Pat Patel is a very well-known member of the Barne Barton Community and provides an inspirational example of just what can be done when you make a long term commitment to the area you live in.
Pat and his wife Linda moved their family to live on the estate 32 years ago. Friends at the time thought he was mad, as a former Petty Officer in the Royal Navy meant that he could have gone into a more traditional form of retirement in one of Plymouth’s leafier suburbs.
However, the estate did Pat proud. It supported him whilst he cared for his wife who was diagnosed with MS shortly after they moved. It gave him the wide open spaces he needed to rethink what the rest of his life was about, and a tight knit community that looked after its own.
When the naval social club at the top of the hill came up for sale, despite having no background in business at all, Pat and a team of residents were able to submit a business plan, negotiate a discounted purchase, and register as a community business and charity in 2000.
Since then, not only has the club provided a full and varied family entertainment programme every week, but the charity has worked its asset to purchase a further three buildings, two of which it brought to the estate from scratch.
“I don’t want to waste money to achieve nothing… I want my focus and ambition to reflect the place where I plan to live out the rest of my days. Where I can make a difference, I want to be able to make a difference. “
All the activity derives from the needs of the community. With the nearest supermarket a good twenty minute walk away, and only one corner shop on the estate, it was logical to invest in a shop.
Tamar View owns the building which the Co-op rents, providing income to the charity so it doesn’t need to rely on continual handouts from grants.
Pat explained:
“I have seen funding used badly as organisations come and go, leaving nothing behind to benefit communities. It’s a really important direction of our charity to make sure that it remains solvent, and we do that by maximising our assets. We rent space not only to the Co-op, but also to the pharmacy, the charity Aspire to Live, and the nursery.
“We also raised the funds to purchase a complete nursery that had to move from its previous site in a school in North Plymouth, and cover the costs to move it. Not only has this given local parents an option for nearby preschool provision, but it has also provided employment on the estate.”
The rental income generated by the charity also pays for the youth workers, a job club, five football teams, fun days and activities to enhance life for everyone!
“All our activities rely on people to be sustainable,” said Pat. “We are not interested in providing lip service delivery to our area. Instead we want to provide groups and events that people need and want and vote for by coming along.
“We see that everyone who joins in, also has a contribution to make – so people are empowered to make a difference themselves, rather than be reliant on external sources to do things for them. We look for partners to work with us, rather than parachuters who just see Barne Barton as a deprived area that ticks a box on their funding application.”
Pat has a remarkable gift for looking at the impossible and doing it anyway. And his plans for the future are not diminished in any way. With the help of the local MP, he has been talking to the MOD and has a planning application in hand for several homes owned and run by the charity to support local people. He sees this growth of assets as a natural course of action to ensure that the charity runs correctly.
“I don’t want to waste money to achieve nothing,” he said. “And I want my focus and ambition to reflect the place where I plan to live out the rest of my days. Where I can make a difference, I want to be able to make a difference. And I see this as the reason God put me on this earth. I could’ve ended up anywhere really after leaving the Navy, but I’m very grateful he placed me in Barne Barton. It’s a great place to live and I’m privileged to be able to be part of making it even better.”
