HOTV Share Offer

This page is now of historic interest only, since as of March 27 2020 the share offer has closed. We were obliged to close the share offer in order to comply with the terms of our registration, but we will definitely be finding ways to welcome new Members in the future. In the meantime, donations are still gratefully accepted.

 

After many months of preparation, 1 August [2019] marks the lift-off moment when the preliminary management committee of Heart of the Village launches a share offer to invite all those with an interest in the future of Stoke St Gregory to invest in shares in the project to buy the Royal Oak on behalf of the community, and rehouse the shop inside it, ensuring the survival of both businesses.

Closing total £204,650

After a cautious start, the share offer is picking up speed, and we are very confident of reaching out total, though unless more people invest very quickly, it would be optimistic to expect us to keep to the original schedule of taking over the Oak and reopening the shop by the new year. We need to know as soon as possible how much core funding we can count on from the purchase of shares, whether this is enough to make the project viable, and how much more we need to raise from grants and loans. Full details of the finances and much more can be read in the two documents linked below.

The Business Plan (30pp) gives full details of the history and aspirations of the project, together with fully costed financial forecasts. The Share Prospectus (22pp) tells you everything you need to know about about buying shares and becoming a Member of HOTV. Both documents have been independently verified and awarded a Standard Mark. They are both available as PDFs, which can be read online on any device, or offline if you download them. 

We recommend these digital versions of the documents, not only because unnecessary printing is environmentally unfriendly, but because they contain a range of links which make internal navigation easier, and give direct access to related documents and websites. If however you still prefer to read on paper, there are print-friendly versions available for download from Documents, and we can supply copies on demand. (Email Nick Sloan or ring Graham Gleed on 01823 490407.)

An Application Form for shares is included in the Share Prospectus, but is also available as a separate download. The same applies to the Nomination Form which enables you to nominate a successor.

There are two print-friendly versions of each main document. If you can print double-sided we recommend the “double” versions, but if you can only print single-sided, the “single” versions will read better. (Please do not print from the non-print versions: they will not look good!) All documents are available from the HOTV Documents page.

Anyone considering buying shares in HOTV should read both the Business Plan and the Share Prospectus carefully. Throughout their preparation we were very conscious of the burden we were imposing on people in having to do this, and we would like to have made them shorter, but there was some extra material we were asked to add to both documents by our adviser from Plunkett Foundation and our Standard Mark referee, to both of whom nevertheless we are indebted and grateful.