Tenants Annual Conference 2007

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing Celebrate their Community Champions at the Tenants Annual Conference and Fun Day Saturday, 13th October

Over 100 tenants attended the Town Hall on Saturday to take part in the Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) Annual Conference and Fun Day. The ‘new style’event was much less formal than previous years with the focus being on participation and enjoyment for everyone.

Staff at RBH consider this year’s conference a resounding success as both young and old turned up to receive awards, take part in the numerous activities and workshops and to make their voices heard.

The day also offered a wide range of activities from making hanging baskets to mixing CDs. There was even a lively and glamorous Bollywood dance class, which taught participants the steps and moves to emulate their Bollywood heroes and heroines.

Dave Hoyle from the Back Door Music Project coordinated the CD mixing workshop and was impressed by the enthusiasm of tenants:

“It’s been a really good day,” he said. “We have had a big mix of ages, from 4 to 64, wanting to take part, which is really unusual but very positive.”

          

               Hanging Basket Demonstration                                                           DIY workshop

         

                  CD Mixing Workshop for All Ages                                      CD Mixing Workshop for All Ages

          

                                                                Bollywood Dance Class In Full Swing

During another workshop children and adults alike put their artistic talents to paper – painting watercolours of the beautiful Rochdale townscape and crafting unique gift cards.  The children also enjoyed becoming their fantasy characters with some creative designs painted on their faces. And singing and dancing sensations Middleton Popstars were an instant hit with the crowd.

         

              Tenants Painting Rochdale Townscape                    Young Budding Artists Painting With Watercolours

         

           Creative Face Painting for Young Tenants                          Creative Face Painting for Young Tenants                                          

         

                    Gift And Card Making Activity                                                   Creative Workshop             

                    

                                                   Middleton Popstars Going Through Their Routine

RBH Chair, Gill Walch, said: “The day was a huge success and it was great to see so many new faces and such a good mix of the young and not-so-young. I am really grateful for all the hard work put in by the volunteers and staff who organised the day and would like to say a huge thank you to the borough’s three MPs for supporting the event and for taking the time to attend.”

But the highlight of the day was the award ceremony, which was held for the first time this year as part of RBHs Communities First Scheme. The scheme aims to recognise and promote good behaviour as well as the contributions made by individuals and groups to improve community spirit.

Heywood and Middleton MP, Jim Dobbin, announced the six winners of the Community Volunteer Awards.  Colin Tomlinson from Baytree Estate in Middleton, Anne Marshall from Middleton, Gary Langley from Brimrod Estate in Rochdale, Debra Lord from Chesham Estate in Castleton, Charles Bishop from Hollin estate in Middleton and Sharon Fidanoglu from Back o’ th’ Moss in Heywood were all commended for their vital contributions to making their local communities better places to live.

The Communities Together Award was presented by Rochdale MP, Paul Rowen in recognition of a voluntary group that has run an activity or project to bring together different sections of the community. The winner of this category was Boarshaw Tenants and Residents Association for its work in clearing up and improving open space at the Dingle. Pennine View Community was then presented with the Taking a Stand Award to for the work it has done with young people to tackle some of the causes of youth nuisance on the estate.

Oldham East and Saddleworth MP, Phil Woolas also said a few words in support of the awards and congratulated all the winners.

Winners of the RBH My Community photography competition were also announced. Manchester based professional photographer Paul Hermann, who is Director of the Redeye photography network, judged the entries and presented the prizes.  Three adults and three children won prizes with the overall winners being 11-year-old Jade Finnan from Freehold and Mr S O’Boyle from College Bank.   The winning photos, along with other entries will feature in RBHs 2008 calendar.

To conclude the award ceremony Back o’ th’ Moss Tenants and Residents Association was presented with the Cleaning the Grot Spot Award by our Board Chair, Gill Walch, for  the work it has done to clean up the Oak Street area in Heywood.

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