We were really pleased with the mix of volunteer groups that came out on a dark November night to take part in the first St George Community Network meeting. Rob, our chair, gave a brief summary of the aims of the St George Community Network (SGCN) and then it was straight into finding out what all the groups present were doing,
If you are new to the SGCN you can find out more about us on our website or on Facebook and Twitter. Page 16 of the November issue of St George & Redfield Voice has an excellent full page article about the SGCN.
The St George Community Network’s Working Group currently has 8 members each looking at different issues in the area. More members are always welcome. Please contact us if you are interested.
Five members of the Working Group were present at the meeting:
• Nigel invited anyone interested in influencing planning and development in St George to contact him. An invitation will be arriving in your mailbox soon.
• Susan invited any groups who wanted to use the SGCN Facebook and Twitter pages to publicise their activities to contact her. Details of this offer will be sent to you soon.
• Diane and Jo have the brief of walking, cycling, public transport and air quality. They spoke of the work they had done raising issues about air quality around Summerhill Academy and Summerhill Junior School.
• Rob’s area of interest is parks and green spaces. A meeting will be held soon for local green spaces volunteer groups and anyone wishing to start such a group. Rob is looking to continue the success of local groups working together that has resulted in successful events and projects, including 3 new play areas.
Jim Donaldson of St Aidan’s Church, announced that the St George Community Fair, the free event for all local groups to showcase what they do, will be held again on Saturday 3rd March, 2018 in St Aidan’s Church and Church Hall on Fir Tree Lane. Donations from any groups in the financial position to do so, would be very welcome. All donations will go to the Bourne Family Project which provides free support to families including adult counselling and play therapy in the St George and Kingswood area. Jim will be sending out invitations to all groups who have participated before. Any groups new to the event can email comms@stgeorgecommunity.org.uk for Jim’s contact details.
The introductory part of the meeting helped everyone to know who they wanted to talk to in the networking part of the meeting. Just one of the pieces of information shared was about the start of a new arts project “Be Creative” starting in St George with a partnership between existing local groups and expertise formerly based at the Pip n Jay church.
The topic for this meeting was grants.
• why apply for grants,
• why grants are rejected,
• why grants are successful,
• what you HAVE to do if you are successful,
• easy grants to apply for
• where to find grants.
With 5 groups in the room who had applied for more than 4 grants, 5 who had applied between 1 and 4 times and two groups who had never applied for a grant this made for a lively and informative 30 minute session with Nigel wielding the pen and Susan encouraging the discussion..
What 30 minute topic do you want at the next meeting?
Suggestions for topics included:
– tips for running events
– how to increase involvement in the SGCN and other groups across our diverse community.
What would you like the topic to be?
Would you be willing to run the session on this topic?
Email comms@stgeorgecommunity.org.uk with your ideas.
We will be setting the date for our next meeting soon. Look out for posters in local noticeboards, emails from us, check our website, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
A huge thank you Nigel and Maxine for making the studio of Black Iris Images available for this meeting.
We hope to see you soon.
Groups represented at this meeting were:
Friends of Dundridge Park
Friends of Troopers Hill
Playing Out
St Aidan with St George church
Friends of St George Library
St George in Bloom
Friends of Gladstone St Park
Friends of Kingsway Youth
Be Creative
St George Park Community Garden
Redfest
Bethesda Methodist Church
Wellspring Community Allotment
St George Community Association