A mother of three has taken on responsibility for an extended family – of over 3,000.
Vicky Downey from Kinmel Bay has just been elected as secretary of the Tenants’ Forum of Cartrefi Conwy, the association which took over the county borough council’s housing stock in 2008.
And she sees it not just as a way of helping tenants like herself but also as an opportunity to broaden her experience.
Vicky, 33, who has three daughters of school age, has lived on the Chester Avenue estate for about five years and in that time has taken a key role in the growing number of community activities.
She is on the committee of the Chester Avenue Community House, which is at the hub of so many activities, and has undertaken several courses organized for tenants including Welsh and manual handling.
“I don’t like just sitting around when the children are at school,” she said.
She has been one of the driving forces behind the success of the Green Fingers Club which has done much to transform the appearance of the large estate, which for so long had a reputation for being unkempt and litter-strewn. She is currently chairman of the group.
Through Cartrefi Conwy’s innovative participatory budgetingscheme, a grant of £2,435 was obtained so that every tenant on the estate was offered a hanging-basket, and planters have been provided in communal areas. The brackets for the baskets were put in place by the association’s building maintenance team.
“Things have improved and there is a pretty good community spirit here now. I know pretty well everybody on the estate and most of them know me,” said Vicky, who is also involved with the Gateway project aimed at helping the unemployed find work.
She was persuaded the attend the annual meeting of the Tenants’ Forum which acts as a link with Cartrefi Conwy’s board, and agreed to become the firt volunteer secretary, working alongside new chairman John Roberts and vice-chair Margaret Rawlinson, both from Llanrwst. Until recently, the role of secretary was filled by a member of the association’s staff.
“It’s early days yet and we haven’t really got started but I know there’ll be a fair bit of work with about 3,800 tenants throughout Conwy,” she said.
Vicky is hopeful that the skills she acquires in the role, added to those she has already gained through the Community House programme, will help her find employment in the future.
“I did some bar work before having the children but that’s all, and I would like to go on various other training courses to improve my CV,” she said.
Pam Lonie, Chair of the Board, said: “We are committed in all our involvement work to empowering tenants to influence change and to ensure that the way we work allows people of all ages to play an active part.”
