Author: BWShop

Since our open meeting in November your shop committee has been really busy laying the groundwork for the next stage…

We are now in the process of setting up a Community Benefits Society (CBS) which will be the company for the shop. Once this is set up, we will then be able to sell shares in the shop at just £10 each. Along with this, work has already started on the business plan and work continues on the location.

Susan has been working hard on identifying and starting applications for grant funding from various sources for the project as a whole.
Annina (Chair) and Sally (Vice Chair) were interviewed on local radio station Vixen 101 about the project.

We will soon be announcing a Volunteer Event: anyone who has already signed up, or is interested in volunteering on any level, can come along, find out more and meet other volunteers. We are planning to have a speaker and you can find out what is involved, as well as how other shops thrive with their volunteering community.

If you would like to register your interest or have something to offer, we would love to hear from you.

Our email is: bishopwiltonshop@gmail.com or telephone Louise Butcher on: 369589

We’ve come a long way since a little idea from Annina Diston sparked it all back in July. On Sunday 18th November 2018 we had an open village meeting to make it all official. Thank you to everyone who turned out to support the project and make this meeting happen including Ian Young from the Parish council who facilitated the meeting.

Since July, an informal group, growing from five to eight, has been taking the project forward with a lot of groundwork and research and it all became official at the open meeting with the village unanimously electing to go ahead with the shop project, an official committee and adopting a constitution for the Bishop Wilton Shop Project Group.

The Bishop Wilton Shop Project Group is something which all are welcome (and encouraged) to join. This may mean that you simply support the shop project or you want to get more involved, all levels of interest are welcome. The group members will be part of some of the decision making process and be the support needed to bring the project to fruition.

So, introducing your new, official Bishop Wilton Shop Project Group Committee…

Left to right front row: Louise Butcher (Chair) with skills in education, public speaking and organising, Annina Diston (the one who started it all!) with skills in design and marketing, Sally Smith (Vice Chair) with skills in media, event organising and education. Middle row: Ruth Rowland with skills in business, Liz Collins (Secretary) with secretarial and organisational skills, Susan Frost with skills in fundraising. Back row: David Gaskin (Treasurer) with skills in accountancy.

The next steps are now to do feasibility studies on various location options and work up a business plan in order to make this happen! We’ll keep you updated.

If you would like to register your interest or have something to offer we would love to hear from you. Our email is: bishopwiltonshop@gmail.com
or telephone Louise Butcher on: 369589

In order to continue the process, which would lead to the realisation of a community shop in Bishop Wilton, we need a more formal organisational structure. At the meeting on the 18th November we need to decide if we really want to progress with the project.

If so, we will:

• Adopt a constitution

• Elect a committee

If you would like to see a copy of the constitution it is available here for viewing, or on the notice-board near the post box, at the village hall and on our website bwcommunityshop.co.uk. You can also pick up a hard copy from an envelope on the garage door of Dray Cottage (next door to 2 Main Street).

Back in the summer we distributed a questionnaire about the possibility of having a community shop in Bishop Wilton. The response was very positive! Since then, a group of seven of us have been working hard on this idea: we are now ready to hold the public meeting and to make the project official. We will be delivering leaflets to every household in Bishop Wilton and the surrounding villages, containing information about the meeting, which will be held on Sunday November 18th at 4pm  in the village hall.
Please don’t hesitate to contact one of us if you would like to know more (all contact details are on the leaflet).

As you can see, we now have a shiny new logo alongside a presence on Facebook and Twitter.

Currently, we have a small, informal working group for getting the ball rolling, but there will soon be a second public meeting, hopefully with some speakers from organisations, where we as a community can formalise an elected committee and recruit volunteers on all levels to move the project forward. In these early and informal stages we have been able to collect information from the questionnaire, visit other community shops in the area as well as familiarise ourselves with the process of opening a community shop and applying for membership of the Plunkett Foundation.

Details of the meeting will be communicated via the village notice board, the website, Facebook and Twitter pages as well as our email list where people have provided us with and email address via the questionnaire form.

Location, location, location is also high on the list of priorities as no premises confirmed as yet and at this stage we are still welcoming ideas whilst exploring the options we have. Please get in touch, if you have any suggestions.

We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who replied to the paper or online questionnaires over the summer. The results show that almost all the responses think that having a shop is important or very important.