Wednesday 3 June 2015 Walkabout Wednesday Organised by: Lavern Ebanks, Customer Service and Re-housing Manager

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1 Resident Involvement (June 2015) Wednesday 3 June 2015 Walkabout Wednesday Organised by: Lavern Ebanks, Customer Service and Re-housing Manager Walkabout Wednesday is an opportunity for staff to get out and about and meet local residents. Staff work in groups visiting a selection of developments and are able to carry out an estate inspection and rate a scheme, ask residents for their feedback and suggest shared area improvements. Residents also joined the groups including one Resident Inspector. Staff received a positive response from the majority of residents they spoke to. Schemes visited included: Barley Close, Cherry Close, St Michaels, Earls Court Square, Mulberry Court amongst others. Most of the schemes received a high satisfaction rating relating to the condition of the communal areas. Wednesday 11 June 2015 TSG/SSP Organised by: Quentina Layne, PA/Administration Officer James Dean, Chair of the Services Scrutiny Panel, Ian MacLeod, Chair of the Tenant Steering Group, Maeve MacAvock, Director of Housing and Noel Brosnan, Director of 1

2 Asset Management gave presentations on the work of the SSP and TSG over the last year. Kam Chung, Head of Service Development also presented the group with the information available from a range of resident feedback work carried out. Some of the key things that residents discussed included the accuracy of service charges, repairs concerns, and a recommendation that the Complaints Panel and the SSP should work more closely together. The groups discussed the key differences between the TSG and the SSP including their remits and area of focus and how they could better work together. Key ways to improve joint working between the two groups was to look at sharing minutes, adopting an exchange at work programme, better communication between teams and sharing information. The group discussed what issues the SSP and TSG will focus on in the coming year including the outcomes from Your Space, feedback from Resident Associations, giving residents feedback on what difference being in involved in surveys has made and encouraging the TSG to get out and about more to meet residents. Saturday 13 June 2015 Your Space (Annual resident fun day) Organised by: Anna de Souza, Resident Involvement Manager On Saturday 13 June, we held our annual resident fun day, Your Space at St Charles College, W10 6EY and welcomed over 250 residents to a fun filled day. The event included a range of information stalls promoting energy efficiency, employment and training, care and support, debt and welfare and accessing your account online. We also had information stalls ran by Octavia representatives from Neighbourhood, Alternative Tenures, Estate Services, Development, Asset Management and Income and we were joined by community partners such as Your Credit Union and the Citizen Advice Bureau. The Development table in particular was popular with residents (and staff!) helping build homes for the future out of lego! 2

3 A range of free and fun activities were available for all ages including a Silver Comedy session with care and support scheme residents (pictured above), dance mats, nail art, youth workshop, free family portraits (as taken up by the Ogbonna family pictured right from Elizabeth House), face painting, seated chair and Indian head massage and smoothie making and sports activities with Solidarity Sports. We also helped celebrate resident talent and our residents helped run the crèche, the music was provided by Lenny Ranks RJR 98.3FM (pictured below right) and Christopher Comnenos (pictured below left) who provided some delicious cakes courtesy of his new business Kensington Cakes. Residents had the choice of enjoying a Caribbean meal from Mum s Takeaway or a hot jacket potato from Juicy Jackets with a choice of fillings and were able to sample some homemade cakes at the cake sale which raised 88 for Nepal. Residents were invited to vote for their top priorities when they arrived and resident feedback is currently being analysed; the feedback will help our strategic groups such as the Tenant Steering Group and Services Scrutiny Panel focus on what resident priorities they should looking at during the next year. Special thanks to our contractors Mears who donated a Samsung Digital tablet and 100 shopping vouchers, Village Heating who donated a 80 Halfords Voucher and John O Conner who donated some lovely home garden plants for our prize draw. 3

4 Wednesday 17 June 2015 Octavia Foundation Service Users Forum Organised by: Wray Bennett, Employment and Training Programme Manager The Octavia Foundation held their first service users forum organised by Wray Bennett, Employment and Training Programme Manager (pictured right in orange). The forum was targeted at particular residents to help shape the employment support the Foundation offer. The Foundation were particularly keen to hear from young people aged 16-30, adults and parents in low paid employment and disabled job seekers. The evening was a great way to find out what matters most to residents. Twenty residents in total received employment advice and guidance or expressed an interest in volunteering. 4

5 And what s been happening across our care schemes in June? Trip to Brighton Resident outing Organised by: Miranda House Staff Seven residents from Miranda House and one resident from Highlever Road enjoyed a grand trip to the seaside for the day. Residents enjoyed the fresh air, tasty fish and chips and finished off the day with some ice cream. The trip was planned by the tenants during one of their tenants meetings as one tenant said "I have not been to the sea side since I was a little girl and it's one of the places I would like most to visit before it's too late" (Mrs Mary Harman). Another resident, Mr Phillip Dykins was very happy to go has he said it brought back memories of when he use to attend Hove university which is close to Brighton and he remembered his life as a student. EAC Afternoon Tea with Councillor Murad Resident engagement exercise Organised by: Staff at Eileen Anderson Court 5

6 Pat Whitley, Scheme Manager and Paula Wray, Team Leader hosted a Strawberries and Cream Tea to celebrate Midsummer. The guest of honour was one of the local Ward Councillors, Murad Gassanly. Murad spent time chatting to the residents. He was able to pass on useful information about local matters. Going forward he will conduct a quarterly surgery at the Scheme for casework. Resident feedback from the event was extremely positive. Residents agreed they would like a quarterly surgery which will now commence on Friday afternoons. The afternoon tea was a great way for staff and residents to engage with one another and enjoy some good company and conversations. Challenge the Manager to a game of chess Resident engagement exercise Organised by: Staff at James Hill House (extra care scheme) One of the JHH residents, Mr Raphael Amman, challenged Mohammed Gbadamosi, the Scheme Manager (pictured below) to a game of chess. 6

7 This event took place in the communal lounge at JHH and was witnessed by some other residents and staff. It was a very interesting game, with Mohammed winning at the end, though Raphael giving him a good fight. While this was going on, two of the other residents, Ruby Grant and Eric Short indulged in a game of dominoes, which Ruby seemed an ace at, winning almost every time. Mohammed joined them in the game later and everyone enjoyed the lovely mocktail served on the summer s day. So what next? Future activities: Tuesday 7 July 2015 Bourbon Lane Estate Improvement Drop In Surgery Halina Selby, Neighbourhood Officer T E halina.selby@octavia.org.uk Monday 13 July 2015 Community Champions Workshop Anna de Souza, Resident Involvement Manager T E anna.desouza@octavia.org.uk Tuesday 14 July 2015 Octavia Foundation Employment Event Jide Ogunro, Employment and Training Advisor T E jide.ogunro@octaviafoundation.org.uk Wednesday 29 July 2015 TSG Anna de Souza, Resident Involvement Manager T E anna.desouza@octavia.org.uk 7