February Update Email
With a growing number of subscribers to our mailing list, we have started sending out email updates related to our campaign. You can sign up to receive updates from our home page but in case you missed the email, this post is a copy of what was shared:
February Update
Dear all,
Thank you for expressing an interest in the campaign to Save the Novello Picture House. Our goal is to bring this much-loved, historic building back to life and back into the hands of the local people, doubling our village venue capacity and enabling our local community to thrive. Read on to find out where we are now and how you can help.
When we first began exploring the possibility of returning the Novello to the local people, we thought it may well generate some interest. But to secure over 1500 signatories to the petition in less than one week and hold a ‘standing room only’ initial public meeting, was nothing short of remarkable!
Make no mistake about it, this campaign will make or break based on local community spirit and support. We are delighted and enthused to see the depth of passion to restore the building and bring it back as a working village venue.
So, what has happened since our public meeting on 14 January?
The team has been hard at work to set up an organizing group and put the right structures in place to ensure we have maximum impact in the shortest space of time.
The Cordes Hall Committee has kindly accepted the proposal to ‘host’ the campaign under the Cordes Hall Trust, providing us with much-needed charitable status and the benefits of working alongside a long-established and respected local institution. This will vastly improve our capacity to secure financial support; illustrate our ability to mobilise the right structures at pace; and clearly demonstrate the ambition for the Cordes Hall and Novello Picture House to work hand-in-hand as an aligned enterprise. Our sincere gratitude to the Cordes Hall Management for their support.
We have welcomed new members to our extended organising team and strengthened our partnership with other local groups. Alignment and cooperation between our local groups means we can work as one team, with one voice.
We are actively pursuing a number of truly exciting opportunities with potential donors and supporters. As soon as we are in a position to share more, we will be back in touch.
What’s next?
Our immediate priorities over the next couple of weeks can be summarized as the ‘Four Rs’: Revenue, Redevelopment, Reach and Race.
Revenue: The Save the Novello Picture House campaign is first and foremost a fundraising initiative. Whatever the future of the Novello itself, we will need to raise the capital to return the building to a useable condition. Securing grants, donations, charitable funds and pro-bono operational support is our number one goal.
Re-development: A realistic and costed professional view on what it will take to redevelop the Novello is essential to setting our fundraising target and underpins any proposal to return the building to a viable venue. We are working with experts to assess the repair bill.
Reach: Keeping our supporters informed, bringing new ones on board and activating those who can have an influence relies on simple and speedy routes of communication. We are developing a website, newsletter and social media feeds so you have all the latest information – and how you can help – at your fingertips.
Race: As we said at the village meeting, time is not on our side. We are working at pace to get the intelligence and information we need to be able to put forward a realistic and robust proposal to the current owners, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
What can you do to help?
Receive ongoing communication: under GDPR (privacy) legislation, we need to be confident you wish to remain on this mailing list. Please reply to this message if you no longer want to receive these campaign updates.
Spread the word: Visit the website at savenph.org and search for the Save the Novello Picture House page on Facebook so you can follow our progress and share with others.
Fundraising: if you want to make a donation or can put us in touch with a potential donor, please contact the team by replying here or via the website.
Local businesses: if you run a local business who would be willing to share our newsletter to your customer base (digitally or physically), please let us know.
Moving forwards, we will be sharing other practical things you can do to help the campaign succeed; we just need to get the foundations in place first and then we will be sharing ideas – and asking for your suggestions – on how to make this ambition a reality.
In the meantime, thank you once again for your support.
Alan Everett
Appeal Coordinator
07785 567978