We all know how vital the service is that’s provided by the Post Office & Stores in East Boldre – and just opposite the shop, our unique, historic village hall has also been at the centre of our community for as long as anybody remembers.

So what’s the big idea?Two years ago the findings of the Save Our Shop questionnaire

highlighted how important it is to us all to keep a general stores and Post

Office in the village. At around the time of the survey – undertaken when

the shop had already been up for sale for two years – the trustees of our

very special, but rather tired and dated, village hall were also working on

the vexed question of how to increase its use.

It seemed East Boldre, like so many other villages around the country,

was in grave danger of losing the heart of its community, so in answer the

trustees formed a bold and ambitious plan to develop our village hall into

a community hub which would:

• provide space that can be rented by a community shop and Post Office

• improve the existing theatre space

• provide a larger second function room

• provide a permanent display of East Boldre’s military aviation history

• and possibly even provide a café for the village!

The proposed design (version 3.0)

For more information and an opportunity to get involved and discuss your ideas and concerns with the team we warmly invite each and every one of you to attend one of the following public meetings:

Friday 21 February at 7pm or Saturday 22 February 11am

We hope the East Boldre Community Hub Update gives you a taste of what, why, when and how

The East Boldre Community Hub

Update

Issue 1 January 2020

What’s happened so far?

A great deal of work has been put in since

the idea of a community hub was born.

A hub committee was formed who are

working closely with Forestry England, the

Verderers, the National Park Authority

and Natural England to understand the

constraints on this development within the

National Park, and to come up with a design

that satisfies our community’s needs and

respects their requirements.

The design, now on its third version, has

been reworked (in consultation with the

NPA’s planning department) to address

issues such as light pollution, how it will

look in the environment, how people will

move around the building and scaling the

extension to be sympathetic to the original

WW1 building.

Surveys and public meetings in the village

have informed decision-making along the

way, and we hope that the design will now

secure planning permission.

https://www.eastboldre.org/hub.html

Your village needs you!

Given the long ribbon nature of our village,

to keep the village informed and most

importantly to make sure we listen to

everyone’s ideas and concerns throughout

the project, we have already recruited and

briefed 13 lane representatives closest

to the heart of the village to be your local

go-to people. We’ll be looking for more

volunteers to take on this role as we expand

to cover the rest of the parish.

There are other key roles we need to fill

in our team (team leaders for fundraising,

building management, recreational use to

name a few) as the project starts to gather

momentum. Whatever your background

there is probably a task with your name on

it! None of us have built a community hub

before but common sense and enthusiasm

are a good starting point.

FundraisingThe hub development is expected to cost

about £500,000. Could you spare some

time to be part of our fundraising team?

We’re working on two areas:

• Local fundraising: building a sense of

community ownership of the new hub

and having some fun along the way!

Some local funding will come from the

shop community benefit society share

offer but most will be via village events,

for example, film nights.

• Grant applications: we expect to

raise the bulk of the funding through

grants from various government and

charitable organisations including the

Lottery Fund.

Please contact us at hubbub@eastboldre.org

Estimated timeline: we are hoping to submit the

planning application in March 2020, after which,

if we are successful, fundraising will start in

earnest. We are hoping to raise sufficient funds

in 12 months to enable us to start building work,

which it is estimated will take a further year.

March 2020Submit planning

application

June 2022Complete

building work

June 2020Launch fundraising

campaign

June 2021Commence

building work

Community shop and Post OfficeThe shop and Post Office currently operate from Ian Evan’s private

premises. The hub team are working closely with Ian to support the

existing shop and to ensure the hub solution works both for him and our

community. The assumption is that Ian will be Post Master in the new

hub, continuing his valued service to the community.

The new shop will be more than twice the size of the existing village shop,

enabling it to offer a much broader range of products and will have a

core of paid staff supported by volunteers. The shop plans to bake bread

daily on the premises, to stock local produce where possible and aims to

minimise single use plastic.

For more info go to http://www.eastboldre.org/communityshop.html

Recreational facilitiesThe historic main hall, originally a YMCA concert hall, will be restored

and preserved, and will remain a multi-purpose space hosting all of

the existing activities. In addition, increased seating capacity will make

staging touring theatrical productions and hosting regular film nights and

live streaming events (ballet, opera, concerts) cost effective. We plan to

update the lighting and the audio-visual equipment for this purpose.

Neil Gwynne of Romsey Plaza and James Flintoff of Milford Community

Centre have been exceptionally helpful in focusing our ideas and

highlighting what would be feasible for a small theatre in our rural

location. We are benchmarking other local venues (Fordingbridge,

Ringwood, Lymington, Hangar Farm) and are seeking their input too.

OrganisationThe village hall trustees hold the hall building on behalf of the village

(who own it) and manage its running (bookings, maintenance etc).

The village hall is set up as a charity.

The community hub team is a sub-committee of the village hall

organisation, with responsibility for the development of the building

and the bulk of the fundraising. Once the building work is completed

this team’s job will be done. The village hall trustees will then

continue with day to day management of the community hub.

As a charity, the village hall is not permitted to trade, so we must set

up a separate ‘trading arm’ for the shop, Post Office and café. We are

advised that the best option is to form a Community Benefit Society

where villagers become members by buying shares, and thus have a

say in the running of the shop. It’s important to note here that whether

you’ve bought one share or 100 shares, you only have one vote, so all

members’ voices are equal. An elected management committee will

steer the running of the shop and café. Any profits can be used to

keep prices competitive, and any further surplus can be reinvested

in community causes chosen by the members.