THE Looe Shedders group recently achieved charitable status and is now a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).

“In effect this means we’ve been recognised as a force for good in our community”, said Chris Roy, chairman of Looe Shedders. “It also means we can be trusted - anybody can get access to our constitution and annual reports and accounts.”

“The move also opens new fundraising avenues for us because many charitable trusts will only give grants to charities. We also get tax breaks, notably not having to pay VAT on purchases, and we can claim Gift Aid on donations.

“The tax breaks are particularly important as they will ensure we can continue with our community projects, which recently enabled us to build a playground bus for Looe Primary School”.

Looe Shedders provides a community space for meetings, learning and socialising. It was founded three years ago but only really got started after the COVID pandemic.

Looe Shedders CIO has been entered onto the Register of Charities with the Registered Charity Number 1208819. It has three trustees — Chris Roy, Leo Maxwell and Peter Heywood. Previously Looe Shedders was registered as a Community Interest Company (CIC).

For more information on Looe Shedders visit www.looeshedders.co.uk