By Barnaby UsborneIn its first year of business the Shop@The Lee produced a trading profit of £3,704 from sales of some £93,000; a very encouraging performance exceeding what many of us had expected.
A further piece of good news has been the award of a £20,000 grant towards the new shop building from the Plunkett Foundation. This grant is conditional on our raising a matching £20,000 loan from Co-operative & Community Finance – “a lender for social purpose” to quote from their literature.
We have already submitted our application along with a two-year business plan, and await the outcome with bated breath. Providing we are successful, building will start on 21st July.
Thanks to the generosity of local residents we raised over £12,000 last year in unsecured loans. Without this the shop project could not have got off the ground.
At our AGM on 20th April, Liz Stewart-Liberty gave us a magnificent donation of £4,000, and Tricia Birchley on behalf of the County Council promised a further £1,000. Others made financial pledges to a total of £3,500 in the form of unsecured loans or donations.
The donations, if made by a taxpayer, will enable us to collect a further 28% from the government. This puts us in a strong financial position and provides valuable security for the Co-operative & Community Finance loan.
Pledge forms for those who wish to donate are available in the shop.