I genuinely thought that by this point we would be knee deep in mud and up to our eyes in lime mortar. Alas, as many of you will know, barely anything has changed since I last wrote. This is why.
We, the trustees of the Charity which owns the site, decided some time ago to apply to a specific fund for our entire project budget. We met the south-east representatives of that fund, outlined the project and were then encouraged to proceed with an application.
Whilst acknowledging that this decision was taken more than a year ago, it’s also worth pointing out that the trustees are unpaid and are giving up their time to work on the funding application.
That application for a modest grant has taken a lot of time to assemble.
We have been delayed in finalising our finding application because we have been careful to select local tradesmen that a) believe in our vision for the site and b) are prepared to work within the requirements of the fund.
It’s true that we could have applied to different funds for smaller amounts however, this would actually have taken longer to complete.
I believe that we have a good chance of securing funding from this particular, though nothing is guaranteed of course.
The trustees and I are grateful for the messages of support that we have received. In particular, we are looking for someone to assist us with our application for Listed Building Consent – if that’s you, please get in touch.
Thanks for your patience, I’ll try harder to keep the updates coming more frequently.