Wythenshawe Community Housing Group’s Tenants’ Conference 2015
Wythenshawe Community Housing Group (WCHG) held its 3rd Annual Tenants’ Conference at Wythenshawe Forum on Thursday, 12th November 2015.
Over 200 attendees enjoyed an action packed agenda which was designed to get tenants’ views and also launch WCHG’s new Customer Standards, which have been developed by working with tenants.
Councillor Glynn Evans was Master of Ceremonies on the day and activities included a “WCHG Question Time” with senior management, Greater Manchester Police, South Manchester Clinical Commissioning Group and staff, plus an interactive quiz.
Guest speaker was Jenny Osbourne, the Chief Executive of TPAS England, who said: “Watching and listening to the residents at the conference, hearing senior staff and board members speak I was struck by how right WCHG are in their approach to involvement. It's an involvement based without doubt on mutual respect between residents and staff. And that respect comes hard won on both sides from years of working together on a common goal of making Wythenshawe a better place to live and work”.
As ever, the highlight of the event was the Community Awards, which celebrate the fantastic work that goes on in Wythenshawe and included the winners of the WCHG Garden and Scarecrow competitions. Wyn Goggins, wife of the late Paul Goggins MP, was guest of honour to present The Paul Goggins Lifetime Achievement Award which went to Wyn Casey of Newall Green.
Eddy Newman, Chair of the WCHG Board said, “The conference gives us the opportunity to celebrate all the hard work that our tenants do and gives us a chance to get valuable feedback on how we can work together to make Wythenshawe an even better place to live and work, so I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to come along and give us your views.”
Nigel Wilson, Group Chief Executive of WCHG said, “It’s been a tough couple of months for housing associations but it’s now more important than ever to ensure we continue to work together to keep tenants at the heart of everything we do and continue working with our partnership organisations across the area, who we were delighted many could join for the event, to continue to serve the great community of Wythenshawe.”
Eric Smith, Chair of the Tenant Committee said, “Over the last 3 years the conference has continued to grow in stature and that is largely down to the Community Angels and involved tenants who led on organising the whole event and making it such a huge success.”
Marie Greenhalgh, who picked up a Community award for the Generation Project said, “We were overwhelmed to have been nominated, but to win an award is fantastic. It is a great opportunity to profile what we do in the community. Awards like this are about recognising the issues of loneliness and isolation of the elderly and the many people behind the scenes who make the project what it is. We are only as good as the volunteers who deliver our service and fortunately we have fantastic volunteers.”
If you would like to get involved with WCHG or find out more about the range of ways that you can get help, please don’t hesitate to contact the Involvement team for a chat on 0300 111 0000 or 0800 633 5500 or email getinvolved@wchg.org.uk
