I recently stood down from my role as Chairperson of Parnwell Residents Association. It was a role I had been in for 2 years and lots had been achieved in this time. With a team of awesome volunteers we created a coffee morning for residents and a GrandAdults coffee morning for over 55 year olds. We ran family fun days, Christmas fairs, Big Clean Ups and much more.
However it wasn’t all fun and games.
One of the biggest / trickiest things we dealt with were the serious and saddening issues in St Michaels Gate, where people were not living in homes fit for purpose or being cared for as well as they should have been.
I was lucky enough to use my position as Chair Person to give these people a platform to discuss concerns with the council. While these were tense meetings there were some massive successes from the meetings.
Last night I received the following email from a resident of this street who could not attend the meeting as she had finally been moved to a better property to suit her needs.
This email is what it is ALL about;
“I just wanted to thank you for all the support you gave, especially to Parnwell at Michael’s Gate; because of the meetings I attended we were finally given Adrian’s name.
He helped us get a suitable property, we are now starting to build our lives again and build a new home. My husband is fighting his mental health remains and I do a couple of hours volunteering at a charity shop locally.
So once again I thank you, you are truly caring, kind, considerate, and an example to us all of how community can come together and win. I wish you all the best you will be missed as chair.”
It wasn’t always an easy role for me, and it took up a lot of my time. But this email alone shows me it was all completely worth it. Parnwell Residents Association takes place in the area where I live. I want to make my community a better place and this is why I was so heavily involved.
We can all moan about things, but we can also be the people that make the difference.
I would like to end this blog post the same way that I ended the meeting. With the following quote; “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much!”
