Meet the editor - Arnie
Heard 
Most of you know Arnie as a member of Carlisle’s Scrutiny Panel,
but did you know that Arnie is at retirement age but still works
freelance as a writer reporting on criminal cases at the Courts
Carlisle for the News & Star and BBC Radio Cumbria.
The Loop is an e-flyer for involved Tenants
who are on email to keep them up to date with what’s
happening.
Hi, Folks, Welcome to Riversides
new e-flyer for involved tenants, with your help over
the coming months we hope to make this a `sounding board` informing
Tenants what`s going on within Riverside Carlisle. Through this
newsletter you could inform other tenants about something happening
in your neighbourhood. Don’t keep all the good
`tittle-tattle` to yourself share it with others.
Cheers, Arnie. (email website@riverside.org.uk and
I will get your emails!)
The summer has arrived - and the grass is
growing! Are you having problems keeping on top of your
garden? 
Did you know Riverside may be able to
help; we have the Assisted Garden Maintenance scheme, if a
tenant is unable to manage to keep their garden lawn tidy, we
have a fully trained workforce just waiting to look after your
garden, there is a small weekly charge prices for this
service start at £3.00 and then the ground maintenance team
can look after your Garden. The needs of each individual
tenant is taken into account, and the gardening can be tailored to
your requirements, if interested then please call 01228 882
875 or phone the customer help desk on 0845 270 2300.
Entries for the Gardening Competition by
31st August 2012
Entries to Denys Nash Green Spaces Officer Riverside, English
Gate Plaza, Botchergate, Carlisle, CA1 1RP.
Get your fingers greener than ever and be
proud to submit pictures of your hard work on making your property
look one of the best.
Remember to tell everyone
about the Tenants' Resource Centre on the
groun
d floor of the English Gate Plaza
office. .The room is there for the use of tenants;
within the room are a number of computers you can use plus printing
facilities. Maybe you’re just wanting to Surf the web,
or going on the Internet looking for a job, then this could be the
place to come, you might need to write a C.V. or maybe a
letter applying for a job, it`s free and there for you to
use, there are a number of volunteers on hand in the centre
and they are tenants themselves, they would be happy to have
a chat and give assistance where they can. More importantly
there are tea and coffee making facilities, you can phone
customer services to find the opening times of the centre.
Scrutiny panel - this is a
newly formed group with various responsibilities, it involves
meeting members of staff and discussing almost any matter in
relation to Riverside, during a meeting of the panel one matter
that was raised among others, was grass cutting on estates, word
had got back to members how on some estates tenants had complained
about various problems both before and after the grass was cut,
other estates found there was not a problem. So the panel
decided as its first project to scrutinise the grounds maintenance
contract. working together with Riverside staff, hopefully in the
future we can all work together for the benefit of both tenants and
Riverside on all future projects.
The scrutiny structure is being implemented so
that tenants have the capacity to check Riverside`s performance on
issues such as the repairs service.
Get your photos on a 2013
Calendar?
Riverside are looking for some great local photographs,
paintings or drawings, the images taken should have a link to your
home and community in Carlisle, the best 12 images submitted
will be used in the Riverside calendar for 2013, the calendar is
being produced to mark our 10th anniversary in Carlisle.
One idea is some tenants might have an `old` black and white image
of your area, maybe you could take an up-to-date photo to compare
the difference in the area now, and submit both images,
there will be prizes awarded for the winning images. Please
send your entries to Annamarie Desmond, Marketing Communications
Officer, Riverside, English Gate Plaza, Botchergate, or
email, annamarie.desmond@riverside.org.uk
the closing date for entries is Friday 31 August. So get
snapping now while the good weather is here!!!! Good Luck to
you all.
Why become a Riverside
volunteer, well one Botcherby man can tell you why!
John Martin moved into the Botcherby estate a matter of
weeks before Riverside took over from Carlisle City Council,
all was going well until he received a visit from an Housing
Officer, who explained there was a problem with his rent, `in
steps the Riverside angels` that’s Johns words, and with their help
the complicated mix up was sorted out, and all was well. Then
shortly after a leaflet got pushed through his door looking for
volunteers to get involved. He joined the Botcherby
Regeneration Group, then the Resource centre at Riverside office on
Botchergate, he then joined the Communications Group, and was
elected Chairman, he is also on the Training, Learning and
Development Group, and also helped to prepare the 2011 Riverside
Annual Report, he is also the Tenant Editor of the
Federations Annual Report. We haven’t got the space this
month to go into the other groups John is involved with, but they
are numerous. In John words last year was his busiest and this year
looks like it could beat 2011. He feels it is important that
tenants and landlord do work closely together for a better
relationship between both parties. John said he enjoys the buzz of
attending regular meetings and he gets a great deal of mental
stimulus from the thrust and parry of negotiating the best deals
for tenants. Keep on going John the tenants are behind you in all
your efforts.
Next e-flyer out mid November - look
out for it!