SGCN – St George Community Association

Meeting 20th June – Report

We had a good turn-out with around 25 people in St George Library for our latest Networking Meeting.

The meeting came the day after Bristol’s Mayor, Marvin Rees, had announced that St George Library along with the 26 others in the City would be remaining open. These proposals are to be discussed by Cabinet on Tuesday 3rd July.

Cllr Asher Craig spoke about this and the need for communty involvement in considering the long-term future of the building at the meeting.

Cllr Craig also confirmed that it is intended to install a temporary toilet in St George Park near the café kiosk and play area in time for the summer school holidays.

The meeting heard about the work of the SGCN Topic Groups and in particular St George Breathing Better and their plans for the following day – Clean Air Day. You can keep up to date with St George Breathing Better by joining thier Facebook Group.

We then discussed further the options for the various projects that have been sugested and in particular those around St George Parks, more details of these can be seen on our Projects page which has been update following the meeting.

We are still aiming to set up a Community Planning Group to drive the process forward, please email network@stgeorgecommunity.org.uk if you would like to get involved.

The meeting also formed the AGM of the St George Community Network, Rob Acton-Campbell was re-elected as Chair and all of last year’s working group agreed to continue and were also re-elected. In addition Maria Needs and Pam Wade agreed to join the Working Group.

One piece of news that we were able to pass on was that St George Community Fair (postponed in March when the ‘Beast from the East’ hit us), will now be held at St Aidan’s Church and Hall on Saturday 6th October (11.00 – 2.00). Also don’t forget that Redfest is back in St George Park this year on Saturday 4th August – redfestbristol.co.uk.

Please do check out our Community Page for details of groups and organisations working in the St George area and let us know of anything that should be added or updated.

Meeting 20th June 2018

The next St George Community Network meeting will be on Wednesday 20th June at St George Library at 7.30pm.

As well as a chance to meet and talk to members of community groups throughout St George this will be a chance to continue our discussions on the various projects that were covered at our meeting in March.

The intention is to form a Community Planning Task & Finish Group, to work with the St George Councillors and others to firm up proposals and look at options for funding.

Cllr Asher Craig will also be there to give an update on the options for reinstating toilet facilities in St George Park for the summer as well as possible long-term solutions.

It is now 12 months since the SGCN formally came into existence, so this meeting will also be our AGM – but please don’t let that put you off, the formal part of the meeting will be kept very short.

If you would like to volunteer to join the SGCN working group to help run the organisation please let us know at the meeting or email network@stgeorgecommunity.org.uk to find out more about what is involved.

Project Ideas for St George – Meeting 14th March 7pm

Update 17th March: See our Projects Page for the outcome of the meeting.

St George Councillors are asking for suggestions for allocating Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) money to projects in St George.

Influencing the way these funds is spent is one of the most important roles of the St George Community Network and we are going to focus on this at our next Networking Meeting which will be held on Wednesday 14th March at 7pm at St George Community Centre, Church Rd.

The meeting is aimed particularly at community groups and organisations working in St George but all interested residents are welcome.

The meeting will update you on what the Network and other groups have been doing, including our Topic Groups and there will also be a chance to meet and talk to those running the groups.

The main part of the meeting will be asking how you think the money available from CIL should be spent in St George. So please come along with your ideas. Projects could be improvements in parks, to community buildings or other public assets. We are particularly interested in projects where work can start within 12 months but longer term projects that get community support could be held over to apply for funding next year. Highways schemes are being treated separately because of the long time it takes to get them started.

List of potential projects in St George >>

If you are unable to come to the meeting but have an idea for a project you would like to see put forward then please email us.

SGCN Working Group Elected

At the meeting at St George Library yesterday (Wed 5th July) the St George Community Network elected its first Chair and the Working Group which will run the day-to-day activities of the Network for the next 12 months.

SGCN also formally adopted its terms of reference.

Rob Acton-Campbell was elected as chair, other Working Group members are Diane Jones, Fiona Russell, Grenville Johnson, Jo Chesterman, Nigel Williams & Susan Acton-Campbell.

The Working Group will meet next month to agree future meeting dates and other aspects of the SGCN’s organisation.

There are vacancies on the Working Group and also ambitions to form other sub-groups to cover issues like planning and traffic & transport. If you would like to take an active role in running this new organisation then please get in touch network@stgeorgecommunity.org.uk.

The group is determined to spend as little time as possible on organisational matters and meetings and to focus its energy on improving live in St George.

We also agreed to organise a public meeting later this month to discuss the Council’s ‘Your Neighbourhood’ consultation. We will email and post details once they are finalised. Details of the consultation including a list of consultation events organised by the Council around the city are at www.bristol.gov.uk/council-spending-performance/your-neighbourhood-consultation-2017

St George Community Network Meeting Wednesday 7.30pm

(Originally sent to our email list 3rd July 2017)

A reminder that there will be a meeting of the St George Community Network at St George Library at 7.30pm on Wednesday 5th July.

We are aiming to keep the formal business of the meeting as short as possible to allow time for a general discussion about how the Network will work and how we should agree on priorities for action.

The agenda:

1. Formally agree the name for the new organisation.
2. Agree terms of reference – draft here
3. Elections – chair etc.
4. Communications – website, email-list, twitter, facebook, notice boards, meetings, other methods.
5. General discussion – how the new organisation will operate, priorities, who will do what?
6. Agree future meetings / get togethers etc.

We hope to see you on Wednesday, if you would like to get involved but can’t make the meeting please email network@stgeorgecommunity.org.uk

St George Community Network Update 3

(Originally sent to our email list 26th June 2017)

We were pleased to have a positive feedback on our ideas for the new St George Community Network at the meeting at the library last week.

The next stage is to hold a meeting to formally agree the Network’s structure and elect a chair and a group of people to run the organisation.

Next meeting – St George Library at 7.30pm on Wednesday 5th July.

Please do come along if you would like to get involved. If you are unable to join us at the meeting but would like to get involved please email at network@stgeorgecommunity.org.uk

We will also be organising a public meeting in St George during the summer to discuss the Council’s current ‘Your Neighbourhood’ consultation with particular emphasis on the future of St George library. Details of the consultation including a list of consultation events organised by the Council around the city are at www.bristol.gov.uk/council-spending-performance/your-neighbourhood-consultation-2017

St George Community Network Update 2

(Originally sent to our email list 14th June 2017)

We are in the process of finalising our plans for the public meeting that will launch the St George Community Partnership next week, we are keen that as many local people as possible get involved.

Public meeting at St George Library at 7.30pm on Wednesday 21st June.

At the follow up meeting meeting on Wed 5th July (also at the Library) we will elect a chair and committee and hope to formally adopt the terms of reference for the new organisation.

The current plans are that the organisation will be a sub-group of the St George Community Association, this will avoid having two organisations in St George with similar aims and will simplfy the process of setting up the new organisation so that more time can be devoted to addressing issues in St George.

The article on the St George NP website at www.stgeorgenp.org.uk/a-new-start/ now has a link to the constitution of the Community Association as well as the proposed terms of reference.

Once the new organisation is set up the intention is that it will have its own website and take over the existing St George NP facebook and twitter accounts.

Cllr Asher Craig will be at the meeting on the 21st and will be talking briefly about the Council’s ‘Your Neighbourhood’ consultation that launched yesterday and runs until September. There will be another meeting in St George later in the consultaion period where residents will have a chance to talk about the issues raised in more detail so it will not be covered in depth at this meeting.

The consultation covers Public Toilets, Libraries, Neighbourhood Partnerships, School Crossing Patrols and Community Links services. See bristol.citizenspace.com/bristol-city-council/yourneighbourhood

St George Community Network Update 1

(Originally sent to our email list 7th June 2017)

The Network is the new organisation that will take over some of the activities of the St George Neighbourhood Partnership. Although the Network will work closely with Councillors and Council Officers, it will be run entirely by local residents.

You can read more about the aims of the organisation and how it came about on the St George NP website at www.stgeorgenp.org.uk/a-new-start The article includes links to notes of past meetings and a paper ‘Building strong communities where we live’ published last month by the Council setting out the support they propose to give to organisations like ours across the city.

There is also an excellent article about the Network written by Tamsin in this month’s edition of the St George & Redfield Voice – you can see the article here: www.twitter.com/SGRVoice/status/871824443202514944

We are holding a public meeting at St George Library at 7.30pm on Wednesday 21st June to tell people about the new organisation and how they can get involved.

This will be followed by a meeting on Wed 5th July (also at the Library) where a committee will be elected.