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Six years ago, Brent Knoll lost it’s village shop and Post Office. Since then, we have succeeded in delivering a thriving volunteer-run Community Shop, but we have not yet been able to restore Post Office services – and have seen the loss of a crucial post box outside the old village shop.

The Government is conducting a national public consultation on the provision of rural Post Office services, which we support: and our Parish Council has been lobbying Royal Mail to install a replacement post box outside the new Community Shop – which we also support.

PETITION:

We, the undersigned, urge Royal Mail to install a post box outside the Brent Knoll Community Shop (replacing the now lost post box that was outside the now closed village shop), AND urge the Post Office to enable Brent Knoll Community Shop to restore services lost when the Brent Knoll Post Office was closed.

YOUR SUPPORT:

Well over 100 people signed this petition.....Thank you.

BRENT KNOLL COMMUNITY SHOP LIMITED

ANNUAL MEMBERS’ MEETING, 30TH JULY 2026

MINUTES

1. Apologies for absence: Margaret Trapp and Janet Southwell. There were 24 attendees.

2. Minutes of the last Annual Members’ Meeting: Approved unanimously.

3. Chairman’s report & plans for the coming year:

David Yates welcomed attendees, and explained our role as a Community Benefit Society and our membership of The Plunkett Foundation (the charity supporting hundreds of rural community enterprises).

He mapped the shop’s six year history, since opening as an “Emergency Shop” during the Covid lock-down, and introduced the members of the Management Committee and their roles. He also confirmed that we now have more than 160 shareholding members, and that the shop is entirely run and operated by about 40 volunteers, while urging attendees to consider becoming a volunteer.

Looking forward, he reported that our proposal to arrange and fund the paving and provision of long-life picnic tables to improve the look and useage of the shop’s frontage was declined by the Parish Council, while we await their approval and support for a planning application to install an awning over the shop’s front door.

He also reported that we have applied to Somerset Council for the shop to be registered as a “Property of Community Value”, which would give us first refusal for 12 months if a future Parish Council decided to sell it.

David confirmed that we are still supporting the Parish Council’s efforts to persuade Royal Mail to site a post-box outside the shop (to replace the one removed from the old village shop),and is working with Plunkett to explore potential to restore some level of Post Office services.

In addition to continuing with our growing retail success and our community ventures - like our monthly “Sausage Sizzler & Table-Top Sale, our quiz nights, wine-tastings, etc), he explained that we are working with other members of the Somerset Group of Community Shops to consider adopting the latest updated version of Plunkett’s Model Rules, that would require a vote at the next Annual Members’ Meeting.

4. Management Committee re-elections:

Unanimously agreed to re-elect en-bloc the five MC members whose three-year term has expired:

a. David Sturgess (Secretary)

b. Caroline Sturgess (Book-keeper)

c. Kim Willcox (Head of grant-funding)

d. David Yates (Chair)

e. Lucy White (Head of purchasing).

5. Election of any new Management Committee members:

David Sturgess (Secretary) explained that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), our governing body has approved our request to increase our MC membership from 8 to 12, and that we are in need of new members to help with IT matters and Policies & Procedures for compliance, and invited attendees to step forward.

James Woodward volunteered to apply, having years of experience in IT, and spoke to attendees. He was unanimously elected.

6. Treasurer’s Report:

Bob Smith (Treasurer), took the meeting through the last financial year’s accounts and balance sheet, and the first six months of the current financial year.

The year ending 31st January 2026 saw:

Turnover £152,241 compared to £127,073 for the previous year

Gross profit 22.5% compared to 20.1% for the previous year

Pre-tax profit £21,222 compared to £12.448 for the previous year

Corporation tax £643 compared to £0 for the previous year

Retained profit £20,579 compared to £12,448 in the previous year.

He confirmed that at that time, the shop held £35,115 in the bank and cash, while Members’ funds stood at £102,767 compared to zero at the time of launching the shop in 2020.

Meanwhile, the growth in sales and profit experienced since moving from the Portakabin to the new shop has continued. The May record figure for sale had already been exceeded for June.

7. Resolution (as recommended by the Management Committee) NOT to approve or apply interest on shares at this time:

David Yates had explained the MC’s advice to NOT approve or apply interest on shares at this time:

· We have a strong financial position, which we need to sustain;

· We have capital projects (eg, the planned awning), and the need to have funds available for major costs (eg, solar-panel battery);

· The administrative burden of arranging minute payments to shareholders, most of whom have just one share, would be onerous.

Agreed, unanimously, NOT to approve or apply interest on shares at this time.

8. Resolution to disapply the appointment of an auditor for accounts to 31stJanuary 2027.

Caroline Sturgess (book-keeper) explained that we do not need to have a very expensive full audit, as we do not have a multi-million-pound turnover. The resolution was approved unanimously.

9. Resolution to appoint a qualified auditor’s report:

Caroline and Bob explained that we have been working with Cadwalladers (now re-named), as Plunkett recommended auditors. This resolution was unanimously approved.

10. Questions, Suggestions, and Any Other Business:

Charlee Woodward raised the issue, echoed by another member, that they have not been receiving emails about Annual Members’ Meetings etc. Noted that this reflects one of the IT issues that needs attention, and will be raised with James Woodward as the new MC member. 

SHAREHOLDERS CAN BE VOLUNTEERS!

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,

THE NEW SHOP IS A SUCCESS!

We've been trading in the new building for almost two years.

We paid the more than £66,000 cost of converting a bare shell into a fully equipped shop with money we've raised from share-sales, grants, and trading profits.

That means that we have had to reduce our working capital reserves, but trading in the new shop has seen an increase in sales of about 20%.

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.