Written by Samuel Smith
We really didn’t know if anyone would turn up to our first Public Meeting to explore the possibility of opening a new Community Farm Shop and Cafe. Following our recent survey and invitation, we had booked St Nicolas Church for its proximity to the High Street, its beautiful space and because the Minister, Justine Middlemiss has been so helpful in assisting us with our Sutton People’s Kitchen project. But it’s a big space to fill and 15 minutes before the meeting was due to start, I was mentally preparing for having a small handful of people turning up.
However we ended up with 25 people attending our first meeting. Some familiar faces and many new faces. This was a fantastic turn-out of people who were all motivated to make this idea a reality.
The meeting started with two presentations. Samuel Smith, General Manager of Sutton Community Farm explained some background to the farm and this idea and shared results from a recent survey we conducted. This had over 200 respondents giving their views on the idea of a Community Farm Shop and Cafe. As things stand, Sam explained the Farm’s position: we would like to see the shop and cafe happen, but while we have very limited resources, we are treating it as a separate, independent enterprise, led by the community, which complements the farm and its ethos. Like a sister project on the high street.
We then had Hannah Barrett from the Punkett Foundation explain their role in supporting new community-owned enterprises across the UK. The Plunkett Foundation are providing up to £5,000 worth of advice to this project (through a programme called Our Urban Shop), which is very valuable for us; assisting us with business planning expertise, case studies and study visits.
The floor was then open for discussion where people shared their thoughts, ideas and how they would like to contribute. Finally, we wrapped things up, discussing next steps for the project.
There is certainly demand to progress this idea, so we will be meeting again and establishing a steering committee to drive the project forward.
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