creation of a Share Register.

With lots of meetings and reviewing of documentation, we will update you as soon as we can.  Visit our website and Facebook page to see the latest updates. 

Our Community Store is continuing to grow and we have welcomed some additional volunteers to join our fantastic team.  Extra volunteers are always invaluable, as it builds flexibility to our rota system - do contact us (or pop in) if you are able to volunteer, as little as two hours a week makes a difference.

We have created a display in the shop to raise awareness of our Community Hub vision, this particularly benefits those who may not live in the village but frequent our shop.  It may not be apparent to some that the Shop and Post Office needs to be relocated to remain open and it won’t continue to operate at its current location indefinitely.  We are extremely grateful to Barbarah and Ralph for their continued support, and for allowing us to rent the shop from them.     

The cessation of Ralph’s sandwiches sent a shockwave through the village.  We are pleased to have found two local suppliers and both options are being evaluated.  A worthy replacement will be announced soon!

Now that Barbara is no longer in charge of the Post Office, there have been some minor changes to the Post Office hours.  Shop hours remain unchanged:

Monday - Tuesday - Thursday and Friday

Shop 8 am – 1 pm and 2 pm – 6 pm

Post Office 9 am – 1 pm and 2 pm – 5 pm

Wednesday and Saturday

Shop 8 am – 1 pm Post Office 9 am – 1 pm

Huge thanks, as always, to our volunteers and all of you who support the shop with your custom.

Best wishes,

all from the Cockfield Village Group

July 2024
 

Community Purchase

• We have received a £7,500 Development Grant from the Cooperatives UK.  This means that we have sufficient funding to support the finalisation of our Share Offer documents and to have them assessed against the Community Shares Standard Mark (CCSM).  Although this is not mandatory, we want to apply for this because it will ensure that our community share offer is clear, honest and transparent.
• We, like many others pursuing Community Ownership, remain in limbo about the outcome of our Community Ownership Fund application submitted in April.  It is rather fortunate for us that James Cartlidge has retained his seat for South Suffolk; we hope, as a supporter of our project, that he will be able to assist in expediting the outcome.
• Another benefit of our recent grant is that we now have more support from Plunkett UK.  Appropriately, we are using their expertise to find more funding streams alongside the Share Offer.  Their advice is to advertise our Share Offer and in the unlikely event that no other funding is found, we would simply return money back to investors.  Therefore, we will be advertising our Share Offer as soon as we receive the CCSM.
• Pledges are still an important aspect of our project.  The creation of our Community Hub will require initial funding of £460,000 and we have received just under £60,000 of pledges amounting to 30% of our upper £200,000 target.  Remember that pledges do not bind you in any way and they are important in applying for grants.
   

Community Shop

• Earlier this year we received a grant from our District Councillor to buy an air conditioner. This is now installed, and we are waiting for a return of summer to use it!
• Getting ready for the ever-elusive summer we have increased our range of white wines and stocked up on ice creams and cold drinks.
• A steady range of new products are making their way onto the shelves in response to requests and we now have a ‘Reduced Basket’.
• If you find yourself with an excess of fruit and veggies this summer, we are very happy to make them available in the shop.
• We have welcomed several new volunteers who are being trained up by our old hands and what a team they make!  We would still like to increase the team if you have a couple of hours to spare.
• Sue Harrison has provided us with smart new aprons, thank you Sue!
• We are still without daily sandwiches since Ralph has retired but are hoping to fill this gap soon.
• We now proudly stock items from a family run Village Shop and Butchery from Clarke’s of Bramfield.  We now boast new delicatessen items which are proving very popular:  "those pies should be winning the gold medal for 'piemanship'.  The minced steak and onion absolutely knocks it out of the park.  The chicken and mushroom pie hits the sweet spot as well".  
• The shop is run by our community, for the community - we would love to have your feedback on experiences in the shop.  If there is something not on sale that you would like to see, do get in touch with us and we will look into it.  Visit the ‘shop and post office’ part of our website to complete the form online.  
• Huge thanks, as always, to our volunteers and all of you who support the shop with your custom.

June 2024

• The announcement of the General Election has delayed the outcome of our Community Ownership Fund decision.  We await further updates.
• We are working closely with our advisor from Plunkett UK to finalise our documents for the Community Shares Standard Mark (CSSM).  Although not mandatory, this this will ensure that our share offer is clear, honest and transparent. 
• An application to the Community Shares Booster Fund has been made.  If successful, we will receive development grants to support the CSSM Assessment and equity match investment 
• We need more pledges!  This is crucial for securing grants - every £ counts! Complete the pledge form above.  You may, understandably, be hesitant to pledge, hopefully the investor FAQ document will allay any concerns.
• New lines of stock are appearing in the shop.  We would love to have your feedback on our community shop, you find the form by clicking here.
• If you have not read our Green Links article for June, you can read it by clicking here

May 2024

• We are engaged with the Pub owner regarding our offer.
• The total value of pledges received is now £58k, this is over 25% of our upper target.
• We need more pledges!  This is crucial for securing grants - every £ counts! Complete the pledge form above.  You may, understandably, be hesitant to pledge, hopefully the investor FAQ document will allay any concerns.
• Community Ownership Fund decision is due imminently. 
• If we are unsuccessful, then we will use their feedback and Plunkett UK support to reapply in the next application window, which opens at the end of May. 
• We presented at the Cockfield Annual Parish meeting on 16th May - read our report by clicking here
• If you have not read our Green Links article for May, you can read it by clicking here