It’s now been a month since we opened the doors to The Pearl Exchange and began a brand new chapter for our charity. Since then we have welcomed over 150 people into our beautiful new space, kickstarting our July programme of activities and workshops over the three floors of our renovated coach house. 

Our new building has provided the opportunity for The Pearl Exchange to embrace an incredible new sense of identity, something that we have been working towards since the idea of The Pearl Exchange emerged in 2019. We have always been on our toes, wondering what will happen to our idea, where it will take us and where it will call home. Now we are firmly rooted in Bude and here to stay in our beautiful new building.

This building would not have been possible if it wasn’t for the hard work and dedication of many people. The support that we have received to turn this building into the beautiful space it is now has been overwhelming. Donations and precious time have been given by so many people, from painting and sanding to tools and equipment hire, there are many small things in the bigger picture that many have helped with, making the final result possible. 

We have so many people to thank for helping us to secure, renovate and open our new space. To start off our new landlord Nina Brooke has been an unbelievable support and without her we would not have this opportunity to grow. To all the brilliant trades people we had the pleasure of working with, thank you for turning our building into a home. To all those who volunteered their time, skills and energy, a huge thank you, as none of it would have been possible without them, truly. 

With the support from local electrical supplier HBH Woolacotts we were able to have the kitchen we wanted. Having a fully functioning kitchen allows us to host more workshops and create a sense of community around food, which is so important for us and our participants moving forward. We received further generosity from South West Tool Hire, making many jobs so much easier by lending us tools that were vital for the build. Blue Flame Falmouth donated a full boiler system to us. Without it we would have a cold winter indeed! Builder Depot kindly donated the paint we needed to freshen up the walls. Many thanks to you all!

We are hugely grateful to our new neighbors for accepting the upheaval and inevitable mess that comes with renovating a building and welcoming us into the area. We hope to repay you all by creating a warm and welcoming space for our shared community here in Bude. 

We could not have funded our build without the generous support of our funders (big and small) , as well as our corporate partners Bott Ltd and Coreus. They all have supported our vision and the running of the charity, we could not do what we do without them, thank you!  Also to every single person who contributed via the “new home” donations page on our website and those who attended our fundraising feast in February, donated prizes, stock and contributed to the success of that event, where we announced that we had reached the £50,000 target required to fund the build. 

We would also like to thank one person in particular who has from the start been the driving force behind the success of The Pearl Exchange and without this person none of this project would have come to pass. Rose Bamford is our founder and has been volunteering her time here with us from the start. She is the one up late at night, up early in the morning,  planning, drawing, sanding, painting, endless dump runs and constant maintenance, our list can go on and on! She has kept this dream going, quietly working unbelievably hard behind the scenes making things happen and getting things done. Truly we owe a lot to her and thank her from the bottom of all our hearts. 

All our love

TPE