MORE THAN 100 residents attended Sunday night’s public meeting to find out about the latest in the campaign to buy the Heavens Valley for the community.

The meeting, at the Trinity Rooms in Stroud, outlined the urgent need for donations and heard that solicitors for the Heavens Valley Community Benefit Society (HVCBS) and the current owner are now discussing details of the proposed sale.

Some 65 per cent of the £300,000 already promised in pledges towards the £850,000 needed has already been converted into actual donations – and, if the donations are eligible, the money raised will be worth an extra 25 per cent in Gift Aid.

More than 300 people have now bought shares in the Heavens Valley Community Benefit Society – ten of those during the meeting.

The push is now on to get everyone who’s pledged donations to convert their pledges into hard cash and to find new donors.

Coordinator Martin Whiteside said: “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

"What happens now will determine whether we can save the valley for the community forever - or possibly see it lost forever.”

He explained that if the entire £300,000 initial target can be raised soon, it will mean only £550,000 needs to be borrowed from the two local lenders.

“So there is an urgent need now to get all of the £300,000 in the bank.”

Martin added: “Bringing the valley into community ownership and saving it for future generations will be a groundbreaking thing for Stroud to achieve. This is the sort of thing that Stroud does. I believe we must do it, we can do it, we will do it.”

Co-coordinator Karen Thomas said: “This is not a time for complacency. We can only do this if we all pull together. We want to get the job done and save this beautiful valley.”

Ben Challis, another member of the HVCBS coordinating team, said there were two main priorities: protecting community access and recreation, and enabling biodiversity and nature recovery.

"This will involve, among other things, improving and maintaining paths and looking at ways to increase accessibility.

“The plan is to work with the community to ensure that the Heavens is a place where people and nature can co-exist.

"We want to do this together with the whole of Stroud to make sure that the Heavens is truly a place shaped by the community that uses it.

"I think this vision is one worth working for but it will take all of us pulling together and chipping in to make it a reality.”

After questions from the audience, the meeting split into groups to discuss fundraising ideas, talk about the issues of public access and land management and discuss legal and financial matters.

Dozens of residents put their names down to offer to help with practical tasks – from data entry to bookkeeping, from land management and maintenance work to organising their own fundraising events – and to introduce the campaign to potential major donors.