Happy New Year from all of us on the Mill Board of Trustees.

You may have noticed we have been very quiet over the past year, but we assure you we have been working hard in the background to define the short, medium, and longer-term objectives of The Mill Community Hub project.

We start by introducing some new members to the Board: Sian Coughlan of Middleton Parish Council and residents, Leigh Morrell, Peter Tyldesley, and Andrew Butcher. We say a huge thank you to our most recent departing board members Tony Freeman and Pete Bowman for their hard work and commitment over the years.

Post-pandemic we have seen a significant reduction in available funding pots to support the construction of new buildings. Typically, the small amount of funding that is available has tight “green” credentials within its criteria. This means that the current plans for the proposed new building would need significant tweaking and, potentially, re-submission for Planning Permission.  We recognise that these factors will cause significant delays to the long-term objective of building a new structure. So the Board has been thinking hard about what would be the next best move for our community.

At this time we feel that prioritising the enhancement of the existing Villages’ facilities is the right approach. In line with our constitution, it has given us the opportunity to re-evaluate where this Board of Trustees can add value at this time to our community.

Our medium-term goal, therefore, is to support our friends on the Village Hall Management Committee (VHMC) to ensure we have a future-proof solution to the sustainability and profitability of our current community facility.

However, we are planning to build the car park element of the Mill project in the fairly near future.  This will be in the field beyond the school towards Bringhurst.  This will have multiple benefits such as providing parking at school drop-off and pick-up times, parking for events and meetings at the Village Hall Annex, and enabling greater use of the recreational field for sports.

For us to achieve any of our medium/long-term objectives we need to begin with some smaller initiatives.

In February we will be launching our calendar of fundraising events for 2023, we really want to gain as much village engagement and support to regain the momentum we had pre-pandemic. If you have any ideas or events, you would love to attend please drop us an email at leigh_hoppet@yahoo.co.uk.

We have created a comprehensive communications plan to ensure that we are keeping you all up to date with news, progress, and exciting changes throughout the year make sure you follow us on Facebook.

Until next month,

The Mill Board.

From Acting Joint Chairs George West-Robinson and Sarah Brant

Firstly, thank you to everyone who has continued to get behind, donate to and talk about The Mill.

Our third pop-up attic sale raised almost £450. Thank you to both churches for the loan of tables, to all the contributors, and to the volunteers who turned out on the day to sell, buy, deliver and provide welcome refreshments when the weather chilled.

We are very excited to have been able to appoint additional Charity Trustees, each of whom brings particular experience, skills and interests to help drive the project forward.

Looking ahead, we plan to start constructing the splay and entrance to The Mill site as soon as weather permits in the New Year.

Our Spanish Wine Tasting event on 27 November is now sold out, and we’re holding a Christmas Craft Sale in the room above the shop from 29 November to 3 December.

Other plans for fundraising and early construction tasks are in the pipeline. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any great ideas, feedback or offers of help. We’ll continue to keep you posted.

The Mill Community Hub will be holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) online by Zoom on Monday 29 March at 7pm. If you’d like to join the meeting virtually, please contact Chair of Trustees Pete Bowman by noon on Friday 26 March, and he’ll send you a Zoom invite and a copy of the agenda.

There will be a brief opportunity for questions to the Trustees at the end of the AGM (around 10-15 minutes or so), so please indicate in your email whether you’d like to speak. If you already have an idea of any questions you’d like to ask, please feel free to send them in advance, so they can be answered fully.

The main AGM usually lasts about 15-20 minutes (not including Q&A) and will be followed by the March Ordinary General Meeting, which you are also welcome to stay for. OGMs generally last between 30 minutes and an hour.

We’d like to say a huge thank you to Gerry Henson who has been selling plants through the village shop and from home, raising a tremendous £200 for The Mill. Gerry had been growing plants for this year’s Fete which, as you know, has had to be postponed, but undaunted Gerry decided to press on and sell them herself instead. Thanks to Gerry and to everyone who bought one of these lovely plants.

Meanwhile, we’re still working behind the scenes to keep The Mill project moving forward. The Archaeological Survey has been completed and, while they’re now finalising the official report, we understand they found no issues with the site.

We have also appointed Corby Borough Council as our Building Control Services consultants, who will provide services such as serving legal notices, undertaking statutory consultations, ensuring compliance and issuing the final building regulations certificate when the project is completed.

Thanks again for all your continued support for the project and keep safe.

Pete Bowman,
Chair, The Mill Community Hub

Planning will soon be starting for the Cottingham and Middleton Village Fete, which we expect to take place in early July.

Last year’s fete raised an amazing £6,200 for The Mill, and the organisers are now looking for volunteers who’d be able to get involved in organising and running the fete, to make this year’s event just as successful.

If you’re interested, please send your name and contact details to Sarah Brant on sarah.e.brant@sky.com as soon as possible, so she can set up a meeting and get the ball rolling.