The Atmos Totnes project would like to ask for your help with getting as many people down to the Dairy Crest site at 10am on Friday September 7th for a big photo with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who will be unveiled as a new Patron of the Atmos Project.
We are really thrilled to have Hugh behind Atmos, and as with Jonathan Dimbleby, having as many people as possible down for the photo will help us to sustain the pressure on Dairy Crest at this crucial time (see below). The coverage that the Dimbleby photos generated was key in Dairy Crest taking this community seriously, and we need to do it again, so please come, forward this email on all your lists, put it on Facebook, Tweet it, text it, tell your friends, after all, how often do you get the opportunity to have your photo taken with the man who does things with beetroots the rest of us can only dream of? It should be a wonderful event.
Also, in order to bring the photo to life, we’d like to invite you to bring an object with you which you feel represents what you would like to see on that site. It might be a hoe or a spade, a loaf of bread, or something altogether unexpected. Surprise us (and possibly yourself). Something you can wave aloft as the photos are taken. Let’s see if we can beat the 350 people who turned out for the Dimbleby photo session. See you there. We have booked sunshine for that morning.
Secondly, a brief update on progress with Atmos over recent weeks. The Atmos team are in discussion with Dairy Crest and those conversations are progressing well. We are finalising our case for their giving us an Exclusivity Agreement on the site, which would see it withdrawn from sale and Atmos Totnes preparing a masterplan and going for planning permission, purchasing the site from them once that is granted.
We are finalising our case that will go to their board meeting at the end of September which we hope will approve our proposal. There has been a huge amount of work put into this, providing the information that shows we are a serious and credible body to take on the development of the site, and it feels as though the end of this 5 year community journey to bring the site into community ownership is lurching into view. Then we will have a big party, celebrate, share this story, which will be a game changer both in Totnes and around the world, and get ready for the really exciting work of starting to make all this happen and shaping it around the dreams and desires of this community.
As ever, we are hugely grateful for all your support, enthusiasm and passion. We look forward to seeing you on September 7th at 10am down in front of the Brunel building (the “I’m off to London” side of Totnes train station). See you there.
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