THE Save Our Storm Tower fundraising campaign managed to surpass its target of £50,000 after one final push.

On Monday, the Crowdfunder came to a close, but after some generous Bank Holiday donations, and an impressive light display on Saturday, it reached the total of £59,522.

Organised by Bude-Stratton Town Council (BSTC), the campaign urged members of the public to donate so that the tower at Compass Point can be moved.

With constant coastal erosion taking place at Compass Point, the Storm Tower needs to be relocated before it is lost to the sea — with an estimated cost totalling £350,000. BSTC have added to the total, contributing £25,000 and Cornwall Council have also pledged £50,000 towards the project, thus taking the current total to £134,522.

A spokesperson from BSTC has praised the efforts of the local community and offered thanks on behalf of the town council. They said: “Thank you! We are absolutely blown away by the donations and generosity of everyone!

“Every single person who has donated, supported and raised awareness of the project has had such a huge impact on our ability to achieve this. It literally would not have been possible without you! Thank you to our community here and all over the world who love and support Bude and have come together to make this happen.”

The spokesperson continued: “Thank you to all the local businesses who have supported us with products, percentage of sales, donated directly, photographed, offered rewards, lit up the tower and raised awareness. All this has been done in a period where you have been dealing with the huge challenges facing you due to COVID, the support you have given to this project has meant we are one step closer to being able to save this iconic structure for generations to come.

“We hope this project becomes a signal of hope for our community after such a challenging year.”

What’s next?

The first thing on the list for the town council is for all the rewards on the Crowdfunder to be issued to everyone who has claimed one. They will be doing this in earnest over the coming weeks either in the post or by email, if anything else is needed they will make contact to ensure rewards are received as soon as possible.

The next stage of the project involves writing and submitting a Heritage Lottery bid for the remaining amount of money needed for the project, until that is in place, they will be unable to start any work on the project or build. This again is a monumental task as the impact of COVID has added additional requirements to the application process.

A new dedicated website has also been built for all the information regarding The Compass Point Project going forward. A list of the all people and business who have made this happen will also be displayed there; stormtowerbude.co.uk

The BSTC spokesperson added: “This is just the beginning… the project to move the tower is an complex and in depth one, where we have to remove each brick one by one, by hand! We are very fortunate to be working with some other local businesses who have offered their services for free to the project, and are contributing to the early stages of the build programme helping us with surveys.”

Although the Crowdfunder is closed, donations can be made directly to the project by contacting [email protected]