Bridge House- The Landlady

I wasn't able to do much last week for Bridge House as I had a heavy schedule at work so I was keen at least to meet with the building's owner to let her know what we wanted to do, how we planned to do it and to get a measure of her while I was at it.

In the event, I met someone who was pleasant, down to earth and under Garry's spell! She could be getting more than she is from Garry for the building, but she likes what he wants to do and wants to be part of it. She was talking about it being the sort of place she could nip away from her work for a coffee and somewhere she could sell the craft things she makes alongside her core business. I felt able to put all our cards on the table and point out the bits where we know we could be shafted in the future and got assurances from her that she'd be open to legal agreements to protect both sides from the project's potential success. I took away a file full of documents that I think will really help proposals for the building's development. After the meeting I headed over to the site, partially to meet the forestry-trained guy who is to be part of the project, but he was running late and I had to leave. Friends of Garry and the project plan a fund-raising "rave" (rave-ette- more accurate: friends and family :-) ) in a few weeks and are already setting up lasers and things. I'm looking forward to that.

The immediate priority is to find cash to make the roof weatherproof, renew guttering and drains, renew/replace windows. Then clearing some junk and sorting out the floor. At this point we don't know how much any of that will cost so I have asked the owner to arrange for some quotes. I am to make a formal presentation to the co-directors of my Community Interest Company to take this on as our next main project. The current coordinator lives quite close to the building which is very handy. Whenever I go there, the potential of the building jumps out at me- despite its comparatively remote location. One of Garry's friends said it should be called the Lobster Pot because once you get there, its hard to leave. There is certainly an "air" about the place with no near neighbours and a big sky.   

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