It’s been a busy month for the volunteers of Love’s Farm House. We now have a logo, Mission Statement and updated business plan, and have been making good progress on our policies and procedures. We’ve had meetings with HomeStart and St Neots Children’s Centre to discuss how Love’s Farm House can support young families. We’ve been talking to lots of other service providers, and our provisional weekly schedule of activities is already looking pretty packed.

On 12 March the number of trustees for our charity increased from three to 13, the maximum allowed under our constitution. It’s something we’ve been looking forward to since we first registered our charity in June last year, and it’s wonderful to have such a talented, hardworking team in place. There are lots of other brilliant volunteers working towards the launch of Love’s Farm House, with more joining every month. It’s a good job too, as there’s masses to do before we open: web development, marketing and PR, plans for the café area, confirming hire prices and accepting bookings, buying equipment, obtaining licenses and permits, planning the launch festival, landscaping the garden… the list goes on.

The WREN application, ready to post.

We’ve submitted an application to WREN, which provides funding for community projects. We’ve requested money for furniture, kitchen appliances and music, lighting and projection systems. We’ll hear in August whether we’ve been successful. This application and the supporting documents are the work of a dozen volunteers and have taken 10 months to complete – a huge thanks to everyone involved.

Construction is on schedule. There’s now a concrete floor, scaffolding has been erected and breeze block walls are going up. There’s a satisfying parallel between the building slowly taking shape and the way that our project is moving from getting ourselves organised to making concrete plans.