A campaign to encourage youngsters to save money has earned a group of Kinmel Bay volunteers their own award.
Last year pupils at Ysgol Maes Owen, in Towyn, received a presentation on how they could save through joining the North Wales Credit Union.
The project was launched jointly by Communities First and Chester Avenue Community House, in Kinmel Bay, which is the hub for a variety of activities on the large estate.
Each week since then volunteers from the Community House have visited the school to collect the children’s savings and their efforts resulted in them receiving the award for the Credit Union’s most successful collection point in 2011.
The trophy was presented to trustees Elaine Fox and Norma Roberts at a meeting organised by the Tenants’ Forum of housing association, Cartrefi Conwy.
Gwynne Jones, Cartrefi Conwy’s Director of Operations, which owns most of the houses on the the Chester Avenue estate, said: “The Credit Union does great work in supporting tenants and residents in the community here and winning this award is a tremendous accolade for those involved,” he said.
Elaine said they had been supporting the Credit Union through the Community House for about five years.
“But since we visited the school we have about 40-50 children involved,” she said.
The Tenant Forum meetings are organised to keep Cartrefi Conwy tenants informed and advise them on various on-going projects as well as providing an opportunity for them to provide feedback to management and get more involved in their communities.
At the meeting, details were also outlined of changes to the existing Tenants home contents insurance and Tenant incentive schemes. Instead of insurance being handled by Cartrefi Conwy, who have previously collected the weekly premiums from tenants, it will be run by brokers Jardine Lloyd Thompson.
Account executive Chris Farrell told the meeting that they would be able to obtain the best deal for the tenants, some of whom would see their premiums slightly reduced as the collections change over in April. .
Asked by Elaine Fox, from the Cader Avenue estate in Kinmel Bay, whether premiums would be affected by the recent report about parts of North Wales being at high risk of flooding, Mr Farrell assured tenants that their premiums would not be affected.
Additionally, the current tenant incentive scheme will be replaced in April by the introduction of a Tenant Loyalty Card.
It will enable tenants to obtain discounts and make savings all year round across a wide range of high street and online purchases.
Other presentations included one by Phil Jones, Cartrefi Conwy’s Community Involvement Manager, on the association’s Community Chest scheme under which £151,284 has been awarded over the past three years to benefit local communities.
When Cartrefi Conwy took over responsibility for housing matters from the council three years ago, it pledged to give £50,000 a year for five years towards such projects, and Phil urged tenants’ groups to submit their proposals.
Advice on how to cut energy bills by actions such as changing suppliers or seeking new tariffs was given by Sam Taylor on behalf of the energy efficiency campaign Bus Stop, which is funded by the Citizens Advice Bureau.
Members of the Tenants’ Forum management committee explained what they, as volunteers, had been involved in to help improve services for the benefit of all tenants and encouraged other tenants to play a part.
Vice-chair Margaret Rawlinson said they would like to see more tenants coming forward to join the management committee and would particularly like to see more young people becoming involved.
There was a pleasant surprise for one of the tenants present at the Forum when she walked away with a brand new laptop computer. A raffle was held among all attendees and the laptop, donated by G Purchase Construction Ltd, went to pensioner Teresa Thomas of Scotland Road, Llanrwst.
To find out more information about Cartrefi Conwy’s Tenant Forum and ways to get involved please contact Laura Watson, Community Governance Coordinator on 01492 805564
