Dear all, After last Sunday's attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, the community as one expressed their determination to stand as one. John Peart captured the feeling: "Be defiant. Light a candle. Teach your children LGBT people are to be loved not feared. Lend your support to homophiles not homophobes. Ask your LGBT friends if they’re OK. Do whatever you can, but don’t stay silent and don’t let this happen again." And we had the tragic death of our own Jo Cox MP who clearly stood for all the values so important to the LGBT+ Community in Britain to take in, which led to the recall of Parliament this afternoon. In the face of terrible events, the best way to win is to be focused and determined, remember who we are and what we stand for, and (peacefully) fight and act for our community and rights. And it is again our turn to not stay silent for the Black Cap Pub. We want to ask you to assist and take part in a major campaign escalation that we believe is going to make a big difference. Ruth and Robinson have confirmed their intent to disregard the LGBT+ Community's interests in their letter to Camden Council after a meeting with the Council on 18th March. We note there were no words from them towards the Community over the Orlando tragedy. Our objective is to get Ruth and Robinson's over one hundred private shareholders to query how Ruth and Robinson are managing their investment, and to persuade them that if they are concerned, to demand that Ruth and Robinson either re-open the pub, or return their cash. This is the position in a nutshell. Ruth and Robinson's one hundred plus shareholders, who in the main are not professional investors, invested between £10,000 to £50,000 or more in the hope of getting a reasonable return over 5 years from Ruth and Robinson's idea of American-themed bar restaurants. However, Ruth and Robinson's first venture, The Fourteenth Colonie, failed completely with heavy losses. Their second venture, our Black Cap Pub, for which they signed a 25 year lease, has been robustly opposed by everyone from London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Camden Council, a lengthening list of celebrities and politicians, to you our 8,400 petitioners here, our 2,400+ Facebook supporters, and the loyal band of vigilers who protest outside the pub every Saturday. (The picture is of Camden Towners signing our Orlando wall on Saturday) Campaigners have met with Ruth and Robinson to argue that the best way forward for everyone, including Ruth and Robinson, is to re-open the pub as it was for the LGBT+ Community, and use the profits to support opening a second venue with the American theme. Ruth and Robinson refused to consider this, and also refused to consult their shareholders over our approach, so the protests have continued. It is in short a stalemate, but campaigners are confident and on the front foot, whilst Ruth and Robinson are silent. However, there have been consequences for Ruth and Robinson's shareholders, because the cash spent by the management, (including further investment collected this year) fighting Black Cap Pub's campaigners on every front has not generated one penny of income. We have written an Open Letter to Ruth and Robinson's large community of shareholders to point this out, suggested the likely impact on their investment, and invited them to consider challenging the financial logic of Ruth and Robinson's refusal to either re-open the pub as the profitable LGBT+ venue it was, or make way for someone else who will operate the pub as it was. The Open Letter and three supporting documents are available here: http://bit.ly/SHAREHOLDERSLETTER Inside the Dropbox folder that appears you will see: 1. AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE BLACK CAP FOUNDATION TO ALL RUTH AND ROBINSON LTD SHAREHOLDERS.pdf 2. RUTH AND ROBINSONS LIST OF SHAREHOLDERS, COMPANIES HOUSE, 1-1-2016.pdf 3. OPTIONS ANALYSIS.pdf 4. BLACK CAP FOUNDATION PRESS RELEASE - OPEN LETTER TO RUTH AND ROBINSON SHAREHOLDERS.pdf (The Press Release was sent out on Thursday 16th June.) (Can't download the Dropbox files? Email chris@weareblackcap.com for the files) Given that many of the hundred-odd shareholders are likely to be located in and around London, and most people on the Change.org similarly so, when you click to view or download the list, there is a very high likelyhood indeed that a number of you may already know them as friends and connections on Facebook and LinkedIN, and they may have indeed already spoken about their Ruth and Robinson investment. So what we want to ask you to do is to look through the shareholders names from the second document, and if you do know any of them, to drop them the following short note via LinkedIN, Facebook, or email if you happen to know it: --------- Dear.... You might be interested to know that The Black Cap Foundation has written an Open Letter to Ruth and Robinson's shareholders about their activities regarding The Black Cap Pub in Camden Town, and the ongoing campaign to re-open it as it was, an LGBT+ performance venue. There are four documents in total, and you can view them at: http://bit.ly/SHAREHOLDERSLETTER There appears to be questions Ruth and Robinson may need to answer about what they are doing with shareholders' monies. The Black Cap Foundation have already approached the media over this. If you do want to take this up directly with Ruth and Robinson the Open Letter explains the situation as Black Cap Foundation see it, and tells you what to do next. Yours etc ---------- And that's nearly it. I'd like to ask if you can do three more quick things to really maximise the impact. Firstly, can you let us know if you did find someone who has invested, and drop us a line at: chris@weareblackcap.com (If they would be willing to talk to us there is a confidential email address in the shareholders' Open Letter.) Second, for those on twitter, can you send out the following tweet to help us get the word round: #WeAreTheBlackCap have written an Open Letter to #RuthandRobinson 100+ Shareholders. Read full story now: http://bit.ly/SHAREHOLDERSLETTER And third, can you add a quick supportive (and moderately toned) comment on our Facebook post at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareblackcap/, and at the same time add in a request to ask Ruth and Robinson's shareholders to query Ruth and Robinson about their personal investment as soon as possible. That's it. Let's all see what happens over the next 10 days. We'll keep you informed! Thank you again for your support. Your being there and our Facebook members really give this campaign a voice that can not be ignored. Chris Clark Black Cap Foundation