Shareholder Membership

Join Us
Neroche Woodlanders Ltd offers membership to our supporters, participants, volunteers and local people.  To join, people buy shares and so become Shareholder Members.

How much does it cost?
Shares cost £1, and the minimum shareholding is five.  So the minimum cost to become a shareholder is £5, though shareholders can invest as much beyond that as they wish.  In addition, each year we will ask for a £5 annual subscribers fee.

What does being a shareholder mean?
Shareholder Members have a stake in the organisation. They can vote at the Annual General Meeting, and be involved in many other ways in governance and practical development. 

Members may purchase any number of shares, but each member will have one vote regardless of how many shares they own.  This gives Neroche Woodlanders a democratic structure.  

Shares are not be redeemable, and we do not distribute profits or assets to Shareholder Members: any surplus is put back into the organisation.  We are subject to an asset lock, so assets cannot be sold for private gain.

Where will your money go?
Becoming a Shareholder Member enables you to share in the creation of our community in the forest.  Shareholder Membership is primarily intended to broaden representation within Neroche Woodlanders, rather than raise substantial capital.  Shareholder Member income will be used to support the running costs of the organisation, including the costs of communicating amongst our network.  Neroche Woodlanders may issue separate specific Community Share Offers in the future to finance capital investment.

Young Wood
Neroche Woodlanders has its base at Young Wood, a beautiful 100-acre swathe of mixed woodland forming part of the larger Neroche public forest.  The land is leased from the Forestry Commission.

​Our Legal Status
Woodlanders Ltd is a social enterprise, and is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority as a Community Benefit Society (BenComm) under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965, registration no. 31925R. The Board of Directors are currently Hannah Bester, Dr Rosemary Viant, Jenny Archard, Gavin Saunders and Sarah Holdway.  Our registered address is 10 Sunnyside, Awliscombe, Honiton EX14 3NX. 

Woodlanders seeks to be an innovative organisation

• By being the first lease-holding social enterprise in the public forest estate in England
• By exploring new ways of using old skills to help people connect with the land, and find fulfilling, sustainable employment
• By developing deeper ways of journeying into nature and the wild
• By enabling a wide community to work together to make the most of the public land they share
  
• By exploring new ways of connecting nature conservation with social benefit.​
  

How do I join or find out more? 
Contact us for a Membership form - us the enquiry form below. We will post you the form, as it has to be signed.
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