Hi everyone,

Fund raise:

‍ ‍We have a wonderful Easter surprise! I'm sure you will all recall that, at our Bernard Hall meeting on Friday 27th February, we announced that we were aiming to raise £619,000 to cover all the costs for acquiring the pub and the associated extras, including £90,000 of vat.

As of today, I can confirm that we have done it - smashed it, in fact! Funds raised now stand at an awesome £650,000 and we have achieved our goal in just 6 weeks, which is an extraordinary achievement, of which you should all feel so proud. Well, done everyone - I am deeply grateful for your support and commitment. Equally amazing is that we have now got 197 investors who will become Founder Members of the Crown and who will provide a wonderful support network of people to help Abi and her team drive the pub forward to reach new heights for the village.

Of the 197 people who have pledged, 151 are in Cuddington and 46 are from other communities, the largest percentage of which is from Winchendon and Chearsley. I am reliably informed that we have 270 houses in the village so that indicates that just about 60% of all the households will soon be founder shareholders of the pub - a truly incredible achievement and a village support group beyond our wildest dreams!

We have allowed the fund raise to run on over the target as it has now become apparent that we will need a bit more cash to achieve our refurbishment plans, as there are several extra items which our Survey has indicated must be attended to. For example, The Crown will be getting a new Crown! The thatcher is booked to attend to the thatch ridge and repair some holes in the coat - this will now happen in early May, before we re-open. These additional items mean we will need every penny of the £650,000 we have raised to date.

Timing:

I regret to say that our original plan to open on the May 1st Bank holiday weekend has been somewhat scuppered by HMRC's admin delivery - apparently, they are overwhelmed with applications right now - so we will have to make some changes to our plans. We are currently working on the launch plans to deliver the quickest outcome for the opening, however, the we cannot issue the precise dates yet, as the crucial factors are now not within our control - we are in the hands of the administrators at HMRC!! - more details will follow as soon as we can get clarity on the HMRC process.

The village:

And remember, whilst we have been focussing on raising funds to buy the pub, going forward it will be about running the pub! If you have any requests/ideas, there is a 'wish list' section on the web page; air your ideas, we can never have enough of them!

More news to follow shortly.

Thanks everyone - you've all been amazing.

Mike