Message from Pete

Some of you may already be aware of the Lease situation with regard to the land on which Dowty Sports and Social stands, and which of course includes the Dowty Dojo which has existed in its current form since its opening in 1981. The current 25 year Lease will end at the end of 2023, so obviously with that date being so imminent, our future has been on my mind on a fairly regular basis, but late last year the concern became more urgent with an announcement from our Landlord GE, that the site has been sold to the Ashville Group, previously known as Ashville developments, with immediate effect. We convened a meeting early this year with three representatives from Ashville, who are Bristol based, and basically spent a day getting to know each other. They assured us that they would fully honour the current Lease, and continue to work with us up to and beyond that date.

We felt that the meeting went as well as it could have, but of course with a situation such as this, and given the core purpose of a company such as Ashville, there are various eventual outcomes with regard to both the site as a whole, and the Dowty Dojo. Following this first meeting, Ashville talked of a follow up meeting in the Spring to report any update on their current plans.

I shall of course try and keep everyone as updated as possible.

Pete