Latest News
2011
Community spirit rewarded at Tenants’ Forum AGM
Community-minded Suffolk residents and two charitable projects have been celebrated for their efforts at this year’s Havebury Tenants’ Forum AGM.
The event at the partnership’s offices in Bury St Edmunds included the presentation of the Good Neighbour Award, the Contribution to the Community Award and the Community Investment Fund Awards.
Among the winners was Margaret Philip of Thelnetham, who won the Contribution to the Community category. She was nominated by Leslie Flatman, who said: “Margaret did everything for me when I lost my sister. She takes me to Diss every two weeks shopping and to the doctors even if it’s bad weather. I think she is a wonderful person.”
The Good Neighbour Award went to Daphne Moore of Bury St Edmunds, who was nominated by Denis King of Great Whelnetham. He praised her for her fundraising activities and organisation of social events for the community.
Havebury Chief Executive Karen Mayhew added that there were two categories in the Community Investment Fund awards. She said: “The Community Award went to Project Builder in St Edmundsbury, which gives disabled people the opportunity to sail at Lackford Lakes. Stansfield Village Hall was chosen by the group to win the Community Cohesion Award – the team showed an exceptional community ethic when raising money for the hall’s refurbishment.”
She added: “We think it’s extremely important to recognise the efforts of our community through these awards, and hopefully encourage other tenants to help those around them in some way.”
The Tenants’ Forum AGM also included the election of Sandy Norris of Haverhill as Chair for the third year running, with Kevin Jefferson of Rougham appointed as Vice Chair.
Mrs Norris said the Forum would be focusing on tackling unemployment amongst Havebury tenants in the coming year. “We need to help them gain the confidence to apply for work and lead them in the right direction as to how this can be achieved,” she said. Mr Jefferson added that the forum would strive to help tenants adjust to new housing rules being introduced by the Government.
Visitors to the AGM were also given the chance to express themselves on issues important to them through an interactive voting system loaned to Havebury by Suffolk Police. Mrs Mayhew said: “We wanted to get an idea of people’s views on issues like resident involvement, the changes to the benefits system and how they want to see Havebury use its budget in the future. The results were very interesting and we will take them on
board as we move into 2012.”
Havebury, which has offices in Haverhill and Bury St Edmunds, is dedicated to serving both the existing and future housing needs of people in West Suffolk and parts of Cambridge. A charity and not-for-profit association, it currently manages 6,000 homes.
For more information about getting involved in Havebury, visit www.havebury.com or call 0300 3300 900. You can also follow Havebury on both Facebook and Twitter.
