latest news

FIVE GREEN LIGHTS FOR OUR  COMMUNITY SHOP

The future for Brent Knoll’s Community Shop has received four green lights to proceed.  A plan to demolish the village’s public toilets and replace them with modern toilets and a permanent shop building required support from the community, Parish Council, planning consent and Government approval.

The public vote

More than 135 residents attended a Public Engagement Event to see plans and seek answers from both the Parish Council and the shop’s Management Committee.  126 people completed survey forms, with 121 in support, 4 against, and one “undecided”.

The council vote

Four days later, Brent Knoll Parish Council met to hear the results of the public event and decided unanimously to proceed with the plan to demolish the public toilets and build new accessible toilets and the shell for the Community Shop to fit out and occupy.  .

The planning vote

The morning after this Parish Council meeting, the news arrived that Sedgemoor District Council had given planning consent for the new building.  

This enabled Brent Knoll Parish Council to launch a competitive tendering process to finalise the cost and appoint contractors, which they have now done

Meanwhile the Community Shop team appointed a shopfitter to advise on the optimum internal layout for the new shop building.

The Government vote:

The Secretary of State has approved the Parish Council's application for an increased loan.

The final vote

The Parish Council has:

- Arranged the re-routing of an 11k volt cable under the public toilets by National Grid (now done), with the start of demolition and building by May;

- Agreed that the Community Shop will lodge £26,000 with them, to cover the costs of basic requirements (eg, wiring, plumbing, solar-panels, etc) for the new shop;

- Agreed for their chosen builder to deliver our new shop-shell by August.

WHAT'S LEFT FOR US TO DO?

Having lodged £26,000 with the Parish Council, to assure them that we are ready to go, the moment they deliver our new shop shell, we now need to raise another £8,000 to do everything that our shop-fitters recommended to produce the ideal fit-out - which is crucial for our determined aim of restoring Post Office services!

So, we're launching a new share-sale appeal.  Most of our 160+ members only bought one or two shares, 'cos that's all we needed at the time to build a membership..  We're now asking those members to buy more shares to help us raise the money we need - and the early signs are that our members are rising to that challenge!

We're also seeking new shareholding members, and arranging fund-raising events - like our family quiz night.

COMMUNITY SHOP SHAREHOLDERS LEARN THAT MEMBER FUNDS HAVE HAVE RISEN BY £57,000.

This year's Annual Members' Meeting, held on Wednesday 17th July 2024, were given a detailed financial update by our Treasurer, Bob Smith, whose co-option to the Management Committee was confirmed by a unanimous vote. 

While trading profits were hit by the massive energy price increase, resulting from the Ukraine war (rising from £500 in 2022 to almost £5,500 in 2023), the shop still made a profit.

Total cash balances were £43,180,180 as at 31st January 2024, an increase of £8,520 in the year, with member funds having risen to £57,000 since launch.

The thirty members attending voted unanimously to:

- Confirm the election of Bob Smith to the Management Committee;

- Disapply the appointment of an auditor for accounts to 31st January 2025;

- Approve the appointment of a qualified auditor's report.

If you are already one of our 160+  shareholding members,  we hope that you'll join our operations by picking up a volunteer form in the shop.  If you're not yet a share-holder, we very much hope that you'll become a member by picking up an application form in the shop or clicking on the share-issue page on this website.

Volunteering is a wonderful way of making more of your life and more of your engagement in our community.

We don't just need volunteers to serve at the till:  if you could spare an hour or two to check on use-by dates or help with weekly orders to our suppliers, that would make a massive difference,

“WE’VE MOVED FROM OUR PORTAKABIN”

The new shop-shell is complete, and our shop-fitters have been busily installing flooring, suspended ceiling, lighting, counter, and shelving - including all the shelving donated by BWOC on the closure of their shop. 

A team of volunteers have painted all the walls and woodwork, ahead of shifting all our stock and fixtures (like fridges and freezer) over the weekend of 7th & 8th December, ready for switching trading from the Portakabin to the new shop on Monday 9th.

The official opening is planned for 11am on Saturday 14th December, when the ribbon will be cut by our two chairmen - David Yates (Chairman of Brent Knoll Community Shop) and Bob Filmer (Chairman of our Parish Council).  Tim Dean, our "postie" for the past 28 years will be delivering our mail that day, but will use his 20-minute rest-break to join us to deliver one of his original poems.

Tessa Munt MP, who was one of our earliest share-holders and volunteers, will also be at our opening event.

And we're on-track to pay the £60,000 cost of converting that bare shell into a fully equipped shop.

We just have a funding gap of about £8,000, which we plan to fill by sales of more shares, continued trading profits, and grants.

If you are not yet a shareholder, please go to the share-issue page on this website to apply - or pick up a share-application form in the shop,

Meanwhile, the shop continues to trade at a profit - wholly due to our wonderful volunteers - and provide a vital community service to the village, including the monthly "Sausage Sizzler" events on the last Saturday of every month (10am to 12 noon).

The Community Shop’s greatest need, however, is for more volunteers to join our team. This will enable us to expand our opening hours. We need people who can spare an hour or two in the afternoons on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays: full training will be provided..

We also need volunteers who’re happy to spend the odd hour in checking the “best-before” dates on the items on our shelves. There is no better way of becoming part of the community.