Residents encouraged to Make a Difference with Merlin at annual conference
02 Oct 2008
Make a Difference with Merlin was the message to residents at the South Gloucestershire housing society’s annual conference.
More than 100 residents attended the conference at Bradley Stoke Community School at the weekend, which had been organised by residents themselves. The conference was aimed at informing residents about Merlin Housing Society’s work during the past year and also how they can get involved in the organisation’s work and make a difference to the area where they live.
The not-for-profit housing society is committed to putting residents at the heart of all that it does and during its first year the society has involved them in projects such as its major service reviews and assessing tenders for major contracts, as well as asking them to assess its services. During the summer it launched its Making a Difference campaign aimed at encouraging more people to get involved in its activities.
Chairman Les Good, himself a Merlin resident, told the conference that involving residents in all of Merlin’s activities was crucial to the society’s future success.
“We want to give residents the opportunity to be involved in all aspects of our work, from simply taking part in surveys about their home or estate, right through to membership of the Board,” he said.
“We all know that people make judgements about a neighbourhood or an estate by its appearance and its reputation as a place to live. The transfer from South Gloucestershire Council will enable Merlin to invest over £70m in improving homes and meeting the decent homes standard. But Merlin is also determined to make a difference to local communities and we are working with the Council and focussing on particular estates in two of its five priority neighbourhoods.”
A series of workshops ran throughout the day to give conference-goers the chance to hear about Merlin’s progress and to give feedback about the progress. One of the workshops was run by the Staple Hill Residents Association who hoped to inspire other Merlin residents to follow their example and make a difference in their community.
Over the past year, the Staple Hill Residents Association has seen its membership grown from 10 to more than 100 residents and have organised a sponsored walk, fun days and other activities, particularly aimed at young people. Now residents are hoping to create a youth venue on the estate and with Merlin’s help have already raised £13,000 for the project.