A Space for our Community.
Our (Bearwood Community Hub’s) vision is to build on the legacy of Corks Social Club as a community venue, and develop it to be an inclusive, inspiring and innovative hub for the local people to connect, create and collaborate.
Bearwood Corks Social Club is at Risk!
Bearwood Corks Social Club, which has belonged to its community members for 100 years, now needs to sell, putting Bearwood at risk of losing an important historic and community venue. And it just so happens that we urgently need a permanent home in order to help us sustain the social impacts we strive for. We have been talking to Mick and John who have kept the Corks going for many years. They are supportive of our desire to ensure that the building remains as an important place for our community to meet, collaborate and support each other. But, when and whether the Corks can sell to us is dependent on sufficient community & financial support. Pledge Your Support
What do we need?
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We need to raise A LOT of money to purchase the Corks Club - over £1,000,000 and we will need your help to do it!
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We need people to pledge their support for the Save the Corks campaign and to register their interest in buying into our Community Share Offer. Not only will this go directly towards the purchase of the building but it will also help us to raise match funding from grant providers.
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To do that, we need you to share our campaign far and wide to help us reach philanthropists and social investors who can help fund the purchase of the premises - Follow the campaign on our Facebook page!
What have we (Bearwood Community Hub) done so far?
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Successfully registered the Corks Social Club Building as an Asset of Community Value!! Find out what this means here.
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We have applied to become a Community Benefit Society! We will adopt a new organisation model, which follows the principal of one-member, one-vote.
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We are working with Cooperatives UK to develop a Community Share Offer to allow people to become members of and buy shares in Bearwood Community Hub to help us raise funds towards the building purchase.
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We’ve published our latest evaluation report here, which measures the impact of the activities of Bearwood Community Hub on the community
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We are working continuously with the Corks Management Team and some of the current users of Corks to find ways to continue the legacy of the Corks Social Club as a community venue. Recently we have explored ways to keep the downstairs bar open for members, listening to what they need and want.
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We have run 2 public community consultation events, which happened on 14th & 20th May, so that we could hear from you about what you’d like to see the space used for. If you want to share your thoughts but missed our consultation events you can still add your comments here. We will do more!
How can you get involved?
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Tell us what kind of space you’d like! Respond to our Community Survey about what Saving the Corks means to you!
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Pledge your support and intention to buy member shares in Bearwood Community Hub through our Community Share Offer which will launch at the end of May.
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Share our video and promote the campaign - Tell your colleagues, tell you nan, tell your pen-pal, tell your milkman. Tell Everyone!
Corks Social Club Building designated an Asset of Community Value.
Bearwood Corks Social Club, which has belonged to its community members for 100 years, now needs to sell, putting Bearwood at risk of losing an important historic and community venue.
We have been talking to Mick and John who have kept the Corks going for many years. They are supportive of our desire to ensure that the building remains as an important place for our community to meet, collaborate and support each other. And it just so happens that we urgently need a permanent home in order to help us sustain the social impacts we strive for.
But, when and whether the Corks can sell to us is dependent on sufficient community & financial support.
We are very pleased that Corks now expect to be able to stay open for another 12 months due to receiving some financial support. This will be confirmed at another hearing in 6 weeks time and means, if confirmed, that current users of the Corks can keep their activities there, and the Asset of Community Value designation can stay in place. We are very happy to have the time to put together the best possible finance and funding package, while still delivering our frontline activities.
What do we need?
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We need people to pledge their support for the Save the Corks campaign and to register their interest in buying into our Community Share Offer. Not only will this go directly towards the purchase of the building but it will also help us to raise match funding from grant providers. We will keep you posted on when we will release the share offer.
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To maintain momentum we need you to share our campaign far and wide to help us reach philanthropists and social investors who can help fund the purchase of the premises - Follow the campaign on our Facebook page!
History of the Corks
The building opened as a Working Men’s Club in 1921, where local people could purchase membership shares for £1 per share. Since then, the club has hosted a mix of events and activities, notably the home of legendary saxophonist Andy Hamilton’s jazz night: Jazz Every Thursday (now known as the Silvershine Jazz Club), and the much loved Studio67 night hosted by Outside Left. On top of that it’s been venue for birthday parties, weddings, theatre groups, choirs, latin dance classes and socials, including for present day Ukrainian and Afghan refugees. After years of keeping this community space alive, the club unfortunately needs to sell to settle its accounts and so members of Bearwood Corks Club will be meeting on 26th March to decide whether and when to sell the building.
Tales from Corks
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Partners & Supporters
With many thanks to the following people and organisations for their support so far:
Spectra Arts CIC
Overhear Poetry
Paul Stringer
Black Country Touring
Jodi-Ann Bickley
The Parakeet CIC
WMCA
Cllr Bob Piper
Make Good Arts CIC
Birmingham Youth Theatre
The Silvershine Jazz Club
Anneka Deva
Alex Oxley
Dan Carrins
Rob Lindsay
John Spellar MP
Jennie Sandford
Method in Motion
Madeline Arnold Richards
Lizzie Griffiths
Madeline Norris
Probuild 360
Fantastic Journeys CIC
WMCA
Frequently Asked Questions
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Why does the Corks Club need to sell?
The Corks Social Club needs to sell the building to settle its outstanding debts so its current members and board of directors can retire.
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What will happen to the current users of the Corks Club?
Bearwood Community Hub is committed to building on the legacy of the Corks and in working with current users to ensure the building remains a space for them as well as for our own projects.
Ensuring the building can continue to be hired out by members of the community and community organisations is an essential part of our business plan and to the sustainability of Bearwood Community Hub.
We are also interested in hearing from the community (including current users) to help us to shape the future use of the building.
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How much money do we need to raise? How will we do it?
We need to raise over £1,000,000 to purchase and refurbish the building. We plan to raise the money by:
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Issuing community shares - enabling people to become members of Bearwood Community Hub and invest in the building
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Applying for Capital Grants from funders like the Community Ownership Fund
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Taking out a Social Investment Loan to help us cover up-front-costs
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Can I get involved with helping the campaign?
Yes!
We need the support of our community to make this happen! You can get involved in anything from sharing or talking about the campaign, to purchasing community shares, to getting involved in the planning and campaigning.
If you’d like to get more involved please email Lizzie at communityhub@bearwood.cc
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What is a community benefit society?
A Community Benefit Society (CBS) is a type of legal organisation that’s registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It is a not-for-profit business model which makes it very attractive to funders who offer grants and set aside land and assets for not-for-profit bodies. Membership of a CBS is organised on the principle of one-member, one-vote, so it’s a great structure where there’s a fundamental equality between members which needs to be baked into the business. That’s a big reason why it’s so popular for community ownership of local assets which have meaning and importance for the whole community, such as pubs, shops, football clubs, leisure facilities and so on.
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What is an asset of community value and why does it matter?
Assets of Community Value (ACV) form a part of the Community Right to Bid.
It acts as the first stage in identifying and nominating buildings or other assets such as land that have a main use or purpose of furthering the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community, and could do so into the future.
Once listed as Assets of Community Value with the local authority, the local community will be informed if they are listed for sale within the five year listing period. The community can then enact the Community Right to Bid, which gives them a moratorium period of six months to determine if they can raise the finance to purchase the asset.
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What are community shares?
This community share offer will invite you to become a member and invest in Bearwood Community Hub so that together we can buy the premises of Bearwood Corks Social Club, to continue and develop it into a single-front-door community centre.
Community shares is a user-friendly name for withdrawable, non-transferable share capital: a form of equity uniquely available to co operative and community benefit societies.
It is ‘withdrawable’ because the investor can take their money out of the organisation if they choose to. However, unlike conventional shares, a holder of community shares can not transfer them to another person and the shareholder has just one vote, regardless of the amount invested and the number of shares held.
Community shares are a flexible and effective way to raise finance: an incredible 92% of all businesses who have used community shares are still trading.