Community Investment at United Welsh

GATEWAY NEWS UPDATE

2012-02-09T15:36:00.000Z

The Fitzroy Lodge Residents Association take their Food Hygiene Level 2 Course

Gareth Brown, Delwyn Davies, Sandra Powell, Mike Weyman and Lorna Stephens all started their Food Hygiene Level 2 course this week.

A wonderful afternoon was had by all, lunch was provided and at first some of the members were a little nervous but once they arrived and settled, all the nerves were gone.

All 5 Gateway Volunteers throughly enjoyed their afternoon at Y Borth Head Office of United Welsh, one quoted "I have had a wonderful afternoon".

The day was funded by the Gateway Project. The Fitzroy Lodge Residents Association run the Food Co-Op up at Fitzroy Lodge in Twyn Gardens, Blackwood.

Thanks to the Gateway Project once again we have another success story.

Llys Nant y Mynydd - Computer Club Success

2012-01-18T10:15:00.000Z

Thanks to the Gateway Project the Computer Club at Llys Nant y Mynydd is now up and running. The club is run by one of our Residents up in Pen y Bryn, Rassau. Every Tuesday morning between 10am - 12pm the club is held in the IT Suite for all residents of Llys Nant y Mynydd. Our first session had two new members, who seemed very pleased with what they learnt. Natalie and myself have help set up the club and will now be taking a step back and hopefully more residents will attend as the club progresses every week. Many thanks to Mr Malcolm Gould running the club.

Festive Morning at Llys Nant Y Mynydd!

2011-12-20T09:27:00.004Z

On the morning of Monday 19th December some of the local children from Coed y Garn Primary School visited Llys Nant Y Mynydd to sing christmas songs for the residents at the scheme. The children who are all in the new school choir and ages ranged between 7 - 10 years of ages did a marvellous job. They sang some lovely old christmas classics and encouraged the residents to sing along too.

The kids performed around the wonderful xmas tree in the foyer and I would say that nearly all the residents came down to watch them - we even had to het more seats out!

Following the performance the kids were treated to xmas doughnuts and squash and the residents enjoyed some mince pies. The atmosphere was wonderful and it felt really festive. Whilst the children were there they also drew the tickets for the christmas raffle and many of the residents won some lovely prizes which had been donated by various family and friends. The school were luck enough to win a super fruit hamper as well.

A great time was had by all and it has to be said that the pupils from Coed Y Garn are all extremely polite and very well behaved. Lets hope Santa was watching down on them and they get all they wish for this christmas!!

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry christmas and a happy and prosperous new year!

Christmas Carols at Plas Hyfryd

2011-12-16T11:03:00.006Z

With the countdown to christmas now on - the residents at Plas Hyfryd were were recently treated to a lovely festive few hours at the scheme. 34 of the pupils came over to sing carols for them. The children were situated around the christmas tree on the balcony so all the residents could see them. They sang some lovely christmas songs and carols and their performance brought a tear to many eyes (including mine). The children were pitch perfect, loud and clear with the help of some musical instruments. After they had performed they came down to the restaurant area and enjoyed some refreshments with the residents. A lovely afternoon was had by all and at the residents request they belted out a few other numbers before going back to school. As a little thank you they were each treated to a little bag of chocolate coins to take home. The children at Cwrt Rawlin Primary are a real credit to the school and heres hoping that Santa is good to them this year!!

Llys Nant Y Mynydd Christmas Faye

2011-12-14T10:22:00.008Z

With Christmas fast approaching the residtents at Llys Nant Y Mynydd enjoyed a christmas fayre on the afternoon of Monday 5th November. Vision 21 and some of the staff at the scheme have made some lovely food that would be sold. From christmas cakes to mince pies, pickled onions to pickled cabbage and wonderful handmade chocolates - homemade christmas puds, there was plenty to choose from. Some staff from Vision House also set up a stall selling lovely christmas wreaths, poinsettas and handmade christmas cards. Vision House is a centre in Blaenau Gwent which caters for adults with mental health needs and is situalted on the Garden Festival site in Ebbw Vale. Their work was fabulous and very reasonalby priced too.

Some local volunteers assisted in the cafe area serving coffee and tea. They also helped out on the stall as well. They too did a terrific job!

The harp was being played in the foyer by Mr Dave Richards which gave the afternoon a lovely festive feel.

A terrific time was had by all with all proceeds going to Vision.

Merry Christmas!!

Supporting tenants into employment

2011-11-30T10:55:00.004Z

We are delighted that we have recently helped two more of our tenants secure employment.

Mike is a tenant from Llanbradach. He has been working with Clare Watkins as part of the Gateway project and Clare helped him to prepare for his interview with Jehu. Mike is doing really well and is enjoying being back in work.

Martell is another United Welsh tenant who lives in Cardiff. We were thrilled to be able to support him when he applied for a trainee electrician role. Martell was successful at interview and is now working for a company in Cardiff which specialises in fitting PV systems and insulation products.

If you would like to know more about the opportunities which are available, please contact me on 02920858189 email cjenkins@uwha.co.uk or Clare Watkins on 02920858188 email cwatkins@uwha.co.uk

Work experience for care leavers in partnership with Llamau

2011-11-28T15:22:00.010Z

Work is now well underway on the refurbishment of a property purchased by Llamau in Roath Cardiff.

The work on the property is part of a lottery funded project which United Welsh is working on in partnership with Llamau.

The aim of this part of the project is to refurbish the property so that it is suitable to let as a shared house, whilst also providing valuable on-site work experience for young care leavers in the Cardiff and Vale areas.

So far 6 young people have been working alongside Newman Builders. They have been involved in gutting the property, laying foundations for an extension and they are now moving on to the fitting out of the interior. The young people have received hands-on experience with Newmans supporting them and explaining the technical elements of the work.

Everyone involved has been impressed by the enthusiasm shown by the young people and the care taken by Newmans to ensure that the experience the young people get is a valuable and enjoyable one.

I look forward to seeing the project progress.

Fitzroy Lodge Super Residents fly through their 1st Coop

2011-11-24T16:47:00.001Z

I arrived at Fitzroy Lodge this afternoon to join in the carnage that is the normal scene accompanying the first packing and ordering session of any new Fruit & Veg Coop.
What did I find? Four residents just hanging out!

Talk about put me to shame, they had already packed, delivered to other residents and tidied up ahead of Coop opening time.

I will get there at dawn next week in order to bring you pictures of the fruit and veg elves at work (if I manage to catch them).

Fantastic job by everyone involved. Keep posted for more details on this and the next Co op to hit our areas.

The Gateway team is supporting the launch of several of these coops in order to provide volunteering opportunities to those within Living plus and our general needs properties as well as promoting healthy eating.

Back soon...

Xmas Card Making Fun!!

2011-11-24T14:37:00.005Z

On Wednesday 23rd November a few of the residents at Kenneth Treasure Court got together in the Communal Lounge to make some christmas cards. There were only about half a dozen of us but they really had a lovely few hours chatting and designing their own xmas cards to give to their loved ones. Whilst sipping on hot tea and munching on delicious mince pies each resident had their own special ideas for their cards. We had plenty of bits and pieces to make the cards look wonderful. It was also a great opportunity for the residents to have a bit of a 'get together'. I am currently working with the School Community Officer at Rumney High School where we have lots of ideas for the school to get involved at projects at the scheme and vice versa.

Its all about Green Energy Mr Davies!!

2011-11-24T09:13:00.006Z

On Wednesday 23rd November Gareth Davies (Development Manager) kindly agreed to give a talk to the year six pupils at Cwrt Rawlin Primary School about Green Energy. A class of approximately 25 pupils showed a lot of interest whilst Gareth explanied all about energy, solar and the Passive House. The children asked lots of questions especially about the Passive House they were quite baffled by the fact it didn't have a heating system!! Gareth was able to show them lots of photographs which enabled them to understand it a bit better.

The pupils have already learned an impressive amount concerning green energy and were very aware that lights have to be turned off etc, doors kept closed in the winter etc and why we use solar panels.

Gareth did a great job in communicating with communicating pupils and I am sure that if he wasn't working at United Welsh he could almost certainly be a primary school teacher!!

Thanks must also go to the children who were very well behaved.

No so Chilly Crilly!!

2011-11-10T09:11:00.006Z

The new residents at Llys Nant Y Mynydd were treated to a great concert from our resident singing duo 'Crilly' (aka Barry Leavey and Paul Price!). The guys were 'hot property' when they got up and performed some wonderful classics for the residents!

The communal lounge was packed as the guys belted out some tunes and their auduience loved it. Many joined in with the singing!

Tea and welsh cakes were served and by the end of the show they didn't want Barry and Paul to stop. Crilly have kindly agreed to go to the scheme before xmas to perform a few christmas classics for them.

A big thank you from all the residents to Crilly and I would also like to thank Scheme Manager Heather for her help during the afternoon.

Crilly Rock!!

Get Up and Glo - Our 1st Fruit & Veg Co op has arrived

2011-11-08T10:39:00.002Z

The 20th of November saw the launch of the first of several new Fruit & Vegetable Co ops that the Gateway Team are assisting to start up along with our volunteers.

We decided on this date as it was also the launch of the new Extra Care Scheme in Nantyglo, where the Get up and Glo Fruit & Veg Co op is going to be held.

Our Co Op is the place to go to get fresh vegetables, fruit and salad. There are 5 different varieties in each bag, ensuring that the Health Challenge Wales initiative of 5 a day is covered. Each bag is £2.50 with a nice handy free recyclable bag.

The Co op is open to tenants, their families and friends and anyone in the surrounding community.

We set up this initiative with the help of the rural regeneration unit. They put us in contact with local suppliers who are happy to link in with Co ops and supplied us with a start up kit. The residents at Llys Nant y Mynydd chose the supplier they thought gave the best samples and who was from the local are. During the first few weeks, as an added incentive each customer was given a raffle ticket to win a bag of fruit.

From day one we also had help from of our local residents who is volunteering every Friday afternoon, to help run the Co Op. Without volunteers we would not be able to support more co cop initiatives elsewhere.

A great big thanks to Malcolm.

Our next step is to spread the word. We are speaking to residents at Fitzroy Lodge in Cefn Hengoed at the moment and who knows where next.

Should you wish to order your fruit/vegetables/salad from the Get up and Glo Co Op or if you wish to join our Gateway project and volunteer to support these great initiatives (and earn time credits along the way) then please contact either Clare or Michelle on 02920 858100.

Pupils Enjoy Open Day at Nantyglo!

2011-10-25T13:38:00.014+01:00

On Thursday 20th the Official Opening for Llys Nant y Mynydd took place. As part of the days activities I arranged for some of the pupils from Coed Y Garn Primary School to come to the scheme to get involved in some gardening activities and another group to do some work in the schemes very own Craft Room.

The children arrived at 9.30 and were raring to go! Bursts of laughter and chatter could soon be heard thoughout the building! Ten children from the schools Gardening Club got involved in planting some beautiful flowers into planters with the help of Charles Larcombe. They really got 'stuck in' and I was surprised how knowledgable about gardening they all were. They certainly know their pansies from their poppies!!

Over in the craft room another 6 pupils were busy making some wonderful christmas cards with Natalie. The results were amaxing and the children got to take their cards home.

Once the work was done the children enjoyed squash and chocolates whilst they looked at their 'handywork'. I have to say that all the children behaved impeccibly and are a real credit to the school. See some pics of the day below!

Ty John Rowley garden - check out those skills!!

2011-10-19T11:46:00.023+01:00

United Welsh were recently approached by Llamau to see if the large garden area at the back of Ty John Rowley could be utilised to grow fruit and veg for the residents of the project and wider community.

The area had been covered with concrete and was overgrown with brambles, so the first job was to clear this and see what we had to work with.

The residents were then asked to come up with a theme and a design for the new garden area. The young people were very enthusiastic and they settled on a nautical theme since they live in Barry. They sourced a wooden dingy to use as a feature and planned the garden with raised beds, gravelled paths, a shed and a barbecue area.

The next challenge was to produce the garden with very limited resources.... Several companies offered to help. SMK donated the blocks for the beds and Budgens donated sand and cement. We were then offered free use of a mixer from Speedy Hire. We had two volunteers who had previously lived at the property who were keen to get stuck in. All we were missing was the expertise to lay the blocks.

Fortunately Jehu, who are currently working with us on a new-build site in Caerphilly came to the rescue.

Peter who is the Brickwork Manager at Jehu came down to Barry with one of his bricklayers - Gareth. Gareth spent a day showing the young volunteers how to lay the blocks and then returned a couple of days later to help them complete the raised beds.

The volunteers were very quick to pick up the skills they needed and I was amazed to see how quickly the garden started taking shape. There is still a considerable amount of work required to complete the project, however, these young people have shown that they have bags of drive and enthusiasm which I'm sure will ensure a great result.

Both of the young men who worked on this project have expressed their intention to apply to College next year to work towards a formal bricklaying qualification.

I will provide further updates as the garden progresses. if you would like to get involved in this project, or something similar, please give me a call on 02920858189.

Coity Road landscaping - Drive

2011-10-18T15:04:00.007+01:00

Drive are a landscaping Social Enterprise. The organisation also provides people with disabilities opportunities to gain valuable and genuine work experience.

Drive recently completed the landscaping at a new Supported Housing scheme for United Welsh which was built by Cosgroves in Bridgend.

Everyone concerned with the scheme has been impressed by the professional approach taken by the team. Derek Martin from United Welsh said "they have done a really first rate job. it was great to see the guys on site and to see how much they enjoyed their work". United Welsh will now be recommending that other Contractors consider Drive when looking for landscaping services.

Property Team DIY SOS - Do it again!!!

2011-10-17T15:05:00.006+01:00

The weather forecast for Monday 10th October was bleak - blustery showers all day. Was that going to stop the Property Team carring out their garden makeover in Pontypool - no way!! The team were raring to go!!

Once again, following United Welsh Tenants Fun Day back in July one of our supported housing projects won a garden makeover courtesy of the property team.

As I left the office to see what the guys were up to, the sky was grey and it was lashing down, but as I approached Torfaen the rain stopped and the sky cleared.

Approaching site I found a burst of activity. A concrete mixer being 'manned' by Adrian Bright was churning around and around mixing the concrete that would be used to lay some new slabs in the front garden.

The side and the rear of the garden were very bust too. The team were out in force, also accompanied by Mark Jones (Housing Officer) who very thoughtfully offered his assistand for the day. Conifer trees had already been cut down prior to my arrival and there was now a lovely open area to plant some flowers which had very kindly been donated. I decided to 'muck in' myself and took charge of the planting. Darran had built a lovely wall around it so it really did look good.

A great day was had by all and I think everyone felt a sense of pride by what had been achieved in just one day. The residents were absolutely delighted with the end result.

St Cennydd Comprehensive Shopping Project

2011-10-12T09:16:00.006+01:00

On Tuesday 11th October a group of pupils from St Cennydd Comprehensive completed their first shopping task for the residents at Plas Hyfryd. I was approached by the school a while ago with an idea that some of the pupils had offered to do shopping for the residents (supervised by their teacher). Its taken a while to get it up and running but we are finally there! Shopping lists were collected on Tuesday morning, then the children went off to Asda to do the shopping. When they returned they delivered it to each of the residents flats. The residents are thrilled with this new service and the children are so excited to be part of it. Its a great opportunity for these very two different generations to meet up and get to know each other. The final hour of their visit was used to play different games with the residents, this included chess, Connect 4, Jenga and draughts. The children will do a shopping trip once every half term. A great afternoon was had by all!!

Janner House garden allotment

2011-10-10T15:00:00.002+01:00

Staff and residents at Janner House in Roath now have an allotment area to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

Part of the carpark area to the rear of the property has been used to provide raised beds and the borders have been cleared and replanted.

The majority of the work was carried out by a Community Task Force team from A4e. The team worked for several months to transform the garden. Materials such as bricks and topsoil were kindly donated by Greenhill Construction.

The property is owned by United Welsh and managed by Gwalia. This was a great project which demonstrated how partnership working can really make a difference.

Community group work with Caerphilly's Countryside Warden

2011-08-12T14:32:00.024+01:00

Residents and young people from Abertridwr and Senghennydd have been working with Caerphilly Borough Council's Countryside Warden to improve the look of the land opposite The Windsor pub in Abertridwr.

There have now been two events involving local people from Bryn Aber, young people and staff from Senghenydd Youth Drop In Centre (SYDIC), United Welsh, Groundwork Caerphilly and Keep Wales Tidy.

We were fortunate to have lovely weather for both events. There was a great atmosphere with everyone pitching in to clear paths, remove damaged fencing and trim back the bushes and trees.

United Welsh tenants were able to earn timebank credits at this event which they will now be able to spend enjoying a range of activities like swimming, rock climbing and bowling.

I would like to thank everyone who helped out and I am looking forward to planning the next event.

If you would be interested in joining in with this event or something similar, please give me a call on 02920 858189.

Inside Housing - Richard steals show

2011-08-05T09:54:00.005+01:00

Good piece in this weeks Inside Housing about the achievements we and other housing associations are making on creating training and job opportunities.

And so great to see our very own Richard Higgs being profiled as a success story. Richard joined the Community Investment team as a Job Match trainee and was invaluable in helping us to understand how we could be using social media, running outreach digital literacy sessions - no IT task was beyond him - and he only ever had to be asked once. It has been rewarding for everyone in the team to see his confidence blooming.

As a result of having the chance to show his talents and commitment he has been hired to help bring forward the new United Welsh intranet.

He is profiled here.

The piece also highlights the changing landscape we are all working in - and Michelle Smith, Integrate TRT Manager, summarises this very well. At United Welsh we have already met colleagues from Working Links and hope to meet Rehab soon.

The devil will be in the detail about how we both use the resources we have to maximise opportunities for the communities we are serving..... At all costs we need to build on the best of what we are already doing.

Steve Cranston

New Stuff happening....

2011-07-20T15:42:00.013+01:00

There's now a great new opportunity to do something you'd like to do.

It could mean looking at volunteering, this means giving your time to another person or group to share your skills. There are so many ways to volunteer it's hard to cover them all but examples are helping other people with their basic computer skills, cooking, gardening, writing a short article or story for our magazine, helping less able neighbours.

How about setting up a new group in your area if there's something you're particlularly interested in?
We are here to help with any of these things.

If you're interested in volunteering you can do from an hour a week up to whatever suits you. We can even help with travel costs.

I've done a few things myself and I know it gives you a great buzz.

We can also look at any personal goals people would like to look at such as confidence building, joining a group, employment and training. If it's possible we'll give it a go.

Oh and before I forget, you can also earn Time Banking Credits for anything you take part in. The list of what you can spend them on is increasing all the time.

For any further information or just a chat, no obligation call

Clare Watkins
Tel: 02920 858188 or email: cwatkins@uwha.co.uk

Budding Gardeners at Nantyglo!

2011-07-01T10:45:00.010+01:00

On Tuesday 28th June, a group of pupils from Coed-y-Garn Primary School arrived at our Extra Care Scheme (Llys Nant Y Mynydd) with their wellington boots on, all set for an afternoon of planting. The group included children from the School Gardening Club who took control of choosing, purchasing and caring for the plants prior to the event.

The sun shone down on the courtyard and after the children had been 'kitted out' with hard hats and hi-vis jackets they got on with the job in hand. Amongst the many plants to be planted were roses, fuschias, geraniums, michaelmas daisies and many more varieties. The children were eager to get their hands dirty and really got stuck in! For some of the children it was their first experience of planting flowers and they were very excited.

After the bedding area was planted and looking absolutely stunning, the children then enjoyed a well earned rest when they indulged in chocolate and squash. Before returning to school the pupils then watched as the time capsule they had previously filled was buried for good.

A great day was had by all and I am sure the future residents at the scheme will enjoy the results of the day. The school are keen to get involved in future projects at the scheme.

Many thanks to Mark Stephens (Project Manager, Cowlin) for all the hard work in creating a safe environment for the children to visit. Big thanks also to Natalie Guyatt and Clare Watkins of United Welsh for all their help on the day! Great team work!!

Local pupil names Extra Care Scheme

2011-06-06T13:46:00.004+01:00

At the beginning of 2011 it was decided that we would run a competition with Coed y Garn Primary School in Nantyglo in which the pupils would be asked to name our new Extra Care Scheme in the area. The competition would be open to all pupils in years 5 & 6. I am pleased to announce that the winner of the competion was Reagan-Leigh Griffiths who suggested that the scheme should be named 'LLYS NANT Y MYNYDD' which in english means 'Mountain Stream Court'.

Reagan-Leigh was thrilled with the £50 worth of Argos vouchers which I presented to her during assembly.

Well done Reagan-Leigh!!

In The Mix - Can We Do More Together? 13th May Workshop

2011-05-03T16:45:00.007+01:00

We are all facing huge challenges to support the communities we serve - across a very wide range of issues - Welfare Reform, Fuel Poverty, Digital Inclusion, Jobs and Training, Financial Inclusion, Regeneration and Low Carbon!

Greg England talks here about a conversation we are hosting on the morning of May 13th at United Welsh offices in Caerphilly.

All partners who share common cause are invited to join this workshop. Over 60 organisations and 120 delegates have already confirmed attendance - its not too late to join - email Dionne on djaye@uwha.co.uk or ring on 02920 858111.

To help understand the specific challenges our partners are facing we are inviting those coming to take a brief online survey on this link - . It will help us to make this interactive event responsive to your needs.

We will be starting at 10.30 and closing for lunch at 12.30 where networking will continue over a buffet lunch (provided by our social enterprise partners Vision 21

And lastly - we are on facebook here and here

Steve

http://www.uwha.co.uk/INTHEMIX/IntheMix2011.html

Animation Workshop

2011-04-06T17:13:00.004+01:00

Adrian, Community Investment Trainee and myself had the chance to join a digital engagement training session with our colleagues form Voice for Tenants. It was great to work wiht Mog and Angharad from Communities 2:0 and to benefit from the wealth of resources on the Geecs site This is what we put together in around 30 mins - using digi camera (looked cheap): tripod (£10), plastercine and yellow stickies. We ar edefinitely sticking to the day job - but see this as a really interesting and accessible way of telling stories.

Amy shows us how it's done

2011-03-30T10:13:00.008+01:00

The residents at the Gwern Las Living Plus scheme in Abertillery have recently formed a Computer Club, with help from the Community Investment Team and Novas Scarman, where they can pick up hints and tips to help them access the internet.

Amy has shown that age is no barrier to learning new skills, at 98 she has been one of the first to get stuck in!

Amy has been surfing the net, looking for recipes and catching up with gardening programmes on BBC iplayer.

We'll keep you posted as Amy and the other residents develop their online skills.

Steve Cranston talks with Vision 21 at Plas Hyfryd

2011-02-02T10:33:00.004Z

Edgar Cahn - Father of the Time Bank Movement - Talking in Wales

2011-01-31T17:19:00.005Z

Edgar Cahn - Founder of the time bank movement was in Wales in December. A group of us heard him talk at Gorseignon Development Trust in Swansea. It wasnt recorded - but this is him earlier in the week in North Wales. The clips are on this link - and some (but not all are below) Sorry for so many clips - it is a pain clicking through but well worth persevering with.

Listening to Edgar energised the many people at United Welsh who are using tyhe time bank model to help us build stronger communities - more info here .

Steve

2011-01-05T11:20:00.002Z

Crilly gig at Living+

Plas Hyfryd

2011-01-04T15:09:00.002Z

Heronsbridge Special Needs School

2010-12-02T12:09:00.006Z

15 Staff from the Development Team - 1 Mission!! To makeover a very neglected staffroom at a Special Needs School in Bridgend.

Instead of our usual annual away day, staff from our Development Team took part (using our Can Do Volunteer Leave) in a makeover at Heronsbridge Special Needs School. The staffroom at the school had been very neglected over the years. With materials donated by M&J Cosgrove, Greenhill Construction, Mi-Space, ET&S Construction, Willis Construction and a monetary donation from Gibsons we able to get get to work! The first day of the project was mainly preperation. Wallpaper to be stripped, kitchen cupboards ripped out, holes to be plastered. Everyone got stuck into the challenge and the teamwork was fantastic. Dereks lovely wife had made some lovely sandwiches for us to have during our first break with a nice well earned cuppa. Then it back to work again. Undercoating, tiling and fitting new kitchen units. We managed to get some nice freebees from some of the local stores which included some lovely prints and cushions. We also managed to get a great discount on some laminate flooring which we hadn't planned on replacing but was desperately needed to complete the 'new look'. The following day some other members of the team went to finish the work which included painting walls, radiators and generally 'finishing off'. Richard, Derek and Ash (a friend of Dereks) stayed quite late into the evening to lay the new flooring. Mission complete!!

To say that the school were graeful for all our efforts is an understatement. A room that staff tried to avoid at all costs because it was drearly has now been brought to life!!

Thank you to all involved (staff and contractors)and thanks to Rich for treating us all to chips!!!

Art Work for Plas Hyfryd

2010-11-22T12:14:00.007Z

About 6 months ago United Welsh and Leadbitter donated £250 each to the Art Department at St Cennydd Comprehensive to commission some Art Work for the new Extra Care Scheme - Plas Hyfryd. Before the children broke up for the summer holidays they started preparing their creations. It was decided that as most of the paintings would be in the restaraunt area the theme would be food and the colours would be bold and bright!

The children at the school thoroughly enjoyed this project and the end results were absolutely amazing (Banksy - look out!!)

The artwork now takes pride of place along the ground floor walls in the Scheme. The results are fantastic and really brighten up and already fantastic building.

As a little thank you to the children, the Living Plus Team kindly bought then 2 Flip Cameras which will come in really handy as they are about to set up an Animation Club. I also managed to persuade Willis Construction to supply and fit some worktops and cupboards in the Art Department - so thanks both. The school were very grateful. Please see below some pictures I recently took at the school:

Can Do Volunteering Policy

2010-11-08T15:05:00.008Z

During the summer we at United Welsh finally launched our Can Do Volunteering Policy. This allows staff members to do up to 4 days volantary work within the community without having to use their annual leave. It is a great way for staff to get out and about and help local causes. The work is done on an entirely volantary basis. Any that comes to us is considered, though it has to be approved by the staff members line manager and then our Head of Community Investment and/or a member of our Human Resources team.

To date a number of staff have got involved in various projects. Some of which include:

Stewarding at the Eisteddfod during the summer

Great Taff Tidy - (cleaning the river bank in Pontypridd)

'Crilly' - two guys from United Welsh and 2 acoustic guitars. These 2 guys from our development team go out and play to the residents in our Living Plus schemes

We have a number of our staff mentoring 14/15 year olds in local comprehensive schools. This is in conjunction with Mid Glamorgan Education Business Partnership

Property Team DIY SOS - the whole Property Services team did a garden make-over at one of our Supported Housing Projects. They even built and BBQ for the residents!

Lots more voluntary work is in the pipeline. If you have an idea then put it forward to us! Contact Amanda Symonds asymonds@uwha.co.uk and we'll see what we can do do help!

Members of our property services team at DIY SOS!

Social Enterprise and Reindeer

2010-09-28T11:31:00.004+01:00

It's hard to disagree that the social enterprise is a diverse beast - if you are thinking of something different for Christmas .........

8 questions to ask about places

2010-09-07T11:42:00.003+01:00

I liked this!

8 questions to ask about places

View more presentations from Julian Dobson.

Audit.... Not Ouch...... But Thanks!

2010-08-10T22:00:00.004+01:00

The Community Investment team has just gone through an internal audit - this must go against the grain of what many people experience when I report.......... it was a very positive process. So many thanks to Felicity and Matthew at PWC for taking a really good look at our work and entering into a really helpful dialogue about how to strengthen what we are doing.

We have responded to their recommendations and they will go to United Welsh Board shortly.

None of the recommendations that they made were surprises and mostly focused around 2 themes

Embedding and Aligning Our Work - How to get the work of the Community Investment team more closely aligned with the work of our community partners and fellow United Welsh teams was a key challenge that was identified. What are we doing? We are talking with our community partners about how well we are working with them.

We have a partner workshop day planned for early Oct - more information on this will follow. To help inform this workshop we have invited partners to take this on line survey - if you have worked with us on projects but have not had an email asking you to take the survey...... Sorry - but its not to late. We would be really grateful if you could take the 10 minute survey and give us your feedback. And please let us know if you would like to join our October workshop.

Measuring impact- We are at base camp at understanding the impact that our work is having. Felicity and Matthew have found us to be in good company. We have had conversations with our housing association partners in Integrate and others. The truth is that we are all looking for measurement tools that help us to capture the impact of our work. Over the coming months we will be working with Elin Jones at Chartered Institute of Housing to bring RSl's and specialist in this area - including New Economics Foundation - to see how we can move this forward.

The ideal future will be for RSLs across Wales to adopt a tool that will enable us all to capture data around a core set of indicators (e.g. jobs created, training placements enabled) to help the movement in Wales demonstrate its aggregate impact in Welsh society. And to have tools that enable individual RSL's to capture the impact on indicators that are locally relevant.

We would be keen to hear from people who have stories to share on this - or who would be interested in joining discussions to move this work forward.

Steve - Community Investment - United Welsh

2010-08-10T00:01:00.004+01:00

The Deputy Minister for Housing and Regeneration, Jocelyn Davies AM helped pupils of Coed-y-Garn primary school bury a ‘Time Capsule’ to signify the start of a multi-million pound housing development in Nantyglo.

The year six pupils of Coed-y-Garn primary school were selected to create a time capsule to be buried at our development site in Nantyglo to be opened in the year 2050 when the pupils reached their 50th birthdays.
The ten year olds were given a theme “Our world today, Our world 2050” and asked to provide items to be placed in a time capsule. I attended the school on a number of occasions and worked with the children on developing ideas. They were very creative and truly inspiring. They thought about issues such as global warming, world population, endangered species, and recycling and contemporary issues such as TV, pop music, sport and politics.
The children then brought in items such as an energy saving light bulb, a supermarket “bag for life”, a global warming time line, local and national newspapers, a selection of coins in current use and personal letters from their parents and grandparents to be read for the first time in 2050.
The pupils also made a video which I edited and put all their names in the titles. They have yet to see this video; they will view it for the first time in 2050, seeing their school environment, teachers and themselves in 2010.
The pupils in their hi viz jackets and hard hats were very excited about the items they had come up with and shared their thoughts with the Deputy Minister before burying the capsule at the site.

Below is a video of the items buried.

A big THANK YOU to all those involved,
from Clare Hallett

2010-08-09T16:20:00.003+01:00

Three of our trainees gain employment.

See Article Below from the Gwent Gazette.

Teenagers all set to build careers!
Jul 15 2010 Gwent Gazette
THE construction industry may have just gained the next stars of the trade after recruiting three lads from Blaenau Gwent.
Three young teens from the area have been awarded apprenticeship places in the construction industry thanks to local employment initiative JobMatch.
The JobMatch Tools 4UR Future employment route was run in conjunction with contractors SMK, which carries out day-to-day maintenance on United Welsh Housing Association properties, Newman Builders, who are providing refurbishment of properties along Church Street, in Ebbw Vale, and Communities First, who identified and worked with the participants from school age, recommending them for the route to JobMatch.
Jack Humphrey, 16, and Kyle Griffiths, 17, have picked up three-year apprenticeships with SMK and Jonathan Mellin, 16, is looking to start a three-year apprenticeship through a United Welsh contractor.
Six participants completed the route in total, and all are considering a number of promising job prospects.
Andrew Bevan, Line Manager at JobMatch Blaenau Gwent, said: “I am delighted that these young men have been awarded apprenticeships following the JobMatch employment route.
“The route has been successful on many levels – as well as developing into mature young people who are willing to work as part of a team the trainees have picked up a host of qualifications that are set to serve them well as they go out into the world of work.”
SMK and Newmans developed a “buddying” system for the JobMatch participants, whereby each trainee was paired up with a designated operative, which allowed one on one mentoring and coaching which helped to develop a range of soft and construction skills.
All trainees were provided with tool kits by United Welsh, offered on an incentive basis, in return for commitment, lack of sick days and time keeping.
Mr Bevan continued: “The work that Communities First does is essential to the Employment Routes, aside from the involvement up front they also maintained interest and continued to support the boys throughout the remainder of the programme, as well as providing five hours of driving lessons for each trainee that completed the route.”

2010-08-09T15:55:00.005+01:00

Trainee success.

United Welsh Housing Association, Gee Construction and JobMatch Blaenau Gwent are sharing the success of one our trainees, Phillip Cundick, completing his NVQ level 2 in Carpentry. Phillip was identified by JobMatch Blaenau Gwent as a candidate looking for employment and training. Phillip attended the interview and was successful in getting the position. He has worked very hard and shown great commitment to our scheme in Rassau Ebbw Vale. Gee Construction supported Phillip for the year and provided great support and mentoring during his learning. Rhodri Guyatt of Gee Construction (photographed below with Phillip) said “Working with United Welsh on helping Phillip Cundick achieve his NVQ Level 2 has been a highly rewarding experience. Together with Ystrad Mynach College we have helped to train Phillip to gain his next qualification and have given him the opportunity to gain 52 weeks worth of experience on a building site. I look forward to future partnerships with United Welsh and Ystrad Mynach College in helping trainees to fulfil their potential.”
Phillip has now completed his time with Gee Construction and will now be moving on as a qualified level 2 Carpenter with Greenhill Construction on another scheme in Tredegar. Phillip has said “I am more than grateful for the opportunity I have been given with Gee Construction and I am very excited about moving on and doing my NVQ level 3 with Greenhill, thanks to everyone involved.”
Congratulations Phillip from United Welsh.

Investing More

2010-08-09T11:40:00.010+01:00

As part of our commitment to invest more in the communities we are building, a scheme of four bungalows in Nelson included some community focused extras.
The scheme is for out Living+ tenants and the bungalows were finished to a very high standard which included some new alternative energy such as solar panels.

The contractor on this project was Greenhill Construction who employed an electrical apprentice from Ystrad Mynach college. The apprentice, Nathan, has worked extremely hard and shown real commitment, Greenhill Construction are very happy with his progress.

Further to the bungalows being built, as part of our community investment commitment, we asked that the contractor provide an allotment for the pre-school children who attend a nursery at the community centre. This has been a great success. Playschool Manager, Mrs. Alison Williams (Auntie Alison), said she was “thrilled with the allotment and would forever be grateful. The children learn so much from outdoor play. Thank you.”

On top of this a suggestion was made by Barry James (Development Surveyor) to run a competition with the local primary school to name the street. We contacted Llanfabon Infants, and after discussions with the Head teacher Mrs. Wood, put the competition out to the children. The children were asked to provide a name for the street and a reason why. We received a number of entries and the winner, Ella-Kate Brown, had come up with “Bryn Siriol Close”. Her reason behind the name was to bring the generations of her family together as Ella-Kate and her parents lived on Bryncelyn and her grandparents lived in Tai Siriol.

Ella-Kate and her classmates attended a ribbon cutting ceremony with Councilor Lynne Ackerman where Ella-Kate got to cut the ribbon to name the street. This was followed by all in attendance taking a short walk to see the allotment created for the nursery. A buffet lunch followed where Ella-Kate was presented with a trophy and necklace for herself and a selection of educational computer programs on building communities for her school.

Below are a few short videos showing some of the day.

Environmental Fun Days at Mornington Meadows and Bryn Aber

2010-07-13T08:34:00.017+01:00

As part of our ongoing commitment to help improve the environment for our tenants, United Welsh have recently held two events. One was at Mornington Meadows in Caerphilly, and the other at Bryn Aber in Abertridwr. We have worked in partnership with Groundwork Trust, Keep Wales Tidy, Caerphilly County Borough Council and Voice FM to organise events that combine the opportunity to improve the appearance of the estate by litter picking with fun events such as cookery demonstrations and planting sessions. We also held a competition for the children at Mornington Meadows where they identified the various invertebrates living in the local stream.

The days were both very successful with lots of tenants getting involved. It was great to see this increased level of engagement with the families living on these estates.

We look forward to holding more of these events in the future.

Mentoring - St Cennydd Comprehensive

2010-06-29T10:38:00.003+01:00

Steve and I have just come to the end of a 2 year mentoring programme in partnership with Mid Glamorgan Education Business Partnership. We have both been mentoring 3 pupils each from St Cennydd Comprehensive whilst they were in years 10 & 11 and preparing for their GCSEs. The feedback that we have had back from the school has been very positive and the children themselves have told us that they have benefited from our visits. To celebrate the end of their exams and the end of our work with them as individuals Steve and I took them out to lunch at Frankys & Bennies. We had a great time and it was refreshing to see how postive they all were about thier futures. All of them are either going back to 6th form or going to college. I have asked them to keep in touch with us, so it will be interseting to see how they get on.

We will both have new students in September who we will work with for the next two years. Mentoring is a very rewarding experience which I have throughly enjoyed. In September 2010 I will be setting up a Mentoring Programme with Careers Wales which offers its services to schools in the Cardiff area. If you would like to get involved in mentoring in either Cardiff or Mid Glamorgan areas please feel free to contact me on Ext. 3182 and I will be happy to discuss it in more detail with you. Don't forget that you can now use your 4 day 'Work in the Community' entitlement!

Mandy

Art Project, St Cennydd Comprehensive

2010-06-24T11:16:00.005+01:00

As part of our commitment to develop close working links with St Cennydd Comprehensive, which is the local school just up the road from our new offices, it was decided to fund an Art Project for the children in years 7 and 8.

As the work will be displayed in the cafe and communal areas at our new Living Plus scheme in Caerphilly United Welsh and Leadbitter (the contractor) donated £250 each to fund the project.

The theme for the project is Healthy Eating. The children have started to plan their designs which will then be painted on to canvas. The children are also making ceramics for us and painting local landmarks.

The children are very excited to be involved in this project and are looking forward to seeing their work displayed.

Well done kids - I can't wait to see the end results!

Below is some video footage of Ceri Jackson (Head of Art)

Can Do Staff Volunteering Policy - Launched!

2010-06-23T08:16:00.005+01:00

Yesterday Tony Whittaker, Chief Executive at United Welsh formally launched our new 'Can Do Staff Volunteering Policy. Its been a few months in the developement and

Garth Owen garden project

2010-06-22T14:15:00.049+01:00

This project has proved the power of partnership working.

The garden at Garth Owen in Llanbradach had become progressively more overgrown over a number of years. This property is owned by United Welsh and managed by Llamau who have responsibility for maintaining the grounds. As you can see from these photos which were taken at the start of the project, there was far more than simply a bit of weeding required!

Llamau had approached United Welsh for help as they don't have the resources to tackle such a huge job. Staff from the Community Investment team were able to speak to partner organsiations to see if any of them could help. Happily a team of young people from Caerphilly Borough Council's Fast Forward initiative were available. These young people have worked tirelessly for the last few weeks, and there is still more to be done.

The team have cleared trees from the boundry which were blocking light from the neighbouring house, as well as causing problems with moss on the bowling green to the rear of the property. The trees were also making it necessary for the young people living in the rooms at the back of the property to use electricity during the day to light their rooms, resulting in an increase in their electricity charges.

The team have also cleared and dug out brambles which in some places were over head height!

As you can see from the photos below, their hard work has already made a tremendous difference.

This project has shown how, by working with our partners, we can achieve great results which benefit everyone involved. The young people have gained valuable experience on a project which they will be able to see through from start to finish, and an overgrown garden which had been an ongoing problem for both the people at Garth Owen and their neighbours is now well on it's way to being transformed.

I will update with photos of the completed garden in due course.

United welsh video for staff conference. development / community investments video part 1.wmv

2010-06-08T11:08:00.002+01:00

Welcome to Part one of the Development / Community Investment video for the staff conference. we take you on a journey to discover " What United Welsh are doing to creat sustainable communities and to help our communities with Financial inclusion". Hope you enjoy. Once again thanks to everyone who was filmed and especially to Steve for being a great sport. cheers frfom Clare hallett and Paul Price..

Development / community investment Video for staff conference part 2.wmv

2010-06-08T11:04:00.001+01:00

Here is the part two of our QUEST...ion "what are United Welsh doing to create Sustaniable communities and help our communities with financial inclusion?"

20 Miles - Gwent 3 Peaks - and Charity Sponsorship

2010-03-29T19:52:00.006+01:00

Amy, Luke, Steve from United Welsh and good walking friend Peter undertook the 20 mile Gwent 3 Peaks charity walk. In glorious weather and stunning Welsh mountain scenery the up, down, up, down, up, down (sore feet by now....) went - Blorange, Sugar Loaf and finally Skirrid.

Some great pics - http://www.flickr.com/photos/40855648@N04/sets/72157623601009161/show/

And short flic -

A great day that raised over £400 for United Welsh nominated charity of the year Help for Heroes

Its still not too late to give - easy secure, click through here - http://www.justgiving.com/unitedwelshsouthwales3peakschallenge

Steve

Presidential Award Winners

2010-03-02T09:05:00.017Z

The Presidential Recognition Scheme is to recognise and reward people who make a special effort in demonstrating the core values of the Association and reinforce our positive culture. Sascha was nominated in the "a great organisation to work with - enhancing our customer's experience of us" category and Simon was nominated in the "a great place to work" category.

It was great to see our colleagues being recognised for their exceptional efforts on Friday at the Staff Meeting.

Sascha from the Finance Team was nominated by Victoria Miller for the work she did to re-design service charge statements to make them easier for our tenants to understand. Sascha volunteered and took the initiative in collating a number of differently presented service charge notice formats to present at the AGM to help tenants make a decision on their preferred format. Sascha was unstinting in making sure that the process put tenants' views first and that it was driven by a desire to deliver the best customer service possible. This involved consultation with tenants at the Tenant's Festival as Sascha explains in the clip below...

Simon from the Customer Services Team received his Award for the excellent mentoring skills he demonstrated when working with a young man with learning difficulties who had come to United Welsh on a work experience placement. Simon made a special effort when providing mentoring support, going well beyond what was expected as a work experience supervisor so that by the end of the six-week placement the person had made visible gains in self-confidence and communication skills.

The feedback from the Agency who had arranged the placement was that "Simon had been not just supportive, but inspiring" - his exceptional empathy and inclusive attitude make him an excellent role model. As you can see from the clip below, Simon remains modest about his achievements...

Well done and congratulations Sascha and Simon!!

There is information available about the Presidential Recognition Scheme on the staff intranet.

Citizens Council - 'Shaping the Future of Care'

2010-02-09T10:30:00.001Z

Citizens Council - 'Shaping the Future of Care'

Solar School Launch

2010-02-01T14:05:00.004Z

Thursday 28th January 2010 saw the launch of Solar Schools in Caerphilly at Pontylottyn Primary School.

With support from Heads of the Valleys Programme we celebrated the first of 12 PV installations with our contractors Solar Century.

The launch was formally opened by the Deputy Minister of Regeneration and Housing Jocelyn Davies. She highlighted that projects like this are essential to changing our behaviour to more sustainable living.

The Eco Committee led by Jordan were quite simply amazing - their knowledge of eco issues was outstanding. With this level of commitment from young people - the place is safe in their hands. All this and some special songs to welcome the visitors.
Head Teacher Mrs Leaman and Eco School lead teacher Lynette Morgan both highlighted how the solar panel have become an invaluable teaching aid. Pontlottyn Primary is one of 4 completed installations to date. Schools that have also been completed t date include Heol Ddu Comprehensive, White Rose Primary School and Rhymmney Comprehensive. More pictures on this to follow.

Mandy Symonds, Community Projects Officer from United Welsh thanked all involved - especially Tracy Evans - Eco School lead at Caerphilly Council - and to the children who gave brilliant performances.

Mandy

2010-01-12T14:17:00.011Z

Why not take a few moments for have a look at the informative video created by Paul "Spielberg" Price.
The video captures through the means of photographes the story of what United Welsh Housing Association is all about.
The theme throughout the story is "United Welsh... this is what we do... we build homes... not just houses... for people... like us... sometimes educate... sometimes train... but always Excel."
Well-done Paul great job!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! - Snow - As We Definitely Don't Know It!

2010-01-08T07:41:00.007Z

Happy New Year Everyone - We are looking forward to an exciting, busy and creative 2010.

Special thanks from everyone in Community Investment to our front line colleagues at United Welsh have got through the chaos to keep our front line services going in these challenging conditions.

And thanks also to Donna in HR for this slideshow - the team liked this! It in a bit of perspective. And check out some of the fantastic sculptures!

Steve

Planting Session with Children from St James Primary School, Mornington Meadows

2010-01-05T10:53:00.013Z

On Friday 6th November I took some Year 6 pupils from St James Primary School in Mornington Meadows over to Cole Court (which is one of our Living Plus schemes)to take part in a 'pot planting' session. This included planting various bulbs which will start blooming in the springtime and also some very colourful heather was placed on the top.

I was keen to take the children to our Extra Care scheme to enable them to meet up with some of our elderly tenants. Beforehand posters had been put up at the complex inviting residents down to the communal area to meet the children and encouraging them to get involved in the activity if they wished to do so.

There was also a litterpicking session on the estate that day which had organsied by United Welsh.

What a great morning we had!! I split the children in to two teams, one team went out to assist with the litter pick whilst the other group were at Cole Court planting pots and vice versa. Quite a few residents came down to the lounge area. One or two of them used their gardening experience to assist the children with their planting. Others made tea and coffee or just enjoyed the company of having some different faces around. It was lovely to see everyone interacting with each other. Bernadette and Louise (Scheme Managers) made everyone feel very welcome and also put squash, biscuits and sweets on for the children - which went down a treat! The children also entered a Picture Quiz wnere the winner received a £20 Argos voucher.

A great morning was had by all. The children were an absolute delight - funny, very poilte and a real credit to the school. A special thanks must also go to Sheila and Brenda (Cole Court residents) for all their help during the day (greatest tea makers in the South) and for helping to tidy up at the end of the day.

Many thanks to all involved.

Solar Panel Installation at Heol Ddu Comprehensive

2010-01-05T10:40:00.004Z

On a cold, wet and miserable November morning I ventured out to Heol Ddu Comprehensive in Bargoed to witness the installation of solar panels. The school is is Phase I of a programme which has been funded by Heads of the Valleys to support the installation of Solar Panels in 12 schools in the Caerphilly area.

The project will enable the school to reduce their fuels bills, offer new learning opportunities and shift to a low carbon behaviour.

Once all the cables are installed the fitting is pretty straightforward. Basically the black bases on the roof which house the panels are weighed down by bags of stones, the cables are connected and the panel is fitted.

Hey Presto - its ready to run!!

Santa Visit to Cwrt Rawlin Primary

2009-12-22T14:38:00.005Z

On Friday 18th December myself and Nicole from Leadbitter accompanied Father Christmas to Cwrt Rawlin Primary School which is practically opposite our development at Castlegate. We both slipped in to our Elf Costumes are were raring to go. 'What a lovely way to spend the day' I thought to myself. I even informed Tony that I couldn't believe I was getting paid to have such a fun day. Big Mistake!! The school has children from the ages of 3 years up to 11 years....and us elves along with Father Christmas spoke to every single one of them in turn. The younger children were totally speechless when we walked in to their classes but some of the older ones were, well a bit more lippy !! Apart from the usual requests such as PS3, X-Box, Bikes and DSi's one boy turned around and told santa that he wanted a wife!!! My gosh he was like 10!! (He'll soon wise up).

A lovely festive day was had by all but it really was hard work, by the time we left just before 3pm my ears were ringing and my head was banging!! But you know what - I'd do it all again next year just to see the smile on some of those kids faces.

Community Investment - 2009 Highlights

2009-12-21T12:05:00.015Z

WHAT A YEAR!

We've had a quick conflab and decided on our top ten achievements for 2009 And in no particular order we have.... Awards Thanks and here's to more of the same.
Those eagle eyed of you may well notice that 10 actually became 11 but who has a Top 11?

Basset Street – Quest Partnership – Pat Chown Innovation Award - An amazing partnership creation to push the boudaries of traditional routes to work projects.
see http://www.innovate-trust.org.uk/quest.html
http://investuwha.blogspot.com/search/label/Pat%20Chown%20Award

Gender Glass Ceiling - Women plumbers – Pat Chown Innovation Award - Two female plumbers are on track to do very well, they are unedertaking their 3 year apprenticeship as we speak http://investuwha.blogspot.com/2009/07/water-great-project-here-at-integrate.html

School Mentoring - 4 staff became 12 – and EBP Award - the mentoring project has gone from strength to strength with 4 original volunteers expending to 12, thanks to United Welsh staff from all departments giving ther time to meet up with pupils from schools throughout the boroughs where our communities are.
TRT – Integrate Roll Out – Meeting November 2009 – team in place April 2010 – flying ahead with spreading the word throughout our Integrate Partners who have created 16 new opportunities within the first six months. Thanks to United Welsh for providing a home for the Integrate TR & T Team. Integrate Blog - http://integratetrt.blogspot.com/

Solar Schools – Pontylottyn Primary and Heol Ddu Comp installed! - The first phase of this innovative project to reduce fuel bills. provide learning opportunities and hopefully shift to a low carbon living behaviour is complete. We've still got the next phase to come in 2010.

Church Street Regeneration – Community Hub - what more could you fit into one project. Refurbishing an ignored, almost derelict area bit by bit, using local firms, providing training for local people and having a community hub where its most needed to boot. The project continues.. http://investuwha.blogspot.com/2009/08/newmans-creat-new-men.html

Estate Clean Ups – Apart from the obvious, getting people together, staff and residents, schools whatever the weather. These initiatives have lead to discussions about a need for different models of estate based management. United Welsh are looking at more community focused solutions for the future of estate management. More in the new Year...

See http://investuwha.blogspot.com/2009/10/bryn-aber-litter-pick-and-planting-day.html

Time Bank Pilot Project – Funding to get up and running fast. Sam is on board at United Welsh and so are the residents at the first pilot at Oakhouse. Bungee jumping anyone?

Social Enterprise support – Vision 21 – Housing With Care Contract - Vision 21 as an organisation are an inspiration in themselves and now we will be partnering with them to provide the catering requirement at Penrhos extra care scheme. We are looking forward to a long standing relationship looking at other avenues too. For information on Vision 21 go to http://www.vision21.org.uk/

Lunchtime Information Shares – Steve has arranged several lunch time sessions and we have been able to connect with people and organisations we may not have done otherwise. This has lead to practical action such as The Time Bank Pilot and Vision 21 contract.

United Welsh Staff – The involvement of all staff who would like to be in Community activities has exploded this year. The questionaire and focus group to develop a staff community involvement policy are meeting and I'm sure we'll here more soon. A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for giving up time to make this goal of being part of our Communities a reality.

For much more on these stories see the Community Investment Blog http://investuwha.blogspot.com/

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR
from Community Investment Team

Housing and Regeneration - Social Entrepreneurship the Key Driver

2009-12-20T22:22:00.001Z

Community Housing Cymru held their Symposium conference back in November - I didnt make the sessions but heard that one of the best speakers was Andrew Mawson. Thanks to Edwina at CHC for posting these clips of his presentation - I have only just picked them up - and they really are worth a look.

I first met Andrew in the mid 1990's as Community Action Network got going. He is a master of saying its all about people - and our job is to back the people in our communities who are the real doers. Partnerships, that we can spend so much time building, should be about encouraging this. And isn't it refreshing for leaders like Andrew to cast our minds back 30 years to remind us that housing association roots are firmly in this community based, self help, entrepreneurial tradition.

Many thanks Andrew

Steve Cranston

2009-12-10T12:52:00.016Z

Construction Ambassador.
United Welsh Housing Association now host five qualified Construction Ambassadors.
During September and October Michelle Smith, Clare Hallett, Clare Watkins, Claire Jenkins and Mandy Symonds attended a full days training to become Construction Ambassadors.

What is a Construction Ambassador?
Construction Ambassadors are people who already work in Construction and the Built Environment. They are passionate about their work and happy to share their experiences with others. A Construction Ambassador doesn’t have to come from any particular background. They could be a Civil Engineer, Architect, Construction Manager or Joiner. They may have entered as a graduate or worked their way up through the ranks. The only thing that’s important is that they can motivate young people and help them see that a career in construction has potential for them.

What does a Construction Ambassador do?
As a Construction Ambassador, ConstructionSkills asks you to attend a minimum of three events per year. These will vary from careers conventions and seminars to site visits and activity days. Construction Ambassadors may also be asked to give presentations to small groups of young people and answer any questions about the industry. All of these events will be professionally arranged by ConstructionSkills’ Recruitment and Careers Advisers.

The Construction Ambassador scheme has many benefits, some of which are outlined below

• It is excellent for staff personal development, enhancing presentation skills, communication skills and confidence.
• It benefits United Welsh as it shows that we getting involved with the community and helping pupils understand what goes on in Construction and the Built Environment.
• It allows United Welsh employees to ‘get out there’ and get involved in projects such as the ICE Bridge, Tetrahedron and Diversity events, which all promote the Construction Industry and United Welsh.
• All of the above will hopefully result in pupils from Primary age up to 19 years showing an interest in Construction and the Built Environment and lead to more recruits in later years.

Anyone interested in becoming a construction ambassador feel free to contact the Community investment team, who will point you in the right direction.

Pat Chown Capturing Creativity Award

2009-12-03T10:56:00.023Z

United Welsh were proud and delighted to be this year's winners of the Pat Chown Capturing Creativity Award. The award was presented in recognition of the Targeted Recruitment and Training opportunities which United Welsh has helped to provide to individuals from traditionally excluded groups.

These projects included Bassett Street where individuals with learning difficulties were offered painting and decorating work experience placements and the Heatforce project where plumbing apprenticeships were offered to two lady plumbers (please check out previous blog entries).

from left to right-Steve Cranston, John Chown,

Claire Jenkins, Lesley Mayes, David Thomas

The award was presented at the Community Housing Cymru symposium dinner on Thursday 26th November at the Hilton hotel in Cardiff. The evening was very enjoyable. United Welsh invited their parners from Quest and ET&S Construction to join them at the dinner to recognise the invaluable contributions they made to the Bassett Street project.

As part of the award United Welsh were also awarded a cheque for £1000 to be given to their nominated charity. This donation will go to Velindre Cancer Centre as this is United Welsh's nominated charity for this year.

Please see the video footage below with one of the trainees which was shown on the night......

As the award was for innovation - CHC asked us to give some back ground to the thinking that went into the project. This is what we brainstormed:

Values and Mission Driven – We are driven to developing new opportunties with people who face major challenges of disadvantage and exclusion. Its all about working in the 'hard to work in boxes'.

We Start With What We Have - When you look really hard at the resources at our disposal - there is always more commitment and energy, money and partners than you think. Mobilising them effectively starts with new thinking.

Committment and Energy - Our most valuable asset is the commitment and energy that so often goes untapped in our comminities. Our experience is that groups that are often furthest from the labour market is where you find a hunger to sieze new opportunities, learn new skills ls and bite your arm off at the chance to train and work. With the right support and encouragement people who have joined our programmes have proved to be some of the the most committed people in our sector.

Lets Make our Money Count – Its a waste of energy moaning about not having enough resources. In comparison with most we are a wealthy sector. We need to constantly push the boundaries to get more community benefits as part of or procurement. Its very easy to innovate with new money. The real challenge is to spend the budgets we have year in year out to deliver far more. The examples here are focused on leveraging jobs and training opportunities. We are only in the foothills on this journey and there is a mountain to climb.

It Makes Good Business Sense – Working with our contractors to deliver on this agenda is, in the vast majority of cases, pushing at an open door. They simply 'get' that delivering more community benefits as part of contracts is increasingly 'the way we do business together'. This is an incredibly strong platform to build on.

Partnership - The 'housing' world can be a bit of a bubble. The real challenge is to combine our efforts with credible partners who share our vision, drive and commitment. Our experience is that once you take small steps with partners, build trust, share resources, deliver value and reflect on the process - more opportuntires are identified to do much more in the future.

Scale - To maximise benefits for the communities we serve we need to use every opportunity with our partners to scale up the stuff that works. Our work here with contractor Heatforce to break the gender glass ceiling for women plumbers only works because of the partnership we have with Taff Housing Association that maximises our joint procurement leverage.

Its About Many Many Small Steps - There is no innovation silver bullet - just lots and lots of small steps that we can learn from to get better and better.

Artwork for our new offices painted by Students of Ystrad Mynach College

2009-11-24T15:37:00.005Z

Students from Ystrad Mynach College have been working hard since September to design art work for our new office. Some of the Art work will be displayed at the development site on a large sign visable from the roads and round about. The remainder of the art work will be framed and displayed around the building once complete.

The subject matters for the art work was United Welsh Housing Assoiciations role in...
* Environmental Sustainability
* Jobs, training and Apprentices
* Building Homes, Building Communities
* Supporting People
* The 20th Anniversary of United Welsh Housing Association
* The Partnership with United Welsh and Gee construction on the building of our new offices.

As I am sure you will agree the artwork captures lots of imagination and illistrates in a very creative way all of these points.

Well done to all the artists

Community Open Wireless

2009-11-11T16:01:00.003Z

Claire Jenkins and myself had the opportunity to visit the Community Open Wireless (COW) project in Newport last week. The Bunker is supported by Charter Housing Association. It was very helpful to learn from their experience. We are exploring bringing some of our underutlised assets back into use - in particular communal areas in some of our Living Plus Schemes. Our recent estate tidy up in Mornington Meadows included using the Lounge area of Cole Court as a space to do bulb planting with children from the local junior school - and buffet for our partners and volunteers who helped with the litter pick. Bernadette the scheme manager is very keen to make more use of the space. And this is where Community Open Wireless might come into play.

The experience of Steve from Nova Scarman and Kerry from Charter is most helpful - please check out these 2 short Youtube clips . Steve has offerred to visit in the coming weeks to see how suitable Cole Court will be to host a community wireless project. He has also said that he will see if he can help to boost the signal we have for our wireless broadband project at Windsor Quay in Cardiff.

Thanks again to both Steve at Nova Scarman and Kerry from Charter Housing Association.

Caerphilly Sustainability Advisory Committee

2009-11-05T18:55:00.004Z

It was a pleasure to present to the Caerphilly Sustainability Advisory Committee yesterday to talk through the work that United Welsh is doing. Richard Mann, Development Director talked to the group in February - so this was an update.

The is the powerpoint and led to a really useful discussion:

Solar Schools - Installation work will commence on the first 2 of 8 Caerphilly schools (Heolddu Comprehensive and Pontlottyn Primary) in the next few weeks. Councillors were keen to be invited to the installations and to be kept be involved in maximising the learning.

What really has made a difference in getting this project on track has been the support of Tracy Evans (Eco Schools Programme) and Paul Cooke in the Sustainable Development team. There is plenty of demand for other schools to get involved. How we offer this sort of service to schools outside of Heads of the Valleys programme area is a real challenge for Phase 2 of the project. A workshop is planned for December to bring schools in Phase 1 and a proposed Phase 2 together to agree a way forward.

School Mentoring - 11 United Welsh staff are committed to mentoring Year 10 pupils in 3 Comprehensives in Caerphilly. Councillors were very supportive of this initiative and were keen to understand the drivers behind it. I was able to feedback that there was considerable support building in the organisation for this. A trial at St Cenydd Comprehensive involving 3 staff including myself and Mandy Symonds) attracted a lot of interest. This led to our partners Education Business Partnership coming back to United Welsh and presenting to a wider group of staff. The additional 8 staff have been introduced to their schools and mentoring sessions are due to start immediately. This experience is helping the organisation to develop a policy on giving United Welsh staff the opportunity to support good causes and community projects. All staff have had the opportunity to complete survey to gather views - and this will be used to inform a workshop in early December.

Caerphilly Miners Hospital - There was unanimous support for the work of the steering group that is campaigning so vigorously to save Caerphilly Miners Hospital as a community resource. I had the opportunity to feed in the support we are offering to the Steering Group and local authority to ensure that in the future redevelopment of the site will include retaining the Beeches building as a viable community asset.

Fundraising - Members of the group were keen to see that the online grant finder service that we have subscribed to is being offered free to all groups in Caerphilly. It has been used regularly by groups seeking to identify funding options for local projects. This is the first year we have subscribed to Grant Net and are keen to get feedback about how useful a tool it is - comments/feedback most welcome. Grant Net can be accessed by clicking through here

The Advisory group asked for an update in the future - which will be a pleasure.

Steve Cranston

4 new trainees on Bellways site in Llanishen

2009-11-05T14:31:00.016Z

United Welsh, in partnership with Bellways Homes and Construction Skills, have recruited 2 Carpentry and 2 Bricklaying apprentices to work on the construction of new affordable housing for United Welsh at Ty Glas in Llanishen.

from left to right - Dominic, Berron, John and Liam

All 4 apprentices needed on-site experience in order to complete their NVQ qualifications. These apprenticeships have been created using Social Inclusion clauses in the contract with Bellways and United Welsh are delighted that these young men will now be able to complete their training and will hopefully go on to gain future employment in the construction industry.

In the video below, site Manager Alistair Dawson explains how this site experience will benefit the apprentices.

We will keep you up to date with the trainee's progress.

Bryn Aber Litter pick and Planting Day

2009-10-21T16:34:00.004+01:00

Bryn Aber Litter pick.

On the 24th September 09 United Welsh Staff from a wide variety of departments came together and provided a task force who assisted Keep Wales Tidy in a litter pick clean up day at Bryn Aber.
The day was very successful with a lorry load of litter taken away and areas of fly tipping cleared.
Amanda Symonds had arranged for the local school children to get involved. The children were provided with pots and plants and assisted by Charles Larcombe in creating beautiful planters, which were then given to the resisdents.
The video below shows the local school children and United Welsh staff working together at this event.
And Local United Welsh resident Pauline and her beautiful garden.

The day was supported by Cllr Lyndon Binding and below is an interview where Cllr Lyndon Binding describes the day.

Finally the last video is of The Coastal Caretakers Alan and Keith who describe their roles within Coastal and how having a similar scheme set up could assist an area such as Bryn Aber.

Thank you to all involved from the community investment team.

Community Assets

2009-10-19T09:48:00.006+01:00

We have been actively supporting 2 communities facing quite different challenges in Sirhowy, Tredegar and Caerphilly. What unites them is their shared recent history – coming to terms with the shock of loosing a much loved and valued facility.

I was part of a double act with my colleague Gareth Davies, Head of Development when we presented a workshop at the Community Housing Cymru Development and Regeneration Conference -here are the PowerPoint slides

Here is a quick recap:

Sirhowy - In 2007 the community of Sirhowy saw the local primary school close. This was literally the hub of the community. This spurred local people into action and the Tenants and Residents Group, which had gone through a quiet patch, started to put together a plan to bring back new facilities and services to the area.

A very fruitful dialogue started with United Welsh. The Sirhowy Tenants and Residents (STAR) group developed a feasibility study and business plan - with support from Communities First partnership. New efforts focused on how to ensure the former school site was developed for long term community benefit. And this is where the involvement of a housing association really added value to a win/win partnership. A case study has been completed and can be downloaded here.

The basis of the STAR/United Welsh collaboration can be summarized as:

STAR Group:

 Community engagement/support
 Feasibility study/business plan
 Management of temporary school buildings for community use
 Fundraising

United Welsh

 Lends credibility to negotiations with the local authority estates team over securing land
 Locked down land as a community asset for community benefit
 Site design – including design of the proposed Community Hub
 Secured outline planning consent for site
 Provided advice with funding

This way of working has attracted interest from the Minister for Regeneration and more recently the Big Lottery. The STAR Centre has been documented as a model of best practice as part of the soon to be launched Asset Transfer Fund. The fund goes live in November and the STAR group will definitely be bidding!

Caerphilly Miners Hospital - The hospital will close in 2011 and services will relocate to the 21st Century development in Ystrad Mynach. A steering group was formed in 2008 to save the historic building from demolition and retain it as a community facility. This area of Caerphilly has experienced huge levels of development in recent years – and community facilities have struggled to keep pace.

The original building – The Beeches – really is a magnificent building – and one that stirs genuine emotion in the area. When I have given updates to United Welsh staff it is amazing how many people have told us that they were born there or that their children were born there.

(As an aside – the Community Housing Cymru Development conference opened with a keynote speaker from Oxford Brooks University on Regeneration. He didn’t endear himself to myself or Gareth when he took a very bullish line on old buildings – to paraphrase…..‘the veneration of old buildings is overrated’ …… the whole listing process has gone too far.......').

The Steering Group is going from strength to strength. A feasibility study and business plan is being prepared by the Steering group. The group launched their new website last week – and have invited supporters to join a Facebook - search on Caerphilly Miners Hospital Community Centre to find the group.

For nearly a year United Welsh has been supporting the Steering group:

 Negotiating with Welsh Health Estates – who will be organizing the disposal of the site - to lock down the historic building as a community asset for long term community benefit - as part of a wider scheme for affordable homes on the site
 To agree a mechanism to take this forward
 Undertake any building surveys to assist the group to tighten their business plan

The relationship is being formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding which is in the process of being agreed.

Some Of The Learning So Far - We have learned that:

 Getting close to communities is absolutely vital to understand the challenges that they are facing and the powerful emotions at stake in closure situations.
 The closure of services and community articulation of demands for new services and facilities presents real opportunities for RSL engagement - and in very simple terms - a chance to back these proposals.
 We have a skill set that community partners are very keen to see us sharing - especially our credibility with public sector agencies that are dealing with the disposal of land and buildings. Community groups see us a key partner to unlock community assets for long term benefit.

We are keen to share this experience with others who are seeking to support communities to develop key assets.

Steve Cranston
Head of Community Investment

United Welsh Team Building

2009-09-08T09:11:00.003+01:00

Development Team Building at United Welsh ...... go carting in Cardiff.

On the bad behaviour front...
Yellow cards - Gareth, Natalie and Mandy
Red cards - Steve.....

Good day had by all

Steve (bad boy)

Ground-breaking work

2009-08-14T15:09:00.014+01:00

At part of our ongoing work to provide targeted recruitment and training opportunities by utilising our maintenance and development programmes, United Welsh, in partnership with Leadbitter and Jobmatch now have trainees on site at Castlegate in Caerphilly.

This Housing with Care project from United Welsh will provide new affordable homes specifically built for people over 60yrs. The multi million pound development will offer a range of one and two bedroom apartments, a restaurant, a small shop, a coffee/tea bar, a health suite and a range of other communal spaces and activity rooms. Residents will also benefit from specialist support and care on site along with state of the art telecare and security systems.

This was the first project where United Welsh included a social inclusion clause in their contract with the building contractor to ensure that training and jobs would be available to the local community as part of the contractual agreement. This work has since been rolled out to other United Welsh and Intergrate projects and is proving to be a great success.

The partnership between Leadbitter, United Welsh and Jobmatch will ensure that local unemployed people have access to a variety of training opportunities, from work experience placements for a few weeks to apprenticeships.

Marcus is an apprentice bricklayer who was talent spotted by Leadbitter whilst taking part in a bricklaying competition at a local college. He has been on site for a few months now and is thoroughly enjoying his apprenticeship.

Gavin has long held the ambition to become a Site Manager, he has now been employed as a Trainee Site Manager on this project and he acknowledges that this sort of opportunity is currently very rare.

There will be further training opportunities on this project and I look forward to introducing you to future trainees.

Claire Jenkins
Work Placement Coordinator

Newmans create New Men.

2009-08-12T16:25:00.008+01:00

On the 11th August 2009 I paid a visit to our regeneration project at Church St Ebbwvale. The Project is moving along nicely and the four trainees two sourced through Job Match program Tools 4ur future and two sourced through A4E are settled on site and all doing really well.
Below are video interviews with two of the trainees Aaron and Ryan. During the interview the trainees discribe some of the skills they have learnt since being with Newman builders on this project.

Also while there I managed to get a few words from the very busy Ben Newman of Newman builders. Ben has taken to the role of mentor for the trainees like a duck to water. Ben shares lots of experience and knowledge with the trainees and regulally stimulates them with such things as one the spot quizzes about things they have learnt.
During the interview below Ben explains the process of having trainees on this project.

Finally the video below shows a slide show of photos of the whole team. showing their new polo shirts and Newman Builders two new vans. Looking like the A team.

Thanks everyone at Church St for your time.

Mid Glamorgan Education Business Partnership Awards 2009

2009-07-21T15:59:00.007+01:00

On Thursday 25th June, Felicity and myself attended the EBP Awards Ceremony at the Coed y Mwster Hotel in Bridgend. The weather was a washout but the ceremony was great. Lovely food and a great opportunity to meet other businesses involved in various projects with the EBP.

United Welsh have recently got involved with the EBP and a four us have started to mentor some year 10 pupils (aged 15 & 16 years old) at Trecennydd Comprehensive. It is part of an EBP programme that is designed to boost the confidence of some of the children who are preparing for their GCSEs. We all have three pupils each and it is our job to offer advice and encouragement to them as well as being there for them to dicuss any worries they may have either at school or at home. Basically it about becoming their ‘friend’.

The EBP have recognised the work that we have been doing with the school and we were presented with the Mentoring Award for Industry which was a great achievement.

Spreading the word

2009-07-21T15:43:00.006+01:00

I was fortunate to be asked to present at the United Welsh Support Services Forum on the work that the United Welsh Community Investment Team is doing around Work Placements and the use of Targeted Recruitment & Training Clauses in our Contracts.

These Clauses allow us to gain added value from the money we spend by requiring the Contractors to include Training Opportunities and wider Community Benefits as part of the Contract when it is awarded, at no extra cost to United Welsh.

The forum was attended by members of the United Welsh Supported Housing Team, together with staff from the various Support Providers and Managing Agents who work at United Welsh housing schemes.

A copy of the presentation is available below:

There was considerable interest expressed on the day of the presentation and the team have since been approached by Denise Long, from our Supported Housing Team, with regard to the contract for the internal fitting out of our new offices. A Community Investment Sum has now been added to this contract, an excellent result!

If anyone would like more information, please get in touch:

email: cjenkins@uwha.co.uk

Rassau School Site Visits

2009-07-20T11:40:00.004+01:00

On Thursday 16th July I took the children from Rassau Primary School to visit our site in Rassau (which is near their school). The childrens ages ranged from from 3 years to 11 years old. Dean (the site manager from Gee Construction) did a marvellous job of explaining to the children how a house was built and the energy saving devices that have been put into the houses e.g solar panels etc. There were lots of questions asked by the older children which was a good sign (as it shows that they were interested). I then took the opportunity to warn the children of the dangers of playing on a building site. They all seemed to listen but I just hope that they put this in to practice during the summer holidays. The children will then get another opportunity to visit the site once the properties are near completion. After the visit all the school children were off back to school to have a lovely picnic as it was the end of term.

Water Great Project!

2009-07-20T11:08:00.008+01:00

Here at Integrate we are very proud to announce we have just taken on two female apprentice plumber/gas fitters in partnership with Heatforce Heating and Bathrooms.

United Welsh and Taff Housing(members of Integrate Consortium) have a strong ongoing relationship with Heatforce and through their extensive programme for new boilers and bathrooms have created the opportunity for these two new apprenticeships.

The video below shows Janet Bochel of Taff Housing giving us an outline of the project plus interviews with our partners at Heatforce(Paul Maddox) and Concstruction Youth Trust(CYT). Lisa Nelms of CYT made our jobs very difficult by providing fantastic candidtes and giving them interview coaching and help with their CV's before their big moment.

Gemma one of our seccessful candidtes tells us of her experience at the end of the video, her smile couldn't be broader. Gemma and our other apprentice Kate are both very excited about this oppotunity and can't wait to start.

The sometimes wobbly footage was taken by me, Clare Watkins, I will be supporting Gemma and Kate throughout their experience and keeping you in touch with their progress.

We wish them both the best of luck.

Trainees now on site at Bassett Street

2009-07-16T10:17:00.019+01:00

From Left to right - Sian from Quest, Paul (trainee) and John from ET&S

Trainees have now started painting and decorating work at our new Supported Housing Project in Barry. There are three trainees who are working alongside the tradesmen from ET&S Construction on different days through the week.

This Project is very exciting, we are offering Work Experience Placements to beneficiaries with learning difficulties who are being supported on site by the Employment Agency, Quest. It is hoped that as well as allowing the trainees to gain practical skills, this experience will help to develop their inter-personal skills and build their confidence.

This partnership between United Welsh, Quest and ET&S Construction is proving to be very successful, all parties have shown that they are fully committed to offering the trainees an enjoyable and valuable experience which will increase their chances of gaining employment.

In the videos below, Andrew Thomas (Managing Director of ET&S) and Sian Blowers from Quest speak about the Project.

We will be following the progress of the Trainees and I am sure they will find this experience enjoyable and fulfilling. As you can see from the photo below, when I met with Paul he was having a great time!

Claire Jenkins
Work Placement Coordinator
United Welsh Housing Association

Solar Schools

2009-07-15T14:39:00.008+01:00

United Welsh has secured funding from the Heads of the Valleys programme to work with 12 schools and help them reduce their carbon footprint, boost low carbon learning and help young people to change behaviours and adopt more sustainable low energy lifestyles.

We have been working with Solar Century who have developed a schools programme - Solar4Schools and are in discussions with colleagues in Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent local authorities to identify suitable schools. The criteria for school selection are having a viable roof facing south: a committed staff with an identified champion: and a willingness to really maximise the learning opportunities.

We have just signed off our partnership agreement with Solar Century following very positive negotiations with Ramin Dilmaghanian. Tracy Evans, lead for the Eco Schools project in Caerphilly Council has been talking to teachers and heads - we were delighted to meet today with Elain Tambling from Ysgol; Bro Sannon and Terry Leaman from Rhymney Comprehensive. Surveys on their schools will take place in early August. Fingers crossed there are no technical problems and they become part of the first wave of projects. Enthusiastic partners talk here:

Over the coming weeks we will be surveying additional schools in Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent.
We look forward to working with Tracy and her Eco School colleagues to help develop teaching resource packs (example of Solar Century pack is here) which will be available to any schools in the area.

This reinforces work United Welsh has been doing in schools. Please do get in touch if you would like more information.

UWHA welcome four new trainees to site today, including Kirsty our first female trainee Bricklayer.

2009-07-01T19:56:00.006+01:00

Created on July 1, 2009 19:18. Video showing the first day for four new trainees at United Welsh Housing Development site at Cwm Calon Ystrad mynach. The trainees were all a little nervous but also excited. After recieving an induction to health and safety on site and recieving their PPE and new tool kits the trainees set off to buddy up and undertake their training. The video also shows Kirsty UWHA first female bricklayer, Kirsty met with the crew at Cwm Calon but will be working on a site in Tredegar (Stable lane), Kirsty discribes her nerves but has a great attitude and we wish her luck. Clare Hallett will be over seeing all the trainees and will be keeping you up to date with their progress.

New Trainees at Bassett Street, Barry

2009-07-01T09:59:00.017+01:00

Steve and Jason (far right and second left) with support workers from Quest

United Welsh are working with ET&S Construction and Quest Employment Agency to provide work experience opportunities for people with learning difficulties on the site of our new Supported Housing project in Barry.

Last week the prospective trainees, Steve and Jason, along with their support workers, were invited along to the site to meet with the Contractor and get a feel for what they will be doing during their placement.

The trainees will mainly be involved in painting and decorating. They will be working alongside the tradesmen on site, gaining valuable skills, which will increase their chances of gaining employment in this sector.

It is hoped that at least one other trainee will also be involved, with placements starting in the next week or so..... watch this space!

Claire Jenkins
Work Placement Coordinator
United Welsh Housing Association

Mornington Meadows Partnership meeting. Interview with John Paul Jones of Novascarman.

2009-06-19T16:15:00.005+01:00

Interview between John Paul Jones and Clare Hallett of UWHA. John discribes the schemes he has been involved in through his work at Novascarman. John explains about a Community Broad Band scheme completed in Newport. When asked about what projects Novascarman could bring to the Mornington Meadows area, John said he was in the process of discussing suggestions and would like to work towards the idea of Free Internet Wireless Broadband. United Welsh Housing Association will be meeting with Novascarman and other partners within the Mornington Meadows project to move forward with some of these great ideas.

Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge - For TyHafan

2009-06-15T07:00:00.003+01:00

4 Teams from United Welsh completed the gruelling Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge on Sat 13th June. Starting out at 4 am and finshing at 7.30 pm 16 walkers and 3 support crew dashed from Snowdon to Cader Idris and finally to Penyfan.

It really was a challenging long day - I've not put my body through anything like it!

Special thanks has to go out to our drivers and cooks - Kieron, Paul and Peter - absolutely vital support to literally keep the show on the road.

A really superb team effort.

It's all in aid of TyHafan - so far over £4,000 has been pledged - and its still not to late to give by clicking through here. Many thanks to all our supporters.

Steve Cranston

United Welsh and Willis Construction

2009-06-10T16:24:00.004+01:00

United Welsh has been working with Willis Construction and ACT Skills Academy to provide Construction Training opportunities.

Our new Work Placement Coordinator, Claire Jenkins, was pleased to meet with Daniel who has recently begun his Carpentry placement with Willis Construction.

Willis Construction are currently undertaking United Welsh contracts to replace the kitchens in their tenants' properties.

Daniel is settling in well and is really enjoying this new challenge. Daniel will be working towards his NVQ level 1 qualification in Carpentry and we will be following his progress.

This is another example of how United Welsh is using its supply chain to provide Construction training opportunities with our valued partners in the local community.

Lunchtime Information Share -Vision 21

2009-06-01T09:48:00.004+01:00

Barry Shiers from Vision 21 - spoke at our 3rd Lunchtime Information Share session ion Friday. 20 United Welsh staff and tenants and residents leaders heard Barry talk about underpinning values, background and current projects. It was inspirational - and can be heard again here:

Vision 21 run a really wide range of projects involving people with learning difficulties at the heart - including 4 catering outlets. With this in mind United Welsh is scoping out opportunities for us to collaborate around running our new restaurant in our Extra Care scheme in Caerphilly which will come on stream in Autumn 2010. This long lead in makes it possible for us to have early discussions to plan a really good win win partnership. Barry talks about this briefly here:

On 7th July colleagues from United Welsh are visiting the Fairwater Cafe project for lunch to give both teams the chance to get to know each other.

If you would like to join this visit or have any thoughts on this collaboration please do get in touch.

Steve Cranston

Mornington Meadows Riverside Clean Up

2009-05-29T15:47:00.006+01:00

On a very wet Tuesday 27th May 2009 a few of our plucky United Welsh staff joined with Caerphilly Councils Fast Forward Team, Keep Wales Tidy, Cllr Linda Williams, AM Jeff Cuthbert and MP Wayne David in the riverside clean up.

Going forward we will be looking to work with these and other partners again on future projects
including coordinating regeneration and investment. We are holding a workshop with this aim in mind at the Van Centre on the 19th June from 9.00am until 1.00pm. Please come along and have your say.

The video below captures the team effort of collecting 5 tonnes of rubbish in the pouring rain, still with smiles on their faces.

Regeneration/ Jobs and Training. Church Street Ebbwvale 26.05.2009

2009-05-28T09:28:00.005+01:00

Today new members of our Community Investment Team visited out latest community regeneration project in Church Street Ebbwvale.

The refurbishment of what will be the new Build Wales (a United Welsh Partner) office is underway offering an opportunity for two trainees to gain experience in Building skills supported by JobMatch / tools4urfuture. Upon completion the office will also serve the community by providing advice and information relevant to local residents.

Pictured below is Clare Hallett who has joined the UWHA team as a Work Placement Coordinator. Clare will be supporting the trainees through their time with the project.

Picture from left to right
Ben Newman of Newman Builders, Steven Robbins, Clare Hallett, Aaron Owem, Grant West, Ben Newman, Clare Hallett and Ryan Littlewood.

Integrate Jobs and Training - Great News!

2009-05-26T12:11:00.002+01:00

Back in November United Welsh hosted a workshop to explore the possibility of scaling up jobs and training opportunities across the Integrate consortium. Since then a lot has happened. A project group was set up to scope out the possibilities - and this coincided with a funding window of opportunity with Welsh Assembly Government Social Housing Management Grant.

Moving at speed the project group worked up a bid (summary here)which was approved in March.

Many thanks to those who attended meetings to finalise the bid (you know who you are) - and particular thanks to Carl Spiller at Welsh Assembly Government who was our desk officer.

Since then we have more good news - Michelle Smith has been appointed Integrate Jobs and Training Manager to lead the project. Michelle comes with impeccable credentials -she has been driving a full programme at United Welsh for the past 12 months and is ideally placed to take this exciting project forward. Michelle is joined today by Clare Watkin as Integrate Work Placement Coordinator

A project steering group has met once - and a project launch will happen soon and will be covered here and on the new Integrate blog which will be set up any time now.

More information will follow - but if you want to know more or get involved please do get in touch.

Steve Cranston

STAR Ministerial Visit

2009-05-14T17:00:00.008+01:00

The Community Investment team at United Welsh have been supporting the STAR team (Sirhowy Tenants and Residents) who are are just going from strength to strength. Yesterday they hosted a visit from Leighton Andrews, Minister for Regeneration. He had the chance to talk to community activists who are turning adversity (the closure of the Infant school) into real hope.

Work has started in the recently opened demountable to offer new opportunities for young people. Local community police officers spoke enthusiastically about the difference it is already making for young people with very limited options.

Leighton Andrews also heard from STAR leaders, Communities First us at United Welsh about the excellent partnership that has formed to make securing part of the school site for a much needed community hub. His team at Welsh Assembly Government are in the process of creating a Asset Transfer Fund set to launch in Autumn - and the timing couldn't be better. By then STAR will be well on the way to finalising funding for the purpose buildt Community Hub and this new fund could be really important part of the mix.

Its great to hear the Regeneration boss for Wales to say on his blog that is a great example of Asset Transfer

The eligibility criteria for the fund are still being set up. So it was helful to have the chance to say that groups benefitting from assets transferred by Housing Associations should be eligible to apply to the Asset Transfer fund – where Housing Associations have unlocked land for residential and community uses previously in public sector ownership.

In Sirhowy United Welsh will unlock the former school site for mixed residential and community use – and will transfer land to the locally accountable community enterprise. The Asset Transfer Fund is one of a number of streams that STAR will find invaluabe for capital refurbishment and early revenue costs for the project.

We are taking a similar approach with Caerphilly Miners Hospital site. We are proposing to develop the site post 2011 hospital closure. A key feature of the scheme will be to support a community steering group to form as a development trust to acquire and refurbish the historic Caerphilly Miners Hospital building. We are about to open negotiations with Welsh Health Estates on this site.

In both cases the locally accountable community organizations should have access to this new funding stream where they work in partnership with a RSL to secure land and building

This is a new model for bringing forward developments that meet housing need and demands for local services. We are feeding this experience into a new European bid being worked by Community Housing Cymru .

Steve Cranston

Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge - Beautiful Day

2009-05-13T06:45:00.006+01:00

Beautiful day on Sunday as some intrepid walkers trained for the Welsh 3 Peaks which will be held on 13th June. Amy, Heidi, Jane, Peter, Emma and Steve walked the highly impressive horseshoe ridge just North of Crickhowell, Black Mountains. 17 miles plus in total on a scorching hot day.

4 teams of 4 people from United Welsh (including Oak House) are raising money on behalf of Ty Hafan, a groundbreaking children’s hospice in South Wales. Tŷ Hafan was established in 1999 to provide respite, palliative and end of life care to the children in Wales who suffer from life limiting conditions. All but 17% of is funding comes from donations.

Your support for this great community charity would be really appreciated. Its so easy to give - you can click through here http://www.justgiving.com/unitedwelsh and in minutes the money goes straight to Ty Hafan.

On the 13th we will be climbing Snowdon, Cader Idris and Pen y Fan starting at 4 in the morning and finishing - well finishing when we finish!

And more pictures here:

3 peaks training

It raises the bigger question about whether United Welsh should look to identify a charity to support each year. More to follow on this.

Steve

Transformational Lunchtime Conversation

2009-04-27T12:08:00.014+01:00

Neil Wooding joined the second information share session at United Welsh -talking about Clever Conversations. It was an inspirational talk and any attempt to summarise would be fateful! It can be heard here:

When Michelle asked what one thing would make a difference to get started Neil said develop better emotional intelligence. A couple of of us have just ordered this Daniel Golman - Emotional Intelligence - under £5.

Dr Neil Wooding

View more presentations from stevecranston.

More information on Public Service Management Wales is on this link.
http://wales.gov.uk/psmwsubsite/psmw/?lang=en

Some areas for United Welsh and PSMW collaboration were dicussed over lunch - I am sure there will be follow through. There was quite a buzz after the session - many thanks to Neil for stimulating such enthusiasm and energy.

Neil is a great friend of the housing association movement. For the past 2 years he has been a key note speaker at the annual Community Housing Cymru Board Member conference. Here are some clips from his 2008 presentation

Steve Cranston

Finding Funding

2009-04-21T09:00:00.000+01:00

Finding funding for great projects has got to be one of the most time consuming, frustrating and bewildering things to do - a definite important but necessary evil! Anything that can lighten the burden has got to be good thing.

United Welsh has subscribed to a funder finding software service. This gives access to a pretty powerful and regularly updated data base of funding options - for community, public and private sector organisations.

It can be accessed:

Here

The Grant finder side bar on the right had side of this blog

Via the United Welsh main website - clicking through to the Community Investment bar.

We are hoping that there will be take up from tenants groups, social enterprises, development trusts, Communities First Partnerships, training organizations and even contractors who are part of our supply chain.

Every time someone uses this service via our sites we get to hear about who they are and what funding they are looking for – so it will be possible to build a profile of common themes and maybe help.

Please do pass this information on to colleagues - and let us know how helpful this is.

Thankyou Cath

2009-04-20T09:10:00.003+01:00

Quite an emotional day. After 7 years service with United Welsh in a range of roles, including a massive contribution to Community Investment, Cath Lee left her full time role to get that balance in life and spend more time with her family.

Today colleagues showed their appreciation and respect to a fantastic colleague and friend - totally committed to living the values of building community and valuing genuine tenant involvement. Cath was every teams dream member - courageous, diplomatic, tenacious, calm, unruffled - with the cup always half full! An outstanding team player whose legacy really is valued!

And the great news is it's not goodbye - Cath is continuing, in a voluntary role, mentoring young people in a Community Investment team pilot project St Cenydd Comprehensive school, Caerphilly. So her expertise and knowledge wont be lost to the organisation and the community we are serving.

So Cath - on behalf of colleagues at United Welsh and all the partner organisations you have supported - a huge thank you for everything, especially everything that went way beyond the call of duty!

Best wishes for all your future plans and look forward to keeping in touch.

Steve

STARs - All of You!

2009-04-18T17:33:00.003+01:00

The cup of community spirit in Sirhowy, Blaneau Gwent is overflowing!

Saturday saw the official opening of the new STAR centre - Sirhowy Tenants and Residents group. For the past 2 years they have been making the case for more investment in community facilities in the area. What brought things to a head was the closure of the local infant school last year. This added a sense of urgency - and things have moved at pace since then. In the short term the group have secured the lease to use a demountable building on the site. This will the base for a whole range activities - to work with young people, offer new learning opportunities and provide a focus for community building work.

Vice Chair of STAR Debbie Mapps, local councillor and key champion Brian Thomas and chair of education committee councillor Peter Abbott do the official opening

And here the views of local community police who see this as an absolutely key local resource.

And Debbie talking proudly about her community

In the longer term United Welsh is supporting STAR to develop a purpose built community enterprise centre on the site - plans have been prepared and outline planning consent has been gained. The next steps are to work with STAR to tighten their business plan - submit a full planning application - and start to secure funding. The fact that this is going on with a temporary community centre up and running makes the whole process of winning funding much, much easier.

So great news - congratulations to everyone involved. A case study of this unique partnership has been prepared for STAR by Donna Coyle at Gareth Kiddie Associates and can be read here. .

Steve

Message from a retiring team member

2009-04-18T09:37:00.001+01:00

“This is my last blog - I retire as Community Investment Co-ordinator today and know that I am leaving a great team, who with the leadership of Steve Cranston will go onto bigger and better things.

“I joined the team last May, just weeks after it was set up as a new venture for United Welsh to gain as much community benefits out of new developments as possible through our tendering and procurement process. The work then took on a life of its own last September when Steve Cranston joined us as Head of Service - his enthusiasm and energy is infectious!

“I’m sure I’m not leaving a hole to fill (maybe a dent!) – but the person taking my place will be Wendy Griffin, who has a long history in community work and will be an asset to the team. Mandy Symonds will also be co-ordinating the work done in schools.

“There will soon be a whole new look to the team - Michelle Smith has recently taken up her new role as Jobs and Training Manager for Intergrate and 2 new Work Placement Co-ordinators are currently being recruited. Watch this blog for an announcement on their appointment.

“Well it’s a goodbye from me to all those people who work so hard delivering projects in their communities – keep up the good work!

Cath Lee

United Welsh Supports Constructing Training

2009-04-14T10:45:00.003+01:00

United Welsh Sponsors Construction Skills Competition

United Welsh is committed to encouraging students reach their full potential and invest in training within Construction Industry.

United welsh has sponsored a competition held at Ystrad Mynach College.

Alison Howe Education Advisor from Construction Skills comments as follows:

Below is a brief outline about what the competition involves:

“The competition was open to all students studying towards, but not yet having achieved a Level 1 qualification in the following trades:
Brickwork
Carpentry
Plastering
Painting & Decorating
Foundation Certificate in Building Craft Occupations. This is the school link, for school pupils studying a construction qualification.

United Welsh’s kind financial contribution supported the South Wales Regional Event that took place in Ystrad Mynach College. Students from Ystrad Mynach College, Bridgend College, Coleg Morgannwg, Merthyr College and Pontypridd High participated in the competition.

The competition purpose is to raise the profile and standards of vocational skills across Wales. The event planned to demonstrate the excellence among construction trainees as students, schools and colleges are able to showcase their achievements. There are a total of 4 regional events across Wales and then an all Wales final, to be held in Coleg Llandrillo on April 2nd. Pupils who came 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each trade will be put forward to the final”.

United Welsh is committed to supporting construction training initiatives to ensure the future for the Construction Industry and wider economy. Working with Partners such as Construction Skills is invaluable to helping us achieve this.

JobMatch Construction Projects - Caerphilly & Blaenau Gwent

2009-04-01T16:13:00.001+01:00

Video interviews with trainee's from two JobMatch projects ended in March 2009 in Caerphilly & Blaenau Gwent.

Contents include looking at low's and high's of the construction projects and how United Welsh can make it better for future trainee's.

United Welsh & Caerphilly partnerships help locals overcome employment barriers

2009-03-25T10:05:00.006Z

7 people from the Caerphilly Borough have been honoured for their determination in overcoming barriers to employment – with the help of JobMatch, United Welsh Housing Association and partner construction companies..

During a celebratory presentation at the White Rose Information and Resource Centre, Ann Collins the Mayor of Caerphilly County Borough, congratulated the seven candidates and presented them with certificates for completing employment routes in the fields of construction.

Lack of work experience can often act as a barrier to employment but with JobMatch support and United Welsh developing these opportunities, all seven individuals have successfully completed work placements and all have secured full-time employment through United Welsh and their contracts with contractors.

Michelle Smith from United Welsh said: “Following an intensive training programme the trainee’s have achieved NVQ qualifications. More importantly they have all been offered full-time employment as bricklayers, plasterers or carpenters. The real test of this initiative is whether the training results in employment. The evidence so far is very encouraging and we look forward to working with our partners to create more opportunities for people across south Wales.

“We have been absolutely delighted with the hard work the trainees have put into the programme. They really deserve full-time employment and we wish them the very best of luck in their future careers. United Welsh has used it's supply chain and Social Inculsion Clauses as a core requirement in their contracts to deliver these employment opportunities.”

Support provided by the partners of JobMatch can involve help with training and gaining new qualifications, linking people with suitable job opportunities, and encouraging self-employment. It can also provide advice on available financial support, care of dependants and transport issues.

JobMatch is run locally in partnership with Caerphilly County Borough Council, the Welsh Assembly Government and other local stakeholders.

Welsh Assembly Government Deputy Minister for Regeneration, Leighton Andrews said: “The JobMatch initiative is having a positive impact throughout the Heads of the Valleys, benefiting local people and communities by ensuring we have trained people who are willing and able to fill the jobs being created from the ongoing regeneration of the area.”

£10 savings boost for new tenants

2009-03-17T14:47:00.002Z

Tenants moving into homes at two of United Welsh’s newest developments are getting help to deter them from using door stop lenders. United Welsh is opening Credit Union accounts for each tenant and depositing £10 to get them started.

The pilot project at new estates in Tredegar and Bargoed is aimed at raising awareness of what the Credit Union can offer in terms of saving and accessing low costs loans as an alternative to high interest lenders. As long as the tenant uses the account and continues to save for a period of time they get to keep the £10 deposit.

The project is running in partnership with Smart Money Credit Union and staff from United Welsh’s Community Investment and Housing teams.

“The idea came out of discussions on how we can help our tenants make the most of their money,” said Cath Lee, Community Investment Co-ordinator. “All too often tenants are approached by door stop lenders within days, sometimes hours of moving in, when they most need money. By talking through the benefits of what a credit union can offer them and how they can access low interest loans they are more likely to use them.”

Phil Carroll, Welfare Benefits Advisor said: “It’s early days yet but initial indications are that we have had approximately 80% take up at both sites. The response was generally very positive with the majority of tenants enthusiastic about the scheme and happy that the paperwork was being done for them. Particularly encouraging was the “word of mouth” that has started on the estates – tenants who missed the information at sign-up contacted us to request CU forms having heard of the scheme through their new neighbours.”

This project also ties in with a similar project United Welsh is involved in at two primary schools which are next door neighbours to the two estates. Young Savers clubs have been set up at Park Primary, Bargoed and Deighton Primary, Tredegar to encourage pupils to save through the Credit Union.

For further information contact:
Cath Lee
Community Investment Co-ordinator
02920 858183 / 07909928313
clee@uwha.co.uk

Social Enterprise - Think/Do Working Group

2009-03-09T10:05:00.005Z

Community Housing Cymru - Previous posts have dicsussed the opportunity that United Welsh Have to input into plans to develop a Convergence funding bid. Consultants supporting Community Housing Cymru have supported 4 think/do groups (Social Enterprise Community Assets: Jobs Skills and Training, Energy adn Fuel Poverty: and Community Regeneration).

Richard Mann joined the Energy group: Michelle Smith the Jobs and Training Discussion.

The results of the groups were discussed at lat Fridays REgeneration netwotrk meeting;

Steve Cranston (chair) United Welsh Housing Association, Steve Curry V2C, Peter Williams Development Trusts Association Wales, Bron Lloyd Charter Housing Association, Mark White Community Investment Fund, Alex Bird consultant – with support from Elid Morris West Wales European Centre. -think /do tank report can be read here

1. Using Housing Association Assets
Community Hubs – To cluster community, social enterprise, and private sector and mainstream public sector agencies in community based settings to offer local services in under served markets. Using a cross subsidy model of public and private organisations paying rental streams to underpin core costs and subsidise space to be used for community benefit - activities that are not viable from a financial perspective but provide essential services to local residents.
Land and Buildings - Includes underutilised retail and community premises, land for recreational, leisure, green spaces and allotments
Housing Associations can bring technical expertise to acquire, develop and manage assets – in particular project management, raising finance, and facilitation skills to help catalyse action that engages with local people, groups - and bridge links to mainstream organisations

A programme of support to support Housing Associations to bring assets back into use for community benefit is a high priority.

2. Making the Housing Association Pound Go Further
Housing Associations are major procurers of good and services - and this investment takes place in exactly the areas where it is needed most. Headline numbers from recently commissioned from Welsh European Research Unit, Cardiff University highlights:
Support the development of new social enterprises to deliver new estate based services – especially in local economies where SME levels of activity are low.
Develop partnering agreements with existing committed locally based SME’s to help them win new business and deliver added value
Undertake thorough reviews of additional areas of regular Housing Association expenditure to scope new opportunities to deliver sustainable businesses
Underpin all of these areas with wrap around' training and support to maximise job opportunities for local people

3. Energy
Housing Associations are at the forefront of the drive to low carbon living. WHQS delivery will bring carbon reduction benefits and reduced bills. RSL’s are making strides to deliver the Code for Sustainable Homes. The group felt that the sister Think/Do Group on Energy was better placed to identify opportunities for the housing association movement in this growth sector.
In any future Convergence bid it was felt that:
Sector specific support was more than justified because of the leadership role that RSL’s are taking
As the energy efficiency/renewable energy market place grows – opportunities for social enterprise to be at the heart should be explored. In particular where tenants and residents can benefit from training and jobs.
A number of the project proposals highlighted opportunities for installation and on going maintenance of new renewable energy infrastructure.
Providing ‘soft’ support to tenants and residents in communities where there have been energy programmes is vital – in particular to highlight the benefits that new technologies can deliver and training for householders on how to maximise the benefits. This work needs to take place at community level – and would be most effectively delivered through locally based social enterprises and from community hubs

4. Connecting, Sharing, Learning and Mentoring
The strength of the housing association movement is its ability share what it is doing to enable others to learn and do. In the context of supporting social enterprise the level and depth of experience varies widely across Wales. Linkages with developments in the wider UK are often patchy.
It is important that leaders looking to grow social enterprise opportunities should have support:

From peers and other experts who have ‘been there and done it’.
Flexibly when it is needed most
1:1 and in learning sets where possible.

Lunchtime Information Share - Building Communities - An Hour at a Time

2009-03-03T08:54:00.002Z

The first United Welsh Lunchtime Information session got off to a cracking start on Friday. Becky Booth from Spice - the Welsh Time Banking network shared her experience developing Time banks.

The discussion is here.

Where next? Karen Thomas, Head of Neighbourhood Services, Becky and myself are meeting early April to agree a workshop format to bring partners together and identify areas of our work where we can start pilot projects. Ideas mentioned at the meeting included:

* New opportunities for tenants in supported housing
* Ways of supporting tenants to take up new volunteering, training and job opportunities
* Underpinning tenant engagement work

Getting something up and running quite quickly should be pretty easily. If you want to be involved in co designing these workshops please do get in touch.

And there is so much great information about Time Banking out there.

Becky gave me a recent New Economics report - 'The New Wealth of Time - How Time banking helps build better public services' - its a free download here.

Wireless Communities

2009-02-27T17:25:00.008Z

Roger Dafydd, chair of Voice for Tenants and resident at Windsor Quay, Cardiff, Dr Mike Fairhurst (broadband expert) ,Karen Llewellyn Housing Office and myself met to talk wireless broadband opportunities.

A couple of years ago Roger worked with Mike ,Dave Williams from United Welsh Community Development Team and the Scarman Trust to set up a pilot wireless broadband service for UWHA residents in Windsor Quay. This was a catch up visit to see how things were going and to see opportunities to extend the offer.

The wireless broadband offer is open to 53 homes in Windsor Quay - and Roger estimates that it is actively being used by 40 families. We agreed to find out a little more by talking to residents with these sorts of questions:

How reliable is the connection?
How often is the service used?
What computers/laptops are residents using?
What is the age profile of those using the connection?
Has the service been used by residents to communicate with United Welsh more effectively?
Is the broadband connection being used to enable residents to access cheaper services (eg energy/banking services)?
Are there any training needs?
What are the options to extend this offer to neighbouring United Welsh communities - and non United Welsh Homes?
What other benefits or challenges have the pilot thrown up?

Roger and Karen will be preparing as consultation event in April - and this will be built into that process.

At present United Welsh is bearing the line rental costs. We did a quick breakdown of costs and reckon that it works out to around 45 pence per home per week ........ I'll just repeat that - 45 pence per week. Mike feels that there are some low cost options to extend the service to additional neighbouring United Welsh communities ( around another 50 homes). This would reduce the weekly rental costs to around 20 pence per week. Mike has agreed to cost out this opportunity and the Community Investment team will try and help fund this - taking into account resident feedback in April.

Mike also agreed to come and talk to the United Welsh Development Team to help us understand whether it is possible to have wireless broadband as part of our standard design brief for all new homes. We currently pay detailed attention to ensuring that environmental standards are to the highest possible level. Why not also a push to help close the digital divide and empower tenants?

It would be good to hear fron colleagues with experience in the area.

Steve Cranston

Caerphilly County Borough Council Presentation Video

2009-02-26T14:42:00.004Z

Summary

The presentation aims to highlight the area of work United Welsh has developed using Social Inclusion Clauses in the procurement process.

United Welsh has a very healthy development program and a commitment to deliver added value through this program in each community we are working in.

This has involved securing employment and training opportunities within our development, planned maintained and reactive maintenance services for the local residents in the community we are working in.

Building on our partnerships with each Local Authority and agencies such as JobMatch we have been able to deliver the following:

25 new entrant construction trainee posts

As at Sept 2009 it is forecast through our development program that 51 employment and training places will be created

United Welsh is now looking to develop work pathways for its tenants

United Welsh is currently developing a bespoke project for people with learning disabilities to acquire basic construction skills.

United Welsh is currently developing a bespoke project for residents leaving our Hostel accommodation to acquire work experience within an area of work environment they have chosen as part of their move-on plan.

What's on the menu for schools?

2009-02-26T10:24:00.003Z

A group of people are meeting shortly to pool their ideas on how United Welsh can offer local schools added benefits from our development programme.

What does this mean in real terms? The Community Investment team at United Welsh seek to gain added-value benefits out of our contracts with developers to be delivered in local communities. In the past we have offered schools a number of benefits e.g. free fruit for a term; match funding the set up of 'young savers' Credit Union clubs; educational visits to the school and organising supervised visits to nearby building sites.

The purpose of the meeting on 16th March is to look critically at what we do already, does it work? Could it be better? And to scope out opportunities for new initiatives. A range of people have been invited (see below) to input their ideas and create a varied 'MENU' of projects on offer to schools.

Meeting - Monday 16th March 2009 - 10.00am at St. Cenydd School, Caerphilly.

Invitees:
United Welsh - representatives from the Community Investment team; Housing and ASB teams.
Michelle Evans, Smart Money Credit Union
Clare Williams, Community Housing Cymru
Marco Gil Cervantes, Promo Cymru
Tracy Evans, Eco Schools Co-ordinator, Caerphilly CBC
Phillip Morgan, Education Business Partnership
Paul Sass, Learning Skills Co-ordinator, St Cenydd School
Andy Davies, Debtcred

If you think you would like to attend contact Cath Lee, Community Investment Co-ordinator on 02920 858183 or 07909928313 or email clee@uwha.co.uk