Calling All Residents
Folks,
It has become apparent that the original plan of the Residents Association is not working as quickly as most would like.
The original plan (as determined at the original open meeting) was to use the period to Dec/Jan to get the Association running. Unfiortunately, due to the workload involved, the situation with the QUVL and the expectations of the community, this may not be the best approach.
To get things moving faster, we need more bod’s (also - as Clive’s other post highlighted - the 4 existing Committee members have a high workload with home/work).
So to make it work, I need the following:
Help with organising the event in December:
An Events Coordinator.
Someone to organise food.
Someone to organise entertainment.
Someone to organise posters and advertising.
Someone to help the Treasurer with the finance.
We will add more as we think of it.
If you know anyone who would be able to provide anything cheap (food, entertainment etc), that would also be good.
If you want to help, please email [email protected]
The event will be held at the School so we have a great base to work from.
Cheers,
Barry
This post was submitted by Baz_k.
November 11th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I have already emailed the residents association offering to help generally but cannot find details of the event you speak of in December. What and when is the event?
November 13th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Hi cac,
Assuming we can get it organised in time the plan is to arrange a party (for local children and parents) at the School. From memory I believe it was intended for Friday December 12th (I am awaiting our meeting minutes for confirmation).
November 15th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Could we arrange an evening and time for those of us who want to help out with the Christmas party?
We could holdthe meeting in the pub? One night this week….. I can’t do wednesday :o)
12th December will be upon us very soon.
November 20th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Barry, at the meeting held a couple of months ago you asked for names and addresses of people willing to help the RA. Myself and my husband put our names down but we haven’t been contacted. I didn’t attend the last RA meeting because I didn’t have confidence that people’s issues were being addressed and would rather approach the Parish Council direct for my own issues.
I think parties etc are a good idea but a committee needs to be formed that has time to organise such events. Obviously the committee is made up of people who don’t have the time to do so. But also, if people offer help (as plenty did at a previous meeting) then their offers should be followed up, otherwise they will simply not offer again and good willing volunteers will not then attend future meetings.
The lack of communication about what the RA is doing is not helping… I for one have seen absolutely nothing published about what is planned and what help is required.
Having to log on to this website periodically is fine for those who have regular internet access and are organised enough to remember to logon but maybe a newsgroup would be better for those who cannot always logon. If an e-mail bulletin was sent round to people it would act as a reminder.
As stated previously I would be happy to help with any of the posts suggested above and I am sure there are others out there like me, but you need a co-ordinated method of finding and contacting them… this blog is great for informal communication but for news type items a more formalised approach is required I think.
Sorry if this appears to be negative - I am only trying to be realistic and yet helpful.
Clare
November 20th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Hi Clare,
Much of what you say is true, however there are many, many more issues arising than anybody expected and the state of the housing market has had a huge effect on the feedback / cooperation we are getting from the developers.
Take a host of partly-progressed (and fairly complex) issues and a sudden drop-off in cooperation and response and couple that with RA committee members personal illnesses and unexpected work-related problems, (plus other local commitments) and suddenly 4 people is simply not enough to cope with the job(s) in hand.
I for one spend at least 20 hours a week on local issues, from running this site to attending Police meetings and liaising with Housing Associations and Youth Groups etc about facilities and plans for local youths (so far this month an average of one meeting per week).
We have set up this site as the "online home" of the Residents Association but would - of course - use email bulletins to contact willing residents about such things…
We have (I think) 2 facebook groups and an RA email (which we can use both to be contacted and to issue email bulletins), but I don’t see how email would help for those who don’t have regular internet access! For those we are using the Parish Council notice boards and leaflets, although - as you know - leaflets are time-consuming to deliver and not very reliable.
Minutes from the last meeting are imminent (we have been proof-reading them this week) and issues from the previous meeting (there were an absolutely huge number) are being progressed… albeit slowly.
The economic downturn has had a massive effect on the Association for a number of reasons which we could not have anticipated (for instance, we were planning to issue a periodic newsletter to all Kingsway Residents - with the help of the QUVL - but they are no longer able to do so) and it’s doubly unfortunate that we’re in our first year, but I’m confident that things will improve greatly as we get to grips with some of the original issues and reduce the list to a manageable number!
November 20th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Clare,
Thanks for your feedback.
Whilst you are right that feedback on here has been minimal, the progress on issues has been pretty good and has been reported back in the meetings.
We have not been as active in getting more people involved and most of that is my fault as I have tried to stick to our original agenda which I outlined at the beginning, which was to get the organisation up and running and then growing it. However, as Clive mentioned, we have had a lot more issues to deal with and we have taken these as a priority.
The lack of anticipated funding (see my other post on QUVL) is having a huge impact, and I’m spending a lot of time trying to work a way forward, but it is looking very difficult.
As for more formal communication methods, this blog is our preferred approach. A more formal approach (newsletters) is difficult due to 2 reasons. Firstly printing costs money; to date all the leaflets have been produced at committee members personal expense and it is unacceptable to rely on this for the future; also they do all require delivery.
I realise most of what I have said is not helpful, but I hope goes someway to explaining the practicalities of what we face.