Save the Six Bells: Join the cause!
We've come so far in the last year, from community surveys, to coffee mornings to building surveys and viability studies, we've been so busy! But things are ramping up! Maybe you were able to join us at our recent engagement evening where we put forward a few options for where we could go with this project, with the resounding response 'Go Big, or Go Home!'
We hear you! You want us to Save the Six Bells and run it as a pub, shop and visitor information centre. We are totally passionate about the impact this could have on our area! A community pub in the heart of the Living Levels, showcasing all that is great about our environment, enticing visitors and raising the profile of a village that is a little too well known for fly tipping & potholes.
And you could help be part of the change. We're moving into a new phase of fund raising as the £250,000 Community facility Grant is now open for applications. We'll also be looking to apply to the Welsh Gov Community Facilities Programme (£300,000) and the lottery (up to £500,000 available!) There is cash out there to support this cause and we think our plans to draw attention to all that is great about the Levels will give us a competitive edge.
Of course, we're planning to give you the chance, further down the line, to buy shares in the pub and become a member of this exciting opportunity, but right now we are desperately short of people to help with the leg work.
Can you volunteer with us? Do you have skills in business planning? Understand how to cost the building work involved? Able to help with a campaign to raise awareness? Able to help us plan environmental sustainability? Any help you can give would be gratefully received. We have new volunteers joining us on March the 8th at 6.30, so please get in touch if you're interested! Sadly, without more help, we may not be able to keep pushing things forward.
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Building partnerships
Our team has been working hard building links to support this project. Ellen attended a great day with the Living Levels and Naturalist and BBC broadcaster Ed Drewitt, finding out all about the wonderful Living Levels. We're keen to explore a partnership that would enable us to promote all the fantastic work the Living Levels team are doing. Ed was really positive about our ideas and had this to say:
“Peterstone is a delightful part of the Gwent Levels revealing the low-lying meadows, rhynes and old hedgerows. I love walking along the sea wall looking out across both the Levels and the Severn Estuary, seeing as far Newport Wetlands and beyond. In summer it is busy with butterflies, bees and hoverflies feeding on the wide range of wild flowers.”
Naturally then it was crucial for Ellen and Ruth to have lunch at the Rising Sun! They had a warm welcome at the community owned pub and met a successful team willing to help us on our journey. It's so great to speak to a team who has made this a reality and know that, with the right help, we can do the same!
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Welsh themed coffee morning!
Our monthly coffee mornings are back, on the last Saturday of every month. Join us this weekend. We're going all out red, white and green ahead of St David's day and warming up for The Big Game!
Date: Saturday 25th February
Time: 10am-12
Location: Peterstone Village Hall
Look out for other engagement events coming soon. Subscribe and follow us on Facebook! |
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We can’t do this without you!
We think there would be real benefit to having a community hub in our village and have consequently been doing as much as we can to move the project forward. However, the small group of us who are currently on the Steering Group cannot do this alone, especially as we now consider making an offer to the owner, launching a community share offer and applying for grants. If we don’t have sufficient volunteers who can commit solid blocks of time to move work forward, we will likely have to call it a day.
So, we are appealing to you to donate as much time as you can to help us secure the Six Bells for the benefit of the community – our community. There is a wide range of activities that you can get involved in depending on your skills and interests, and the amount of time you can commit. This includes:
- Support with organising our monthly coffee morning and other fundraising events;
- Assisting with writing grant applications and the business plan;
- Managing the administration of a community share offer, such as recording shares and issuing certificates;
- Supporting our campaign planning and delivery, such as writing these monthly newsletters, planning social media stories and developing our branding;
- Managing our finances;
- Giving advice on running pubs/shops/cafes/B&B accommodation.
Please do drop us a message on Facebook! We look forward to hearing from you. |
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