Turning a 16th-Century Barn Into a Local Community Hub

James: The people of Hemel Hempstead are trying to increase engagement in arts, culture, creativity. See the value of the town. When you look at Dacorum Borough Council’s arts and culture strategy, this slots in immediately, you see what people are writing. The people want these buildings. People want to use them.

This is a collection of people that are saying, we are doing something about it. We are members of the community doing something for the community. It’s going to be used by the community. It’s a win-win for everybody. 

Ben: Hello and welcome to Berko and Beyond on the show this week, three people who need our help to save a 16th century barn.

But there’s more to it than that. Let’s dive in.

Lisa, James, Claire, welcome to Berko and Beyond. 

I feel like, uh topical this, I’m squeezed inside the Orion capsule ’cause this is the most amount of people we’ve ever had in this podcast studio. Uh, so welcome, you are already setting records. Um, now the thing that ties the three of you together is Heath Barn in Boxmoor, or Our Heath Barn.

Um, Lisa, tell me all about it. 

Lisa: Okay, so Heath Barn is a 16th century Grade II property. Uh, grade II listed property in Boxmoor, in Hemel Hempstead. Um, it’s obviously a very old property, but it’s very, it’s very well known locally as it was used as a music school from the 1950s onwards. We are at a point where, um, it could be turned into private housing, but we’ve been running a campaign for the last three years to turn it, hopefully, into a community hub with a very strong arts and wellbeing focus. Um, we’ve been given a really exciting opportunity by the council, the Herts County Council own it, um, of four months to try and put together a bid and fundraise. Um, so that’s where we’re at the moment and we kind of brought a team together.

Everything’s very fast and furious and kind of we’re building on that momentum, trying to get the word out to as many local people as possible, that this is a really exciting project and something to, to get behind. Um, and it could be amazing. It could be amazing for all of us locally as individuals, for our families, for various different groups.

Um, and the time is now really.

Ben: And geographically, it’s very close to the leisure centre, isn’t it? 

Lisa: It is. 

Ben: It’s sort of, it’s there for all to see. 

Lisa: Yeah. Yeah. In terms of location, it’s, it’s ideal. It’s the end, at the bottom of the fields of, uh, Hemel Hempstead Secondary School, slap bang next to the Boxmoor Playhouse, which do brilliant work anyway, and they’ve been fantastic at supporting what we’re trying to do. Um, yeah, across the road from the St. John’s Church and the more, and yeah, as you say, next to the sports centre as well. So it’s a real hub for in, in terms of footfall, you know, it’s, it’s a very kind of busy kind of space and we’re hoping to, we’re kind of pitching it as that kind of cultural centre, um, in Hemel, um, yeah, ’cause it, it, it’s perfectly placed and the layout of it and everything is, is ideal for what we’re proposing. 

Ben: Okay. So how did, uh, you guys get involved? Because interestingly, James, Claire, this is the first time you’ve met in person. 

James: It is, yeah. 

Ben: So how did you get involved with the project James? 

James: Uh, so after 20 years of working in the public sector, either as a prison officer or a secondary school teacher, teaching art, I set up my own art business, um, being a professional artist and, uh, an art business that, um, looks at uh, engaging people into art, uh, to support their mental health and wellbeing. Um, and I noticed something that Lisa posted on, uh, LinkedIn, and I reached out to Lisa and just said, it sounds like an absolutely fantastic project.

I’d love to get involved. Uh, or even just find out, uh, about what you’re doing. Uh, and then met up with Lisa, um, and a, a, a cup of tea that Lisa had to pay for, uh, because my card wasn’t working. 

Lisa: Oh, yeah, I forgot that. 

James: Um, but after, uh, a, a, a talk that we envisaged was going to last about 20 minutes, turned into a couple of hours.

Uh, and then, uh, I just, Lisa’s enthusiasm for Heath Barn was just so infectious that I was just like, I need to be involved in, in this project. Um. Thinking about locally, uh, working as an artist and I was reaching out to, to the local community to try and see what there was out there. And there are lots of people working individually and there are, um, numerous different organisations, charities, businesses, uh, operating, but it didn’t really feel like there was a central hub or sort of like a central area where like-minded people could come together. Um, and what Lisa was describing was very much what I experience when I go up to Manchester and that sort of, that vibe and that sort of like that, that feeling of everybody really embracing creativity and it really infusing every part of their life.

And I thought, thought that. You know, I think that what Lisa’s trying to do is replicate that sort of feeling. Um, and I was like straight on the bandwagon. It’s like, yep, I need to be part of this. So yeah, that’s how I met Lisa and got to know about the Heath Barn. And since visiting, I’ve started going down to that area even more and more.

Um, so I just think that that’s a real, sort of like signpost of this area can bring a lot of people together and just that little meeting, and I’ve started going down there more. If it was a centre that opened, how fantastic that could be for the, for a whole diverse group of people, really. 

Ben: So Claire, how did you get involved?

Claire: Um, I have known Lisa for many, many years. Um, so I actually, I, I don’t live in Boxmoor, I live locally but not there. And I didn’t actually know anything about Heath Barn or, or that it even existed. And just Lisa’s passion for the project. And we’ve, we’ve talked about it and I suppose we’ve, um, I’ve supported Lisa in, in sort of through coaching and mentoring and in various ways, and it’s an incredible building and I’m a big believer in the importance of places and spaces and how we connect to them as, as humans and how they, they do add to us.

Um, you can go to a village hall, but ultimately it’s a, it’s a village hall. And it’s always going to be that. And having hired lots of village halls in the past, I used to run a big children’s party business. It’s always a village hall. And, and you, you know, it’s a vibe, it’s an energy. Um, I’ve been into Heath Barn and it’s an incredible space.

And you walk in and the vaulted ceiling and the beams and the, and just the thickness of the walls. There’s an energy about the place and it’s sitting there empty and you have this community around you and they need to go and be in that building and to feel that. And it’s one of the oldest buildings in, in Hemel.

And I thought the other day, you know, if, if that building goes, there might be some children in Hemal who perhaps might have never left Hemel and so might never get to step inside a building like that and just feel that. 

I’m also a big believer in connection and, and you know, with, we were talking about AI earlier.

We’re like, we need to connect and we need spaces and places to connect. So a lot of what Lisa was talking about when we would, we’d go for coffee was really tying in with a lot of the work that I do. And I, I get involved in lots of different projects. I’m not a person that likes to stick to one thing.

It was like, focus Claire. And I’m like, no, that’s interesting. That’s interesting. And it was really linking up with a lot of my own values. So I’ve kind of dived into it. 

Ben: Whereas James can just go to Manchester and talk to people on the bus or or on the tram ’cause they talk to you up there, right?

James: Yeah, yeah, exactly. 

Ben: That kind thing. 

James: Yeah, definitely. 

Ben: So, so this, um, uh, it’s a, it’s a fascinating project. So I, I guess the first thing that springs to my mind from what you were saying Lisa, is three years we’ve been trying to save this and get together, and now all of a sudden that three has turned into to four months.

How, how did that come around? First of all? 

Lisa: Yeah, it’s been quite a kind of an up and down journey. And sometime when I look back, I think, what have we been doing the last few years? Um, 

Ben: It wasn’t a criticism, by the way. 

Lisa: No

Ben: I, I was more like, what? I was like, what have you guys been doing for three years? Why didn’t I launch the podcast earlier, so you could come on, promote it. You could have some material to. 

Lisa: I, I think that’s it. I think to be, to be fair, probably it hasn’t been three years campaign, it’s been three years since I’ve been kind of interested in it. And I think it’s kind of, it’s, it seeded itself kind of in March 2023 where I was going past thinking what’s gonna happen, you know,’cause I think we are all familiar with the fact that there’s lots of developments going on locally. And so it was, that fear was planted. This is obviously an amazing building. I actually didn’t know anything about it at the time, and I just had this fear, is it gonna be knocked down and turned into housing?

Then of course once the curiosity’s there, started asking questions, you have a bit of backwards and forwards with the council where they’re saying it’s gonna be turned into housing. And at first I was like, okay, yeah, that’s what’s happening. And then you start thinking, you know, my mind’s thinking, but does it have to be like, surely there’s more exciting kind of opportunities.

And my background was in the last 10 years has been in creative workshops as well, and I know how rare it is, like, like Claire touched, you know, having these kind of special spaces that kind of lend themselves to holding people in a particular way. Um, that’s rare. So that’s kind of where it started. And then obviously you kind of start on the road of thinking, right, who do I contact that, you know, might have a bit of sway?

So it was contacting MPs and local counselors and then taking surveys. And towards the end, I think that was getting onto the end of 2023 where we did a survey and over 520 people, local people responded. And actually that was where the magic started coming up because I was getting stories back of the connection with the building, not only from people who went to, you know, had music lessons there, but also drama, people who got married there, at christenings parties.

So all of a sudden this, this kind of idea kind of got legs because you realize. It’s actually a really important place for a lot of people and it’s that emotional connection. Um, and we looked at things like, um, becoming a community, uh, nominating it as a community asset value, and there’s a process of that which takes a while, and that was refused.

Um, and the main thing actually over the last few years was going towards, uh, a committee meeting, which happened last September, which kept being put back and back and back. Um, and the result of that actually wasn’t good, wasn’t positive. Um, and at that point I thought it was dead in the water. I mean, I was at the time heartbroken.

There’s a lot of people were, a lot of supporters. Um, and approval for change of use to housing actually got put through. And then for reasons which I still don’t fully understand, it went back to Herts County Council and they actually as a, as, as a group, as a panel, decided that actually the community proposal should be looked into.

Because really all those other options should be exhausted before residential to do with educational, social. Um, and that’s kind of where we are now. So February, that kind of got decided and then we’ve been given two months exclusive, exclusive, where no one else is on the scene as such, you know, we’ve kind of got freedom of site visits and uh, kind of getting a head start, but it doesn’t entirely feel like a head start and then it’s meant to go on the market for two months, and then at the end of that, a decision will be made.

So, um, yeah. 

Ben: Okay. So there’s a lot to pick at that there.

Lisa: Yeah. And it’s planning and political and that kind of thing as well. 

Ben: Yeah. Let’s get political. I don’t, we’ve never got political on this podcast before. Let’s, let’s try anyway. So go on. then I’ll get slightly political in the fact that, uh, playing devil’s advocate.

Um, if it does turn into housing, the building still remains, the building the building gets saved. But I, I am playing devil’s advocate. 

Lisa: Yeah. Yeah. 

Ben: I can answer that question myself. And the first thing I would answer that with James is, but it, you lose that community and that sense of, that, that wonderful space for everyone to share or anybody who wants to share it.

James: Yeah. A lot of people are looking for different places to go. Um, to come together and I think in a, in a time where a lot of people are facing loneliness, uh, where a lot of people are suffering from mental health issues. They’re looking to do something slightly different. Um, sometimes, you know, in the evening, pubs are open, but not everybody wants to go to a pub 

Ben: Or should be going to the pub

James: Or should be going to the pub.

Yeah. Um, but I think people when they do come together and they do, uh, engage into community spirit, if they’re engaging with people they’ve never met before, uh, meeting people from different diverse backgrounds. That’s only a positive thing because it’s about learning from each other, getting that sense of community.

Um, and I think, yeah, you can, you can look at a building, it’s a physical thing, but it’s the feeling that you get from a building. It’s what a building can stand for. It’s what goes on inside a building. Um, I, I, I think a perfect example of that is Rachel Whiteread, when she had, um, her installation sculpture of Ghost the House.

Um, and she filled it with concrete and what she was trying to say was, A house is just a building, the outside thing that people see, but filling it with concrete, you are filling that space and you’re capturing all the memories that have taken place inside that house. And I think that’s what Heath Barn is about as well.

It’s about what is going to go on inside that building. It’s not, it shouldn’t be just for a, a select few that are able to live in that building. It’s about diverse people from all different backgrounds and increasing the accessibility to that, that building and that, that gem of what Hemel Hempstead stands for.

Ben: And Claire, to your point earlier, it, it’s the, the feels right? When you go into a building 16th century, there’s, we were talking about, you were just talking about people who got married in there, people who have had music lessons in there. There’s a whole load of other stuff going on there over the, over those centuries and those buildings, you know, you speak to any architect, anyone who’s interested in building and the arts, and you get a feel when you walk into a place. You get a feel when you walk into someone’s home or into a shop on the high street and, and the feels in this building, I, I you were saying are just incredible. 

Claire: Yeah, it is.

It’s an amazing building and, and it’s sort of in a. Muscle. Two L shapes. Really. But there’s this beautiful courtyard garden in the middle with this beautiful magnolia tree. Um, and we were very lucky. We, we filmed a promotional video recently and the Magnolia just came out that morning. It was like, oh, fantastic.

Perfect. I took Lisa for a coffee recently and actually it’s on the high street in Berkhamsted, but the, it’s recently opened last year, I think. Nina? 

Ben: Yeah. 

Claire: Coffee shop. But if you’d lived in Berkhamsted a while, you might remember that used to be M & Co, the department store. 

Ben: Yes, it did. 

Claire: Now it’s split up into sort of three or four units, but it was one big unit and you’d go in and it was just, you know, white walls and their stuff. And when Nina opened, I dunno if you, if you go in now, it’s vaulted ceiling. It’s incredible. That’s always been there. 

Ben: Who covered this up? 

Claire: Yeah, who covered this up? And now if I want to go for a coffee, I’m gonna go in there because I want to sit in that old building. It makes such a difference. To how you feel. 

Ben: We will, if we grab that promotional video off you, if that’s all right. And actually actually play some of that over this podcast. So when that, when we’re talking about it, it be, and we’ll, we’ll show you the magnolia, we’ll show you the inside of the building, but also there’s sketches being drawn up. So it’s, it’s not just, we wanna save the building. 

Lisa: Yeah. 

Ben: This is what we want to do. There is a real plan in place. 

Lisa: Exactly. And I think that’s, I mean. Obviously we are quite, between us, we are quite visionary anyway, so if I’m talking to Claire or James about something, imagine this, and I kind of know they get it.

But, um, Dave, who actually did the, the sketches, he kind of said, I don’t think everyone’s there yet. You know, you almost have to present this. And that’s what’s been brilliant about the promo videos that you have, the, you know, the, the vision of the barn and then it morphs into what it could be. So the North Barn, for example, it would just be the most perfect cafe space and you’ve got those beams.

But it’s different. Again, it has a different feel to the West barn that also is beamed, you know, and these, these timbers, we’ve, we’ve had a, um, Louis in, who’s a, a timber, he’s a heritage timber kind of expert. And he’s peering at these beams going, there are really old, you know, and 

Ben: Yeah, mate, it’s 16th century.

Lisa: Yeah. And he’s telling me about the detail, you know, and, and some of them have got kind of like these little pockmark kind of things and he said, yeah, there would’ve been another layer on top of that during, you know, because obviously like all buildings, they go through themes. Yeah. And the farmhouse, for example, in the fifties, that used to be kind of like, uh, flat, um, I’m not sure exactly what the wording is, but now it has bay windows.

And that would’ve been because the fashion was to have. You know, to have those additions so they’re able to see the changes that the building’s gone through. And this is it. I’m not from an architectural background or anything, but all of, you know, you can all be like, that’s fascinating. And, you know, looking at the fireplaces that have, and imagining, you know, ’cause it was a, it was a home originally, and Colonel Brereton, he was the last private owner there.

He actually was the one who opened up the building to, to the community. He was very, um, respected and well known. He would’ve been quite wealthy man in those times. And he was mayor in 1927. But I, I just love that, that kind of, the storytelling even then, because he had a medical background, but he’s actually really well known for writing children’s books.

Many of that are held at, uh, Dacorum Heritage Trust in Berkhamsted, so there’s all that kind of, you know, and that idea of legacy. That’s kind of what you know we’re about. It’s, it is kind of finding a modern use. But kind of building on what’s been kind of done before in a really successful way. I think that’s it.

The building lends itself, you know, like Claire said, it lends itself fantastically for what we’re kind of proposing. And the garden, we just, it’s just like the, the cherry on top. 

Ben: So what is the challenge here? I mean, the, the challenge is time. The challenge is money, I guess. I mean, do, do, do people get it?

And you were saying now the video’s there. do we get, do you get blank faces kind of? Sorry, there’s a barn and you want to do what with it or 

Claire: No, we did, um, we took a stall at the Easter egg hunt in Boxmoor, um, a couple of weeks ago. And it was brilliant because our stall was right outside the barn.

As we were, we were just talking to people and you could say, do you see that amazing building? 

But actually a lot of the local people didn’t know what it was. And I think sometimes when something’s been there a long time, you walk past it and you are not really aware. It’s not in your conscious.

Um. I didn’t speak to a single person that went, oh, that’s great that it’s gonna be housing.  

Lisa: Not one, not one person. 

Ben: Someone’s gonna really enjoy living there. 

Claire: Yeah. Um, you know, everyone was really on board with what it could be, and the more you talk to people, the more they understood that they could be part of it.

And how did they interact with it? So I think a, a lot of this is awareness. How do we get this out here, but how do we. Help people understand how it’s going to help them in their lives. 

So it is an incredible building and it’s wonderful that we can protect that heritage. I think the angle I’d like to lean more on is, you know, how will it help local people?

Ben: Yeah. 

Claire: Um, how can we cross those generations? How can a local teenager connect with the space as much as someone in their seventies and eighties? 

Ben: Yeah. 

Claire: And actually how can they both be in the space at the same time? And feel connected. That I think is the next wave of, of, you know, we are on social media, we are, we are doing things like this.

We’re putting it out there, but to actually really help people understand how it’s going to help them. 

Ben: Yeah, 

Claire: I think that’s the next level. 

Ben: Yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s very clear to me hearing you all talk about it. It’s very much more than a building, obviously. It, it’s kind of two things. It’s building and, and community or building and people, whichever way you, you wanna describe it like that.

So what, four months left? 

Lisa: Well. Not really. 

Ben: Okay, here we go. More bad news people. 

Claire: That’s why we’re, 

Lisa: So we’ve got it really until June. Um, But I mean, the council, the relationship feels a lot better now. So, you know, I’m, um, and they’re working kind of, you know, with us in that there’s a lot more back and forth and it feels a lot friendlier.

And actually they’ve said, even if it’s kind of in a draft for, you know, 

Ben: Yeah. 

Lisa: So there’s that, that kind of space for communicating and kind of being very clear about what we’re. 

Ben: Just to interrupt. Which is a very bad thing for any interviewer to do really, it, but what, how long has it been with the council? The council have owned it for how long now do you know roughly, 

Lisa: Oh, since the fifties. Yeah. So it’s a long time, but, and it’s been out of use since, uh, 2019. 

Ben: So is this a case of the council? Uh, it’s, it’s an asset, but it’s a drain as well. We all know that councils have, you know, you can understand it from their point of view that yeah, we’ve got this empty building that is draining cash. That we don’t have a lot of it. It’s pretty much that is it? 

Lisa: I think there’s a bit of that and I think I, I suppose the way I kind of want to present it to them is that we are doing them a favour in a way, like we are promising that we will look after the building because of course there’s, I mean, I don’t wanna get too much into the, you know, what will a developer do with it thing? But we’ve looked into the financials and for a developer, it’s not viable. So then you have to question why are they interested in the building then? And you hear horror stories about fires happening and that kind of thing. And so I, I suppose what we’re trying to say to the council is we, we care about it.

There’s a whole group of people supporting it, and that’s what they want to see crucially, actually, is that there’s the support, not only now, but kind of going forward into the future, that it’ll be supported and it’ll be a thriving, thriving space. And the other thing to mention is we are set up as a CIC at the moment, and obviously we’re fundraising, but the aim is to become a community benefit society.

So that is, uh, kind of in the wrapper of a co-op where we are looking out for not only our members who will be kind of investing a share in the building, but the community. So there’s always that, we are always coming back to that and. in presenting it in that way, we hope to be able to kind of affirm to the council.

Yeah. It’s for the community. We are not, you know, this isn’t just kind of like a, a one person, you know? ’cause you could say, oh, is it for me? And it’s not. It’s always about the community and providing a space for them. And so where we’re at the moment is demonstrating that support to the council. And yes, it’s monetary in a monetary way.

But I do think it’s more than that. And I think they are understanding that now. So, um, yeah. 

Ben: So on the money side of things, is there a fundraising target that you have? Is there a figure that you think it’s gonna, you’re gonna need to, to buy the building? Are we looking for someone who’s got a rich uncle who can, you know?

Lisa: Yeah. Um, I think the rich uncle thing would be fabulous right now. 

Ben: Cool. So if anybody’s got a rich uncle out there. Or aunty. Yes. 

Lisa: Um, you know, to have a patron who’s kind of really passionate about arts culture, heritage would be fabulous. I think we are kind of always looking for that, you know, person on horseback to kind of, you know.

It, it is been a while and I think that’s, that’s, you know, a key thing behind the work we’ve been doing is not only spreading awareness locally, but it is just to see maybe there is something, you know, um, someone has a little pot of money that they want to, you know, think, oh, this would be really good. Um, in terms of their legacy as well, kind of wanting to pass something on.

So, um, we’ve pitched it 250,000, which is a really ambitious number to kind of strive towards. We have a crowdfunder, which is linked to the CIC, but alongside this is, um. Uh, a pledging kind of set up. So we, we have very simply a Google form at the moment, which is a kind of a commitment to pledge when our community benefits society, which is a community, um, share offer, is set up.

So we’ve applied for that to be set up. And that has already, I mean, that’s, yeah. It, it’s a kind of complicated one because it’s not very co. It’s not something that we see on the high street all the time. But that’s where people would pledge a minimum amount. In our case, it would be, uh, a hundred pounds for a share in the building.

Regardless of how many shares you have. You get one vote and everyone would then become a member. And then from that membership you get a committee. And so the idea is that the, the steer of, um, where it goes into the future, the decision making is made by that committee. So it is always with the community in mind.

So, um, yeah. And it’s, it’s a, um, kind of a, a model that a lot of community pubs take on. Just like that. And it enables the acquisition of the building. So that’s, that’s the crucial reason why we are kind of looking at that. 

Ben: So actually community pubs are, are a really interesting model as you were talking about.

You know, people go to the pub or people have places to go. But also a lot of those buildings have got so much history. They’ve been around, particularly for years. Particularly, I’m, I’m thinking of the local pubs to me and the, and the villages in Berko and the surrounding areas. Um. So that, that I fi I find that encouraging. 

That actually exists. 

James: The model works, doesn’t it? For, for those pubs. And I think that, like I was saying before about know people are searching for places to go. There, there is a, there’s a need, there’s a calling of people saying that I, I, I want to do this and I want to do that, and I want to find the space.

For me as an artist, I’m constantly looking for places that I can go. And it’s, you know, it’s great that commercial, uh, businesses wants to, to partner up with me and allow me to use their space, but it’s at a price. And what I don’t like is that I think the art and arts and culture and, and creativity should be accessible to everybody.

And then when I’m hiring commercial spaces. That’s pushing the cost up and it makes it inaccessible for a lot of people. And going back to what I said before, people being lonely or people suffering from mental health, they need to get out. They need to meet people, they need to be part of the community and feel accepted by the community.

And I think it’s probably important to mention that uh, Hemel Hempstead are going for, um, Hemel Hempstead Town of Culture, and you only have to go on social media. And I know social media’s only one form of communication and, uh, and promotion. But you scroll through and the negative press that Hemel Hempstead gets, you know, it’s, it is a dump.

There’s nothing there, there’s nothing going on. Well, this is what the people of Hemel Hempstead are trying to do. They’re trying to increase engagement in arts, culture, creativity. See the value of the town. You know, we’re so close to London. People jump on a train. You’re 20, 25 minutes into London, you can get all that culture, but there’s culture on your doorstep.

Yeah. Um, and I think, you know, when you look at, um, Dacorum Borough Council’s arts and culture strategy, this slots in immediately. Um, and there are numerous other buildings, The Berry, uh, in, in Hemel Hempstead as well. And you see what people are writing. There is, uh, the people want these buildings.

People want to use them. Um, this is a collection of people that are saying, well, we are doing something about it. We are members of the community doing something for the community that’s going to be used by the community. It’s a, it’s a win-win for everybody. 

Claire: Yeah. 

I think it’s really empowering, the whole process as well. I mean, not being rude to Lisa, but Lisa’s a normal person. 

Ben: You’ve known her for years, you can be as rude as you like to, 

Claire: But Lisa’s not special. Lisa has just walked past that building. And has been curious and asked questions. And the more she’s asked, the more she’s like, well, this doesn’t feel right.

And she has moved. She has taken action and then brought a team together. Lisa didn’t know anything about how to communicate with the council. She has learned everything along the way, sometimes in the hard way. 

Lisa: Yeah, absolutely. 

Claire: You know, what do we need now? How do we work this out? How do we get hey, you know, three years in the making.

But the community share offer, it gives you the opportunity as a minimum of a hundred pounds. But you know, with people can do 10,000, 20,000, whatever, whatever they want for their, for their share in the building. To me, that’s really empowering as a member of the community. I don’t have to sit back and go, oh, the council aren’t doing this.

Lisa: Yeah, absolutely. 

Claire: Or. it’s a shame we don’t have this. 

Ben: I think one of the things with that, with the C, so not standing up for the council, but putting that, ’cause I, I don’t, you know, I’m not a counsellor, I don’t know them, but I, we, we know from reading that councils get a, a bad rap, but b are in a bad position to start with.

So actually the, the more help they can get from communities like yours and, and like us the better it’s, it’s. Like James says, it’s about being a partnership. And you know, when you say, you know, going for going for the, the town of culture, I mean wow, that is like you say, it completely slots in it.

It would seem madness not, not to do something about this. 

James: It could be the central hub and you know, the area where everybody goes for that culture. It is just, it’s, it’s made for that very purpose. 

Ben: So what, what do you need? What can we do? We, we’ve, it. A hundred pound pledges, that’s a hundred pound and upwards pledges. I like the 10,000, 50,000, the two hundred and fifty grand pledge. We can then spend the next four months really, you know, nailing something down. What, what else are you looking for from the, from the community and, and the business community of Berko and beyond? 

Claire: Yeah, we’d love some businesses. 

Lisa: Yeah, I think that’s a good question.

Yeah. So just to say, so if people can’t do a hundred, that’s that’s fine. We do also have this crowdfunder where, you know, it, it all means something and none of it’s wasted. Um, and yeah, businesses for sure, like if they can get behind like what we are trying to do and see the benefits of what we’re trying to do and how that could impact their business in a positive way.

Trying to get that across and get that, that would be amazing right now. Um, I think there’s a few that have kind of hinted that there’s that interest and it’s like, come on. You know, we just need that, um, you know, kind of to build on the confidence that obviously local people have. 

Ben: Yeah. 

Lisa: And see that kind of translating across businesses as well.

Um, yeah, so it, yeah, it is a plea in that way actually, if there’s. If anyone watches this and thinks actually yeah. You know, a lot of, ’cause we, without, you know, that from the get go, we’ve been very values driven. You know, we’re all about inclusivity. Um, you know, we’re very kind of caring organisation, and we’ew building a team, that was actually a really important thing to me is that we wanted kind of caring, empathetic people involved, you know, who are respectful of each other and who are obviously amazing as well.

Which Claire and James obviously are. We have a brilliant team. Um, but yeah, so I think that’s, that’s, you know, that’s, that’s a big thing if businesses can get behind. 

Ben: I think there’s a lot of, I heard this phrase again yesterday and it’s, it kind of makes me go, uh, uh. Big business particularly, but a lot of business have a, uh, CSR box to tick.

Lisa: Yeah. 

Ben: But that seems unfair to say they’ve got a box to tick because a lot of those businesses have a CSR policy because it’s the right thing to do and it’s the right thing they want to do. But I, I think there’s plenty of businesses within, within Hemel, small and large, but the large ones.

Possibly, be able to get together, and particularly as I’m sure you are exploring in different ways that are connected to the different ways that the building can, can be used for. 

James: I think it’s important and, and you know, not turning money, not wanting to turn money away, but it’s having that authenticity.

And the integrity behind that as well. It’s having a business that would want to be like, actually I really value what you’re trying to do. It’s not just a, a signature trying to check, it’s actually, I really love what you’re doing. Like. Lisa was saying about the values that we have as a collection of people, about what we’re trying to do.

It’s not just a signature on the check. It’s, you know, it’s someone saying, yeah, actually I really love what you’re doing. I really support what you’re trying to do for the community. That’s important as well. 

Claire: Yeah. I think there’ll be different levels, wont there? There’ll be some businesses that just think, you know, I, I value this.

I, I want the community to have this. Um. So I’m just gonna write you a check. And that will be fantastic. And then there’ll be other businesses that say, I value this, and actually we’d like to be more involved. And we want to collaborate with you. You know, perhaps they could, their business has the name of one of the sections, or they could have the courtyard space.

Could be, you know, there’s ways that we can work together. And as, as the, um, Our Heath Barn project continues, there’ll be more and more ways that they can get involved. You know, is that, um, teenage program or the mother and baby program or all these different, um, initiatives that we come up with. They can be the ones that help sponsor that bit.

So as it develops, there’ll be more opportunities. But right now, it really is coming down to hard cash. 

Lisa: Yeah. 

Claire: And get, get behind this because really, you know, the money is one thing, but the more that we can show the council, we raise this much money, but actually look at all these different individual companies and people that spoke on our behalf, that were out there being ambassadors for us, that were, um, that’s really important as well.

You know, money is one thing. But showing the council that the community got behind it. 

Ben: Yeah

Claire: There’s a lot of power in that. 

Lisa: Yeah. 

Ben: So do, do you need more manpower, man, manpower in the sense of more people getting involved with, with, with your current committee? How many people are involved in it at the moment or 

Lisa: There’s, there’s quite a few of us. I think there’s about 10 of us. So we have, we have some brilliant kind of expertise already. I mean, I would say, um, where there’s a slight gap is maybe around, I dunno if, if we’re there yet really like solicitors and you know, that there is that kind of expertise which isn’t required at the moment, but might help fill some gaps later on. Um, I think as a team we’re pretty, it is just getting to it is the timeline really. It’s kind of that short amount of time. But I think what Claire said, actually talking about partnerships, collaboration, that is definitely key. I think if we can prove that to the council, this overlap in support, um of recognized organizations as well. I think it is really powerful. 

Claire: Yeah. I think if, if you are a local business that has, um, a great local mailing list, you know, could you put something out? Speaking about Our Heath Barn and, and even putting your support behind it in that way would be great. You know, are you someone locally who knows a lot of people?

And actually be prepared to speak up and say you are, you believe in this sort of, that influencer vibe in a way. But there’s, we are on a social media campaign all the time. Speaking, but it needs to go kind of beyond us. And we can reach a certain demographic. Other people will read other people, and I think sometimes you hear it in a different way.

It’s coming through a different voice. So more voices. Yeah, I think. 

Lisa: Yeah. Yeah. 

Ben: And I think, you know, business is based on relationships, it’s based on networking, and it’s based on collaboration, particularly local business. So I think once. You, we, get the business community talking about it, then hopefully that’s gonna be a big help.

Um, if there was, uh. One thing that you would want people, and this is for each of you, one thing you would want someone to do as an action, uh, to, to help you. What, what would that one thing be with this, thinking about this two to four months in mind, I guess.

Lisa: I suppose in a very simple way to go on the crowd funding page and look at the, see the video, because I think then you kind of get a real sense of why it means something.

And the potential. And even if you don’t have the means to donate, if you can share it with someone, start a conversation with someone. Because you never know who you’re talking to. Bare minimum that is, you know, that is, that would be my ask today. And yeah, I think it’s that thing of maybe you, you know, he might be someone that knows someone and mention it and it kind of sets their heart on fire like it has kind of for us.

Um, because I think that is essentially what it, you know, it is nice to have the support, but, but you want lots of people who are passionate about it. I think that’s the thing. As passionate as us. Um, yeah. 

Ben: And the web address. 

Lisa: Is www.ourheathbarn.org. 

Ben: Excellent. We will, of course, put all those details in the show notes.

Ben: James?

James: I think that’s what I’d like to see. I’d, I’d really like to see all members of the community from all different backgrounds come together and really show their support and actually that it’s power in numbers, not just in, uh, financial numbers, but the power of numbers of people saying, no, we, we do want this, uh, and we are gonna get behind it.

That for me, I think is, is powerful as well. And like you said about the power of relationships in business, the power of relationships in a community is really important. And I, I think that that, yeah, the power of numbers of people coming together and saying, no, we don’t want to see this turned into more housing because without wanting to get too political, several thousand houses have already been, um, agreed, um, locally. Let’s save this building for the community and do something with it. And I think people getting behind it, so, yeah. 

Ben: And I’ll say it to, to your point earlier, it’s, it’s for a developer, it sounds like it’s very much not a viable for residential anyway. 

Lisa: And for like, from a practical point of view as well, you know, it, Claire said it’s in a square formation.

So essentially, if it’s plotted, you are looking into each other. You know, there’s all kind of, yeah, 

Claire: I saw the plans. I, I wouldn’t have wanted to live there. 

Lisa: Yeah. 

Ben: No, no one wants to live there. It’s a community hub. 

Lisa: Yeah. 

Ben: But Claire, finally? You don’t wanna live there.

Claire: You don’t wanna live in those houses.

Um, I’d like people to get excited. I’d like people to start dreaming about what it could be. You know, if you walk your dog in Boxmoor or you drop your kids at the swimming pool at the leisure centre. Imagine if Heath Barn was open and you drop your kids, and then you walk two seconds around the corner and you enter that space and you have a coffee and you start talking to someone who lives in the neighborhood that you’ve never met, and you have.

And I’ve had the most wonderful conversations with strangers. Some of the nicest conversations have been with complete strangers at random times. That have been so heartwarming and completely shifted my whole perspective, you know, that’s what I want for people. You know, you walk your dog and then you walk in there and you meet strangers that become friends.

You want to go there, you know, just get excited about what it could be. Because I think once that excitement is there, you, you’ll start to feel it. Like we feel it and it, it moves it from just being a building into, Ooh, I, Ooh!

Ben: The feels, we talked about it, the feels. Well, listen. I feel it. I feel your passion.

I hope anybody watching this podcast does as well and gets in, gets involved. And I hope to have you back on the podcast in four months time, uh, saying we’ve done it and this is the next stage, and this is how we need your help next. I wish you the very best of luck with it, and thank you for being on Berko and Beyond.

All: Thank you very much. 

Ben: Thanks for watching this week’s episode of Berko and Beyond. As always, please do like and subscribe wherever you watch or listen to your podcasts. It really does help the show’s reach. We’ll see you next week.