Agenda for Tuesday's meeting

The (final) proposed agenda for the meeting on Tuesday is below - thanks to Jo L, Leah and everyone else who contributed comments and suggestions. Sorry if this seems a little late, I think once things are up and running it will be easier to organise this kind of thing in advance. 

We've tried not to overload the agenda and have incorporated some time for discussion about the general aims of the group. Its also quite broad (for example item 4 could incorporate several different ideas that people have raised).

Based on how this meeting goes we can tweak the format for the future. 

Tea, coffee and setting up from 6.15...

1. Introduction & meeting agenda

2. Intro to community groups (Phil Dodd from Cranswick Square residents' association) 

3. Discussion - purpose and priorities for the Bowes St. Residents' Group

Teabreak

4. Improving the local environment - establishing priorities, application process for available grant money, delegation of tasks

5. Establishment of a formal Constitution

6. Election of officials - Chair, Treasurer & Secretary (Possibly also Vice-Chair, Communications Officer etc?) and delegation of tasks

7. Any other business (please say so in advance if you'd like to contribute anything here)

Our local PCSO, Lee Harris, will also be around to introduce himself and offer any relevant info. I'll try and keep everything to time so we should be all wrapped up by 8.

Can't wait to see you all there!

Constitutions

In order to formally be recognised as a residents' association, we need to adopt a constitution which sets out our aims and objectives, along with rules by which we agree to operate. As far as I can tell, it needn't be particularly complicated, but there are certain things it needs to include.

Everyone at the meeting will be asked to vote on whether they agree with the proposed constitution, so it's worth doing a little reading beforehand if you can, so we all know what we're voting for and have the chance to suggest any changes in advance.

Here's a factsheet on constitutions (pdf file) produced by Manchester City Council.

Here's a model constitution that we could use (pdf file) and just change the relevant bits. Thanks to John for researching this.

Please have a read if you can, and add a comment below if you have any suggestions or changes. I think it's important that everyone who wants to have a say in this gets one.

See you on the 17th!

Draft Agenda

Because the Residents' Association isn't formally constituted yet (that's what we're hoping to do at the meeting on  the 17th), we didn't want to set the agenda without giving others a chance to contribute their ideas. Broadly speaking though, we think the initial meeting should be short, sweet and very positive, focusing on the good things we can do to bring our community together more. Here's what we've come up with so far:

1. Adopting a formal constitution to create a residents' association - nothing else can happen without this bit of red tape.
2. Election of 'official' roles (Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer are essential, but we may want others too)
3. Communications: how to get our messages heard across the community.
4. Money:  a grant of £1000 is available for community organisations in our area - what could we do with it?
5. Gardening in the alleys and use of growing space on the bus depot site.
6. Other business suggested before the meeting.

What do you think? Post a comment if you'd like to contribute anything else to the meeting.

Meeting Date and Venue

Wow. Lovely to see such a lot of enthusiasm! Thanks especially to Andy for setting up the mailing list, Jo C and Keir for the flyers and Karl for booking a venue.

This is my important announcing voice. Ahem. You are invited to:

A MEETING TO CREATE THE BOWES STREET RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION

on TUESDAY 17th APRIL

at FALLOWFIELD LIBRARY on PLATT LANE (map here)

to start at 6.30pm

All are welcome. Check back here in a few days for a draft of the agenda, but if you've any ideas in the meantime then please add a comment below!

Seen our flyer?

Hi neighbour.

Call it the 'Moss Side spring' if you like, but our little slice of Manchester seems to be coming alive once again after a long hibernation. We'd really like to build and strengthen our community by setting up a residents' association, and we'd love you to be part of it.

Where do we mean? Imagine starting at the Parkway and walking along Bowes Street until the end. Turn left onto Broadfield Road, left again at Claremont Road, past the shops and the Claremont pub, left again at the traffic lights and back to where you started (see map). Is your house, flat or shop somewhere in that block? Then you're invited!

We'd like to invite all residents (old and new), tenants and business owners to an initial meeting next month. The date, venue and agenda are still to be confirmed - we'll post them here just as soon as they're sorted, so check back often!

In the meantime, please leave a comment below so we can gauge interest. Be nice.