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December 2023

As we reach the turn of the year, we wanted to give you a quick update as to where we have got to with the project and the pathway to opening up the shop in the New Year.

It has been another busy year for the Management Committee and as I reflected upon at the AGM a few months ago, a real mixture of progress and frustration as we move towards our goal of opening the shop. I was therefore pleased to see so many of you at the AGM so that we could give a more detailed explanation of the reasons behind the delay with completing the building works and also answer your questions as to what was happening. As I said then, we remain hugely grateful for the ongoing support of our members and the village for the project and also your patience during recent months when we are acutely aware that visible progress on site has been limited.

I am pleased to say, however, that we have now resolved the outstanding matters with building control and it is therefore “full steam ahead” in the New Year to seek to finish the build as quickly as we can. In this regard, you will already have seen that work re-started on the roof in December and there is now a busy schedule of work programmed for January and February which should hopefully see the building completed. This will involve the completion of the cladding and the capping of the roof to complete the exterior of the building and work now beginning on the interior decoration and fit out. We are targeting an opening date around Easter.

As ever, we remain dependent upon and very grateful to our army of volunteers and also the generosity and skill of our local businesses and professionals who continue to provide time, materials or labour to us at a discount or in some cases free of charge. As usual, I would therefore urge you to visit our supporters page at www.oakleyvillagestores.co.uk if you are thinking of undertaking any work yourself to see if they provide a service that might be of use to you. These are all local people who provide a fantastic service. In particular, since my last update I would like to thank Sandy and Greta of Sandy’s Plumbing for their help with the remaining drainage works, Ryan Englefield of Englefield Roofing for his work on the roof, Mike Robertson of Ferndale Landscapes for installing our new fencing and (soon to be added) gate, Neil Goss of SPACE for the excellent job taking off the green roof structure in order to enable us to re-lay the roof and to Brendan Mcdonagh of BMC Services for various jobs he has done for us. I must also thank the group of volunteers, led by Gordon Fennell, who spent two weekends laying the new roof trusses and supports and installing insulation which needed to be in place to enable Ryan to come on site and lay the roof surface so massive thanks to Gordon, Lee Reader, Stephen Hopcroft, Paul Dollah, Rich Cooke, Rich Gee and Jason Pratt for that. As we move to the interior fit out, we have also had some hugely generous support from some other local companies who will be providing materials  and equipment for the interior and who I will mention in my next update.

As we approach the completion of the building and opening, attention now reverts back to the other workstreams that had temporarily been placed on hold whilst the building was delayed so the committee will be fully occupied over the next two months re-contacting suppliers and volunteers and dealing with the various other licences and items that need to be resolved to enable us to open. Thankfully with the skillset at my disposal on the committee, I know that these jobs are in good hands! So all that remains is for me to wish you all a very happy New Year and a prosperous 2024 when we look forward to welcoming you all to Oakley Village Stores in person!

PROJECT UPDATE: