The Practitioners' Guide to Community Shares launched The Practitioners' Guide to Community Shares was launched at the Community Shares event on 7th July 2011. A free pdf of this latest and most comprehensive guide on how to undertake a share issue and meet best practice guidelines can be downloaded. Printed copies are available @ £15 each.
Andy Walsh, FC United and Angela Davies, Hastings Pier share their experiences Andy Walsh, FC United of Manchester and Angela Davies, Hastings Pier share their experiences of community shares. Both enterprises have been supported through the Community Share programme. The interviews were held as part of the Community Shares policy event held on 7th July in London attended by over 100 practitioners.
The Hurst Green Community Shop & Café launches community share offer Hurst Green Community Shop and Centre Limited (HGCSC) is inviting the local community to invest in a community enterprise to ensure the future of the village shop & café.
The funds will be used to acquire and refurbish the redundant Catholic Church in Station Road to form a new village shop/café and community space.
Co-operatives UK launches ‘most comprehensive’ suite of resources for community enterprises The most comprehensive suite of resources ever to be developed for community enterprises has been launched by Co-operatives UK, to give community enterprises access to top quality financial, legal and governance advice.
Co-operatives UK, the trade association for co-operative enterprises, has developed the resources with nationally recognised experts as part of the Making Local Food Work programme, a £10m project funded by the Big Lottery Fund that supports community food enterprises across England.
The suite of resources, available both online and as hard copies, is free to use and includes:
Simply Finance – pooling expert advice on financing a community enterpris Simply Legal – pooling expert advice on legal structures Simply Governance - a comprehensive guide to efficiently and effectively running a community enterprise Online governance audit - a tool to allow enterprises to assess and diagnose how they are being run Online select-a-structure - a tool allowing fledgling enterprises to find the most appropriate legal structure for their needs
New Village SOS campaign to help revive rural communities 
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Community shares welcomes a new campaign to help people in rural areas reverse the trend of decline by assisting them in setting up and running community enterprises.
As part of Village SOS Active, an exciting campaign by the Big Lottery Fund, Co-operatives UK will work in partnership with The Plunkett Foundation, Locality and Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE), to provide a national advice line and expert support.
The Active campaign officially launched on Wednesday 10 August as part of a new six-part documentary series on BBC1 called 'Village SOS'. And dedicated expert advisers will provide support and guidance to people inspired by the series to set up and run their own community enterprises - from shops and pubs to broadband services and transport systems.
In addition to the Co-operatives UK advice line, Village SOS Active has a dedicated website (www.villagesos.org.uk) with downloadable materials such as start-up guides, 'How to…' documents for different kinds of enterprises and template documents to help people write business plans or market their enterprise. The website also includes a community network area, for communities to share ideas and inspire each other.
The Butcher's Arms saved through community sharesThe latest co-operative pub the Butcher's Arms in Crosby Ravensworth, Cumbria, opened its doors on 27th August. The Butcher's Arms, a community co-operative which was set up after the closure of the pub in 2009. The campaign to reopen the venue raised the £300,000 necessary to buy and renovate the building and the pub will finally reopen its doors at the weekend. The pub itself has undergone a fantastic transformation with a new beer garden, a full commercial kitchen, new log burners and a spectacular oak bar. Speaking about the transformation, co-operative treasurer Cameron Smith said: "Our aim has always been quite simple, to buy, refurbish and re-open a traditional Cumbrian pub that will source locally and support the local community and economy wherever possible, selling good quality food, real ales and, offering a warm welcome to all." Assistance was provided through the Co-operative Enterprise Hub who initially provided support for the campaign, helping the initiative register as a co-operative and then launching a community share issue in order to generate the money necessary to purchase and renovate the pub. | Latest Blogs -
What are libraries for? Petra Morris, Co-operatives UK, explores the options for community owned libraries
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Write up of first Co-operative Community Energy: co-operative solutions summit
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Boost to community pubs with launch of review into restrictive covenants Read more Latest News / events -
Big Society Bank has now been officially named Big Society Capital group (BSC) Read more
Locality ’11: Communities ambitious for change - 1-2 November 2011, the Palace Hotel, Manchester. Read more Regional Good Food, Good Governance Training Events 2011 Read more - 1st European Social Franchising Network Conference - Tuesday, October 18, 2011, London Read more
- Community Investment for Community Supported Agriculture projects - 3 November, Preston Read more
- The Wales Co-operative Centre are keen to know if there are any Community Share Schemes that have accessed grants from the public sector! They are particularly keen to hear from societies who are able to pay interest to shareholders and have been able to access grant funds. Please contact Glenn Bowen
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