Our Plan

• To provide a permanent community shop;
• To restore Post Office services;
• To provide additional facilities – like a community café.

Since  launching the Emergency Shop as a team of volunteers, we have – with help from the Plunkett Foundation – become a registered Community Benefit Society (Brent Knoll Community Shop Limited): registered number 8416. This means that we are now established as a Community Benefit Society, controlled by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). That enabled us to open our own bank account, and to apply for grants.

As a Community Benefit Society, under the aegis of the Plunkett Foundation, we have now conducted a Membership Share-Sale, secured more than 147 shareholding members, and held our first two Annual Members Meetings.

Those Annual Members’ Meetings - plus subsequent co-options - elected the seven members of our Management Committee:

• David Yates (Chairman)
• Caroline Sturgess (Treasurer)
• David Sturgess (Secretary)
• Kate Tucker
• Kim Willcox
• Lucy White
• Michelle Cole

Since then, we have gone from strength to strength. 

THE SHOP:

- We continue to trade profitably;

- We are working with the Parish Council's plan to demolish the public toilets and replace them, to include a building that we could rent;

-  We have secured grant funding (Totalling more than £15,000) to enable us to buy fridges, freezers, a coffee machine, gazebos & flags for our external events, etc, etc.

Post Office Services:

We are in constant touch with the Post Office to explore how we can restore Post Office services.  This cannot be achieved until we have a permanent home (ie, not just our Portakabin).