Monday 3 November 2014

Open day at the Peterborough Arms and Important Funding News

What a great week! The Open Day at the Peterborough on Saturday was a real success – a lot of members and investors came along to have a look at the pub before any restoration is started. The car park was full! All the ground floor rooms and cellar were open for inspection (our guardians were living upstairs so we did not disturb them). Our plans for the restoration and extension were on display, there was beer, tea, coffee and cake on offer and Trust merchandise and bric-a-brac (that came with the pub) on sale. Everyone was really positive about the venture and the team of volunteers kept everything running smoothly. Many congratulations and thanks to everyone who helped on the day. Thanks to Kennet & Avon and Castle Coombe breweries who supplied the beer. Thanks to Di and Rachael for the loan of their hot water boiler, to the Bell Inn who bought the tea and coffee and to all those volunteers who made cakes and biscuits. A real team effort all round. I can reveal that donations on the day totalled over £680 and that will all go towards the restoration of the pub. We received another loan of £1000, four new applications for membership and some useful new volunteers came forward.

Earlier in the week we were able to reveal that the Trust had qualified as a finalist for the People’s Millions competition that could be worth £50K to the Trust. This is a grant made available by the Big Lottery and ITV. Our project is in Royal Wootton Bassett and is called Studley Wildlife Trail. It will be on ITV West Country East news on 26th November. The winner is decided on telephone votes on that day, but the telephone numbers where you can cast your vote are not released until that morning. We will be working on a campaign to alert as many people as possible over the next three weeks. You can see the details on http://www.peoplesmillions.org.uk/2014-finalists/west-country-east/studley-wildlife-trail

Down at Pewsham, our “new” workboat Boswell was launched into the canal on Tuesday. This was an old BW boat that a team of volunteers have cut in half and reformed into a Motor and a Butty, courtesy of a grant from Hills Waste. Because of the breach that occurred last winter, the section of the canal just down from the locks is not in water at the moment so Boswell will have to wait at the Wharf until the culvert is rebuilt in the Spring.

Speaking of the culvert, up to the 31st October you have all been voting for the Wilts & Berks on the Yorkshire Building Society website for £10K to do the rebuild. Thanks to everyone who voted. I hope that we will hear the result next week.

Keep watching this space for more news about voting for the People’s Millions on the 26th.

Kath Hatton

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