Dear Friends (and prospective friends) of the Boot
A short update to keep you informed about our progress in trying to save the Boot as a hub for the community.
We have been delighted to receive a steady stream of pledges towards our campaign and are now over 80% of the initial target set of £250,000. For this many thanks, its great to have tangible feedback about the level and feeling of support in the community for our campaign. Please send in and encourage others who may not have returned their pledges yet to do so.
We are using the level of support received both in terms of value but equally importantly in terms of supporters numbers to aid in our submission for grant and loan funding to make up the balance of what we believe will be a fair offer along with the cost of repairs and works needed to appoint a tenant and reopen.
We hope to be in a position to bid based on the independent valuation report we have obtained and issue an updated business plan and prospectus in the next month where a fully costed plan will be presented. As we receive more pledges the level of costly loans required are reduced aiding in the long term planning and improvement possibilities and helping provide better projection of the split between shares, loans and grants to be finalised. We plan to hold another public meeting to update everyone and have a Q&A session as part of the formal share offer prospectus launch and we will circulate a date and time when we have them.
In the meantime for more information please look at the now fully launched web site where the draft business plan, our FCA registration (which includes our full society rules), references to some of the publicity we have obtained and contact details for anyone who would like to ask any questions in the meantime can also be found.
As already said many thanks to all those that have pledged or even just encouraged us by comments and snippets of feedback to help us in our joint efforts to save the Boot. To further help us with this please find attached the pledge flyer to pass on to any potential supporters, locally or even further afield, that you may know. We also have printed copies available if required or they can be picked up at the village Post Office.
Regards
John Alderman
Chair The Community Boot Inn (Orleton) Ltd