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+<title>SENA - Notes of Meeting Held on 20/06/2011</title>
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+<h2>Notes From The Inaugural SENA Meeting on 20 June 2011</h2>
+
+<h3>1. Introductions:</h3>
+
+ <p>Mike Torbe welcomed residents to the first meeting of the embryonic
+ South Earlsdon Neighbourhood Association (a SENA pod?!) and we
+ introduced ourselves.</p>
+
+<h3>2. Background - how we got to this first meeting at the Oak:</h3>
+
+ <p>Mike outlined how he and Helen had leafleted roads in the South
+ Earlsdon area, Where there is currently no residents association,
+ to see whether residents would find an association of
+ interest. Approximately 500 households were contacted in Warwick
+ Avenue, Styvechale Avenue, Osborne Rd, Berkeley Road South,
+ Providence Street and Moor Street. Several people at the meeting
+ suggested that Beechwood Avenue, Woodland Ave and Stoneleigh
+ Avenue should also be invited to join since they are otherwise
+ quite isolated. The question of the geographical extent of the
+ association is one to be returned to.</p>
+
+<h3>3. Where do we go from here?</h3>
+
+ <p>We discussed how the association might develop, and the suggestions
+ fell into two areas.</p>
+
+ <p>Firstly, we agreed that we would like the association to provide a
+ social network to share information about developments or problems
+ in the area. We would also like to meet more people in our
+ street(s). While everyone at the meeting agreed this would be a
+ good idea, there were two groups to think about in particular to
+ help feel included - those who were newly arrived in the area,
+ including students, and older residents who might be becoming more
+ isolated. Social activities suggested were a picnic in the park, a
+ plant sale, a street sale, a register of equipment residents might
+ wish to lend to others, a welcome pack for new residents.</p>
+
+ <p>Secondly, the association could work to monitor the physical
+ environment of the area and work towards promoting appropriate
+ developments in ways which individual residents cannot. SENA might
+ work independently or in collaboration with other Earlsdon
+ associations, depending on the issue. We acknowledged that these
+ are tough economic times, but there are still options and
+ decisions to be made about the quality of our neighbourhood
+ environment and its development.</p>
+
+<h3>4. Communication and organisation:</h3>
+
+ <p>We discussed various possible approaches - the Echo, posters,
+ leaflets, a desk outside the Co-op. A website would also be
+ useful but so too is personal contact, and residents at the
+ meeting (all but one of the streets were represented) agreed to
+ start talking to their neighbours about the association and to
+ take responsibility for leafleting their streets. The two key
+ questions may be - What can we do for you? And what can you do
+ for us? We noted that personal details must be held
+ confidentially.</p>
+
+ <p>We discussed how we might organise ourselves and agreed that
+ this would evolve depending on the activities. Funding was
+ discussed but no decisions were made.</p>
+
+ <p>Mike will continue to act as chair and co-ordinator for anyone wishing
+ to network with other residents. Ray, Sally and Deryck agreed to
+ become actively involved.</p>
+
+<h3>5. Next steps:</h3>
+
+ <p>We said that we would like to talk to other Earlsdon residents'
+ associations about how they had developed and the issues they
+ focussed on. The suggested date for this is July 11th. We agreed
+ to start with one social activity in August / September - watch
+ this space.</p>
+
+ <p>The publicans at the Oak had been very welcoming and had given us free
+ access to the back room for this first meeting. Longer term we
+ wondered whether we might find a member of the Criterion who
+ would sponsor us so that we might meet there, at a more neutral
+ venue where disabled access is possible.</p>
+
+<h3>Dates for your diaries:</h3>
+
+ <p>July 11 - meeting with reps from NENA and Rochester Road at
+ either the Criterion or The Oak, venue to be confirmed.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<address>
+ <a href="mailto:matthewv+senaweb@chiark.greenend.org.uk">SENA webmaster</a><br />
+ Coventry, England
+</address>
+</body>
+</html>
~matthewv / sena.git / commitdiff