The
Working Group circulated a questionnaire in the spring
and held a public meeting in June. It has been working
throughout the summer, and is now in a position to feed
back to you its findings and proposals for the new Radley
Village Shop.
The questionnaires
and their work showed that the ideal shop would offer
a wide range of goods and services such as:
•
Newspapers and Magazines
•
Fresh Bread and Milk
•
Local and home-made products
•
Fresh Meat and Fish (to order)
•
Take-away Tea and Coffee
•
Specialist products, eg Fair Trade and Wholefoods
•
Seasonal goods
Their research
concluded that a shop CAN SUCCEED by offering a quality
range of products and services but it must also:
•
Be run as a community owned venture
•
Attract custom from both villagers and outsiders
•
Have the full and committed support of the community
To
get the project off the ground will require
a lot of work and the generous help of members of the
community.
In
short it needs your TIME and your MONEY
Time
The shop needs
assistance from villagers prepared to give some of their
time freely to help set up the shop and run it. In particular
it needs
•
specialist trades people (builders, electricians, joiners,
plumbers, painters) to help convert the premises
•
volunteers to help in the shop, serving, purchasing,
cleaning etc
•
professional services eg bookkeeper/ accountant
•
people to be part of the management committee
Money
After considering
several options, the Working Group has concluded that
the premises on Church Road remain the best option,
but not the cheapest! The total of all initial costs
is likely to be in the order of £150,000 (including
the acquisition of the freehold).
How can
this money be raised?
•
Grant & Loan. An application would
be made to a national funding programme which helps
communities establish village shops. This could provide
a grant & loan package of up to £40,000 provided
the community can raise a similar amount .
Further details will be given at the village meeting.
•
Purchase of shares in Radley Village Shop .
By setting up the business as an Industrial and Provident
Society for the benefit of the community, villagers
would be able to purchase membership shares. As well
as raising money for the shop, these shares would entitle
each member to a vote on important matters affecting
the shop. Details will be presented at the village meeting.
A full prospectus including how to buy and sell the
shares would be issued later.
•
Donations. All donations would be extremely
welcome.
What
do I need to do at this stage?
Indicate
your interest by completing the form that is being distributed
throughout the village. Alternatively, a copy of the
form can be downloaded from
here.
The Working Group
would like to know how much support there is from the
community for the shop and the possible level of financial
commitment.
Please complete
the form, and return it in a sealed envelope to one
of the addresses shown before noon on 14 th October.
The overall findings
will be presented at the meeting.
All
information provided will of course be treated in the
strictest confidence
Note
that an indication of interest on your part does not
represent a commitment by you. |
