Kings Crescent Resident’s Group June meeting

Went around the room for everyone to introduce themselves then Emley introduced the KCRG Committee members present at the meeting and passed on apologies that had been received from Sarah Coxhead (KCRGC treasurer) and KCRGC ordinary members Emilie Leclerc and Andrew Mitchelson. Apologies were also received from Cllr Clare Potter who stated that she would be happy to attend these meetings but that Thursdays clash with her Labour Party meetings (change of days to be discussed later). Great mix of residents from both the old and new parts of Kings Crescent! Leah Walker-Murrain also sent apologies.

Although Emley is the chair of the committee she asked for a volunteer from the committee to chair the meeting as she was leading on several of the sections and taking minutes, Emma volunteered and did a great job at keeping us all to time which allowed for some social time at the end of the official meeting.

Going well. The last one was not so well attended as it was the start of half term, but we will be continuing them on the last Saturday of every month. Sainsburys have kindly agreed to donate juice, fruit and some snacks to these events so it does not use any of the community budget.

The charity organisation ‘Friends of Woodberry Down’ were looking for a new venue for their regular fun sessions for the over 50’s. Emley and Sarah H met Amanda from FoWD during a Chair-Person training event and it was suggested to use Kings Crescent’s hall. This has now been established and they run these sessions in the Vince Murrain hall twice per week on Tuesdays and Fridays 10am-2pm (except the last Friday of the month when they are back in Woodberry Down).

Quite a few residents come from Woodberry Down to attend these sessions, but unfortunately only Maire, Patricia and Grace have attended from Kings Crescent. Maire fed back that the sessions are lots of fun and that it would be great if everyone could spread the word to other residents about this.

Source mentioned this on a general flyer that went out to all residents recently.

We were invited to have a tour around Hackney Town Hall by our local ward councillor Clare Potter. She has been the Speaker for Hackney for the past year and was keen to offer a tour to Kings Crescent residents while she was still in this position (recently ended). Several of the committee attended including Patricia, Sarah H, Alice, Emley and her daughter Maya. Cllr Bell also joined us on the tour.

Patricia fed back that it was interesting to see all of the different aspects of the town hall. Good to know about the town hall history, previous mayors, vaults  etc. Sarah H commented that it was good to have local councillors that take an interest like this.

Patricia also mentioned that she (and Jill Walker-Murrain) had been back to the town hall again recently to be celebrated as two of the ‘100 Hackney women who are driving change and making a difference in their community’ https://hackney.gov.uk/hackney-women. Congratulations to them!

Patricia

This was quite a low-key event organised by the committee after a suggestion at the last meeting. We bought compost bags using last year’s community budget for residents to use on their allotments or to plant seeds in pots. Seeds were kindly donated by Sarah Coxhead along with her advice and wisdom about gardening. Refreshments were provided along with some homemade cakes. Quite a few residents attended throughout the morning and the event attracted people that often don’t come to other meetings etc so that was positive. Quite a few children came and enjoyed planting seeds in one of the allotment plots behind the community centre that had kindly been cleared in advance ready for planting on the day. People also planted pots to take and grow at home.

It came to light that service charges were an issue facing both the new build residents and many from the older part of Kings Crescent. The committee organised an open meeting with representatives from the service charges team and new build team as an opportunity to explain the process of how service charges are calculated and for residents to ask general questions. Alice recognises that there is still some confusion and frustration on this topic, and she has continued to ask questions by email that are still awaiting a reply from the service charges team. However, this was a positive first step in opening up communication with the service charges team. Alice and a few other residents have volunteered to be consulted by the service charges team to look over the next estimates/actuals prior to general release. Hopefully this will help to spot and errors and inconsistencies. For full details of the meeting see here:  https://kingscrescent.org/calendar/service-charges-meeting/

(Aim to agree a rough timetable of dates for the coming year)

Community money available this financial year to fund these

Simon confirmed that as a residents group we are entitled to the same amount as a TRA would be, that is:

·        £2500 community development fund (last year this was £2000)

·        £500 additional ‘community chest’ funding for specific community projects

·        £500 funding for the ‘Big Lunch’

·        Total=£3500

Things that other estates have used funding for include coffee mornings, bring & share lunch, meal out, trip locally or away to Kew Gardens, seaside etc, youth activities.

Simon has been promoted to ‘Resident Initiatives & Training Officer’. Emma Harrison from the Community Halls team will be taking over as our Resident Participation person.

Simon

Last year Oliur (Hackney Resident Participation) organised a coach trip to Broadstairs. It was agreed that this was a good thing to use some of the Community Development Fund on again this year. Dates were debated and Sunday 21^st July was decided. Locations were debated and Walton-on-the -Naze was decided. Simon will hand over to Emma Harrison to arrange the coach booking and John agreed that Source could do flyers to help advertise the event. It was suggested a £5 refundable deposit should be taken per person to guarantee the place on the coach. This could be taken at events between now and then. Also suggested setting up Eventbrite event to take online deposit payments. Details to be confirmed.

Source-leaflet

Emley– put on website & FB groups

Big lunch normally happens in June but this is too soon to organise so suggested to do in September instead. Dates debated and decided to combine with the family fun morning on Saturday 28^th September. Simon confirmed that it would be fine to still get the Big Lunch funding to use then. All agreed that funding (£500) should be used to pay for activities such as face painting, bouncy castle etc, and residents should be asked to bring food donations to partake in a shared lunch to bring the community together.

It was agreed that it would be a good idea to combine this with a bring/take event for second-hand clothes, toys, furniture etc. Emilie happy to help organise that element. Details of event to be decided later. If you want to volunteer/share ideas contact  kcresidentsgroup@outlook.com

Emma

Emley has met with Simon and other residents Jill Murrain-Walker, Leah Murrain-Walker and Dean Hope to discuss ideas for a new youth club on Kings Crescent. Currently in process of ensuring correct paperwork in place like Safeguarding certificates, DBS etc. Hoping to run 2 after-school sessions per week, one for primary school age children and one for secondary school age.

This has been requested by a few parents. Again in process of ensuring correct paperwork in place to use the hall on a regular basis. Partly also awaiting word of who will be running the new community centre in unit C, was due to open there in the summer.

Roy still interested in starting a group of cyclists to help with fixing bikes and take on tours of local area etc. Could also do some that are okay for children to go on too. Suggested Roy speaks to Wheely Tots about this (will be at next family fun morning on 29^th June)

This was suggested during the Gardening morning that it would be nice to have a regular get-together in the allotments in the new build courtyard. First one will be Saturday 6^th July 10.30am and possibly continuing on the first Saturday of the month through the Summer. Bring a cuppa, garden together, share ideas/cuttings/seeds, swap produce etc.

Suggested that it would be nice to have a Christmas related get-together. Can decide details at the September residents group meeting. Suggested this could be combined with the December residents group meeting e.g. start earlier to do carols, food etc with the children and then continue into the meeting

The Beach Party held last February was a success and would be a nice tradition to start. February is a miserable time of year so nice to brighten it up with a party! Any money remaining in the Community Development Fund is lost at the end of the financial year (end of March), so agreed this is a good opportunity to use up any remaining money on an event to bring the community together. Date and details to be decided later.

Building links with local groups such as the boating centre on the reservoir and the castle climbing centre. May be willing to help with local events for residents.

(including updates on new build planning, ASB, pigeons, courtyard, new community centre plans, Kings Crescent Story)

·        ASB – please report it! To council and/or police 101. Can do it anonymously or just ask police not to come to your property

·        Planning application has been submitted for next stage of development

·        Gel that looks to pigeons like the surface is on fire will be applied to affected areas in the new build and also re-applied to Weston and other affected older blocks

·        Bronwen (Hackney) is aware of the slippery surface in the courtyard and is in discussion with Higgins about this, the doors that keep breaking and other ongoing niggles. She will not sign the development off as completed until Higgins find a solution to these issues.

·        Still no update as to who will be managing the new community centre planned for Unit C (empty space near Sainsburys), or when it will open.

·        The Kings Crescent Story evening will be on the 25^th June

For full details of the Steering Group meetings see the minutes within the events on kingscrescent.org

https://kingscrescent.org/calendar/steering-group/

The terms of reference have been amended to include the option of becoming a TRA sooner than in 1 year as originally proposed…

“5) Periodic Review

Each June the Committee and its Members will review the year and consider whether they would like to continue as KCRG or become a TRA. If the committee or a quarterly public meeting decides by a majority that it would like to consider this before this date then it will reviewed at the next quarterly public meeting. This decision to review at next meeting must be made at least a month before the meeting to allow it to be publicly advertised.”

There was a show of hands during this meeting to express our interest in becoming a formal ‘Tenants and Residents Association’ (TRA). Therefore this will be on the agenda for the September meeting with a view to becoming a TRA at this time. There will then be another AGM soon after to vote on the new TRA committee. This will be advertised more prior to the event.

The terms of reference were signed at the meeting by Emley Pine (Chair) and Sarah Hulcoop (Vice-Chair) and witnessed by Simon Ware (Hackney).

Simon

Results of the recent estate improvements walkabout: one of the requests was to have things planted in the concrete planters outside Datchworth and Bramfield Courts. It was felt by Hackney that they would not commit to doing this unless there were at least 5 volunteers willing to help with watering and maintaining the plants. JWM, AH, EC, AR, MM, and EP all volunteered. However, Hackney are also not available to do this until September!! It was therefore suggested that we could just do these ourselves. Jill has a neighbour who works for Homebase who may be willing to help with some compost and plants.

Jill Walker-Murrain commented that she is very happy to see all of this happening. She and her late husband Vince ran the TRA and youth club previously. She is happy to get involved again and it will be great to have her wisdom!

The committee thanked Simon for his assistance so far and for getting us to this point and wished him good luck in his new role.

Jill to contact neighbour re plants

These dates are already in the calendar, but it was suggested that future dates for 2020 could be changed so that they do not clash with the regular Thursday Labour meetings so that our local councillors could attend. All fine with this in general.

Soft drinks and snacks were provided, and some individuals contributed wine. This was a great chance to chat more informally and get to know other residents.

Timing

(Aim to agree a rough timetable of dates for the coming year)

Community money available this financial year to fund these

Simon

(including updates on new build planning, ASB, pigeons, courtyard, new community centre plans, Kings Crescent Story)

(Please bring your drink of choice. Soft drinks provided)