A CAMPAIGN to restore a village pub to the heart of the community is one step closer to achieving its goal after the launch of a scheme that invites locals to buy shares.Campaigners in Woodcroft near Tutshill reached a major milestone in their eight-and-a half-year bid to bring The Rising Sun back into focus as a community pub.

An agreement was reached with developers over its purchase.The group, called Save Our Sun, is now looking to raise between £285,000 and £350,000 in community shares to buy the pub, with members of the community, local groups and businesses being invited to invest. Volunteers were in the pub garden on Friday and Saturday (September 3 and 4) to talk to would-be investors and give out prospectuses.The campaign was established in 2013, after fears the site would be developed for housing following the pub’s closure in 2011, when its owner went into administration.The group says the community share scheme could be the last chance to secure the pub’s future.Chair of Save Our Sun, Michelle Hayes, said: "After an eight and a half year campaign the Rising Sun Woodcroft Community Pub Limited committee are delighted to announce that we have reached an agreement with the owners, Worthy Developments, on the sale of the pub."We now need to realise the funds to buy the pub and will do this through ’community shares’ - any individual, groups of individuals or local businesses can buy a share in the pub and own a part of the pub.""We’d like to invite members of the community, friends and family and local businesses to invest in The Rising Sun Woodcroft Community Pub Limited - the Rising Sun - a community benefit society which has been set up to secure the longterm future of the Rising Sun public house as a community pub."This isn’t just about buying a pub: it’s about preserving the history and heritage of our village and surrounding area and investing in the future of our community.Michelle said the group envisions the pub being used as a meeting place for local clubs and societies, as well as to provide support services for vulnerable people in the community."Our vision is to provide a pub and a community hub where there is not just good affordable food and drink but a place to meet, also, giving back to the community such as subsidised coffee mornings for the elderly and isolated and job skills clubs for the unemployed and space for various clubs to meet", she continued."If we don’t buy the pub now, it will be lost forever."Through the scheme, investors will be required to buy at least five shares priced at £100, although individuals are able to club togetherThe group will also be at Tutshill Memorial Hall in Coleford Road and Tidenham Hall in Rosemary Lane between 7pm and 9pm on Friday (September 10), and Saturday (September 11) between 10.30am and 2.30pm.For more information about the campaign and community share scheme, go to www.therisingsunwoodcroft.co.uk.