Open Day at the Peterborough Arms – and a good news on boats

We held a successful Open Day at the Peterborough Arms on Saturday.  There were two ideas underlying the day.  First of course was to show members the progress that is being made at the pub, and to discuss our plans for the next phase.  The second idea was to begin the process of consultation on the proposals for restructuring the Trust to make it better able to make progress on the big challenges we face.

At the pub itself, we were able to show people the work that has been done by hard-working volunteers in bringing the Community Room / Skittle Alley back into use.  The re-plastered walls, fresh paint, and most attractive colour scheme gave that area a whole new feel.  The temporary office looks as though it will be very useful, and we were able to reassure people that putting it up has had no effect on the fabric of the skittle alley, and that it can be taken down very quickly as well.

Naturally there was the inevitable question of when we plan to re-open.  It is still our intention to put in an application for planning permission for the complete renovation and refurbishment, and our target for that remains the Autumn of this year, with the hope that permission will be granted before the end of the year.  That would mean re-opening in 2016, subject as always to finding the necessary money.  However the progress so far, and a better understanding of what is involved, do make us determined to have another look at what can be done in the meantime to achieve at least some use of the pub.

We did give out some information about the proposed reorganisation of the Trust, and Roderick Bluh and a number of other Directors were on hand to answer any questions.  In general the initial reactions seemed to be positive.  We are intending to roll this out around the branches in the next few weeks, and to publicise it in other ways too.

All reports indicate that the new landing stage at Wichelstowe is a great success.  People very much welcome the idea of starting from there, and the boat team tells me that bookings have taken a big jump upwards.

Finally the diggers continue to work at Studley Grange and they should come into view shortly from Bincknoll Lane.  Kate Jones would still like more volunteer help for creation of  the wildlife trail in the autumn – please see the project Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/wbctstudley

Chris Coyle