News Archive

 Ambridge, the village which the world’s longest running radio soap The Archers is based upon, has chosen community-ownership as the answer to saving the last shop in the community.  The Plunkett Foundation supports rural communities to set up and run community-owned shops.  It has worked with the show’s producers to highlight how real communities are combating village shop closures, by taking control of the very thing they are faced with losing.Currently in Ambridge, the only shop and post office is going to close. After serious consideration at a recent Parish Council meeting, villagers decided that the best way to keep...

The Community Transport Association (CTA) and the Plunkett Foundation have announced a new three year Social Enterprise Rural Community Transport Development Fund.  The new fund will offer grant/loan packages to eight organisations around England to enable them to significantly grow their contract income.  The funding package will be backed up by a range of training, development and networking support provided by the CTA and Plunkett over the life of the programme.  The funding, totalling almost £1 million, will be input by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Department for Transport, the Commission for Rural Communities and Futurebuilders England. Further information on...

Rural community-owned enterprise is on a roll. A banner headline in the Sunday Telegraph proclaims "The Rise of the Archers Co-operative". The best part of a million people tune in to hear the residents of Ambridge discuss how to save their village shop through community ownership. In the real world, store openings are at record levels with many more in the pipeline. It's a great time to be at Plunkett, but let's not get carried away.The boom in community-owned village stores is fantastic news, but we still have a long way to go in rural community-ownership. The shop is just...

Every so often, you get to speak at an event where the energy coming off the audience makes you feel like you're standing in front of an open fire. I had that last week when I spoke at the Transition North event in Slaithwaite. The event was an ambitious one, bringing together not only transition supporters from across the North, but also a broad range of people from the co-operative movement. Sponsored by The Co-operative Group, it was a real chance to explore links between the two movements.Following on from leading light in the Transition Towns movement Rob Hopkins and...

I was delighted that Plunkett's work has been recognised in this year's Mutuals Yearbook, which case studied one of the village stores. The yearbook is produced by Mutuo, the impressive think-tank which promotes the role of mutuals.This recognition was extended to an invite to speak on membership at the annual Mutuals Forum alongside the Eaga Partnership and Luton & Dunstable Hospital Foundation Trust. What could our shops teach such a gathering of major mutual organisations? Quite a lot was my argument.The freshness and vitality of our recently formed mutual enterprises meant that their members were doing many things that some...

Plunkett Foundation News 16.10.2009PLUNKETT PERSPECTIVE This week’s Perspective revisits Plunkett’s roots with a trip to Ireland and the Plunkett House; the first home of the Plunkett Foundation. http://plunkettfoundation.blogspot.com/ To follow the Plunkett Foundation on Facebook visit       http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=79687818921&ref=nf To follow the Plunkett Foundation on Twitter visit http://twitter.com/PeterCouchman NEW MAKING LOCAL FOOD WORK REPORT RELEASED  Community Investment in Community Supported Agriculture was produced by community shares expert Jim Brown for the Community Supported Agriculture Strand of Making Local Food Work.The report can be downloaded from Making Local Food Work partner the Soil Association's website.  Follow the link http://tiny.cc/oaegs  https://www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk/news/news.cfm/newsid/115  HAMBLEDON VILLAGE SHOP...

Since the beginning of 2009, ACRE has worked with a coalition of relevant national organisations to develop a common vision for Rural England, based around the recommendations in Matthew Taylor MP’s 2008 report to government. The members of the coalition include the Local Government Association, Town & Country Planning Association, Commission for Rural Communities and the Campaign to Protect Rural England. The coalition’s prospectus ‘The future is rural too’ argues that “for 50 years or more, policy has undervalued rural England and failed to meet the needs of rural communities – and therefore of the nation. In hindsight, the result...

Campbell Robb, Director General of the Office of the Third Sector and Social Exclusion, has announced he will take up a new post as Chief Executive of the housing and homelessness charity Shelter in the new year. Cabinet Office will make an announcement on Campbell’s replacement in the very near future. Campbell Robb was appointed as the first Director General of the Office of the Third Sector in May 2006. During this time he has successfully delivered a comprehensive programme of support for the sector, worth over £515m. Under his leadership, OTS has delivered a further package, worth around £60m...

FARMA has marked its 30th birthday. FARMA, the Natinal Farmers Retail and Markets Association, represents farmers, growers, producers and farmers' market organisers throughout the UK. They are the only organisation in the UK dedicated to supporting the local direct sales sector and driving local foods. Members gathered from across the UK at Packington Moor Farm to enjoy a delicious local meal prepared by the award-winning catering team there. Speakers commented on the incredible journey of the local food sector, from the Association's roots in the pick-your-own movement of the 1970s and 80s, then the rise of farm shops in the...

The Soil Association is we are running a series of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) training days over the winter months as part of the ‘Making Local Food Work’ Programme.  All these events will take place in Leeds or Sheffield, and are free to CSA practitioners. They are being led by experts in the various fields, and are designed to  provide the technical knowledge and confidence to launch or expand your Community-Supported Agriculture project. The first event, Business Planning for CSAs, is being run by Julie White and John Metcalfe, both social enterprise consultants who between them have decades of experience...