8th July 2010

Many years ago the last thing I wanted to be was a “council tenant”.  I managed to buy my own house after many long hours of work but because of illness ended up getting behind with the interest only payments.  I was very grateful my family and I were re-housed by our local council and have now been a council tenant for nearly twenty-five years.  I am still grateful for this tenancy but because of a low income I cannot afford to spend much money on making it look the way I would like.  I have a huge garden but am unable to maintain it properly (i) I don’t have the gardening equipment (2) cannot afford a gardener (3) do not have the energy or ability to do gardening on such a large scale.  I would love to move but all the two bedroom places are much smaller than mine.

The reason I write this is because there is such a stigma attached to being a council or social housing tenant.   (See the comments on Netmums.com).  Yes, some irresponsible, problem people give us a bad name but on the whole most of the properties I have seen are beautifully maintained and the tenants are no better or worse than house owners.

I have been asked how to include tenants in a Residents Association when there are also home owners and I have thought about this a great deal.  The thing is – who are we to judge other people?  Most people want to live in nice homes in good areas.  To make this possible we have to try and bridge the gaps in the community by creating a common ground – making the area everyone lives into one to proud of!  Residents Associations can achieve so much by getting residents in the area to work together rather than being divided.  Adults would set the example for the youngsters to follow rather than encourage prejudice and bad behaviour.  What do you think?

19th July 2010

I’ve finally made up my mind!  No more procrastinating, no more excuses – I am starting PROJECT: CREATING PARADISE.  The first thing I want to do is create a forum (a great suggestion by Dr Peter Shapley) which brings together academics, tenant group reps and civil servants/politicians then we it would be possible to get views/ideas etc discussed and debated. To do it properly, however, would cost a few thousand so I remembered the quote “A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step”.

I am, therefore, asking RAs in each area to think about this idea and how we can start locally with the aim of having a conference next year to discuss our findings.  I would like to involve schools too so that youngsters can participate in creating their future world.

• What would you like to do to create “Paradise” in your area? 
• How do you picture it? 
• How would people treat each other? 
• How would you encourage them to do so? 

There are so many questions and I’m sure you could think of many more so start with the questions and then think about the answers and START doing something to make these changes … Let me know how you get on, please.

27th June 2010 – no response yet (22.7.10)

Yesterday I sent off six letters to various MPs about the state of the legal system.  This was because I have been helping some friends with their legal cases and it has been so frustrating to see the tactics used by solicitors to sidetrack the cases.  I was reading that it’s all about words and how we use them.  That was a bit of a surprise because I always thought it was about the laws.  Anyway, I would love to hear from anyone who has had to handle their own cases or helped someone to do so….  I will let you know if I get any replies.

19th April 2010

Rachel from www.metrosafety.co.uk wrote to us saying ‘We are wanting to get in touch with residents associations following the tragic Lakanal fire. We are aware that some residents are now deeply worried about the fire safety in their tower blocks and concerned that their housing association or council are not carrying out the right checks.

We are one of the leading fire safety companies in the UK and social responsibility is central to our company ethos. We have already written to all Housing associations and Local authorities in the UK offering them free fire safety advice. Now we’d like to contact the residents associations and give them a checklist of fire safety routines that should be carried out on multi-occupied residential buildings, so they can be asking their landlords the right questions and ensuring that they are carrying out the checks that will keep the residents safe.

PS.  Do please contact her if you want more information – we don’t know the company or Rachel but are just passing on her request.

13th April 2010

I was reading this week’s local Guardian & Gazette newspaper and came across the Editor’s Comment headed “It is better to love thy neighbour once more’. The full article ‘Roof with a view for neighbours after handshake’ explained how two families, residents of Elm Terrace in Woodford Green, Essex, wanted to extend their historic homes and worked out a way together of doing so which suited everyone involved. Such joint ventures are becoming so rare but by co-operating closely with each other and the council’s planning department, they were able to achieve their goal without any of the animosity and opposition so often sparked by such ambitious projects when people fail to consult their neighbours.

What was even more impressive was that there was nothing put in writing but was based solely on trust although involving a £250,000 gamble. The Comment then says …’Many of us see the person living next door more often than we see close members of our own families. We rely on them to keep an eye on our property or feed our pets when we are on holiday, or to look after a spare set of keys in case we get locked out……’

And this is how it should be so after writing the following on 1st February 2010, I felt such a mention of these neighbours worth putting on this website with the hope that others will be inspired by the Shelleys and the Youngs. Thank you …..

After writing the Blog above – I went into my local chemist and joined in a conversation about Cyprus (my dad was Greek Cypriot)…. one of the ladies turned out to be be one of my neighbours living in the same road as myself! There is no such thing as a coincidence…. and I say this simply because I have learnt about Universal Laws, the greatest one being the Law of Attraction. I had been thinking about wanting to make some new female friends to go out with and happened to look in a local newsagent (interestingly not far from this Chemist) and saw a postcard advertising someone looking to make new friends. I responded and now have a new friend ….. try it sometime.

Hello world!

Website: www.residentsassociations.co.uk

One day I stood at my lounge window looking at the houses in the rest of my road I felt so sad that I hardly knew any of my neighbours.

Of course it’s my own fault. Why didn’t I just go out, knock on each door and say hello to them? I realised that it was because of my fear. Fear of other people knowing my business, fear of other people rejecting me and thinking I was “strange or odd” because I dared to go and talk to complete strangers. Fear that I would end up in a situation that I couldn’t handle. And so I stayed home and worked on this website instead and for two important reasons.

The first reason was because I had discovered loads of mail that I failed to read and answer. They must have ended up in a “spam” folder because the last time I looked on the website there were only a few emails and I had responded to those.

These unanswered emails were from 2007!!! So, my sincerest apologies to everyone who wrote for the delay in responding and I will do my best to ensure this does not happen again.

The second reason is to get some more feedback from visitors to this site. I have put a couple of questionnaires on here an hope you will look at them but if, for any reason, you don’t want to complete a questionnaire, do let me know.

Also, if you know any inspiring people who have been working hard to transform their neighbourhood, do let us know…