Just a note to remind everyone that the GLERA annual general meeting is on Tuesday 11^thJune. I hope that you can come. We need people from 40 households to be quorate.

The meeting will be to discuss the on going activities that the GLERA Committee have been undertaking on your behalf, discuss any issues that you would like to raise, agree the year’s accounts and elect a new committee, Chair, Secretary and Treasurer.

For various reasons the Committee has been rather depleted in numbers in recent months and I would therefore put out a request for new people to stand as members. It involves 5 or 6 meetings a year, help with distributing flyers and perhaps having an area or issue on which you would like to take a lead.

We also have not had a Secretary for this year as no one was keen to take on the job. There has been discussion about making this a paid rôle and please get in touch at chair.glera@gmail.comif you are interested. The duties would be taking minutes at meetings, and helping with correspondence.

What has the GLERA been doing for you in the past year? Successes have been:

• Getting money wrongly demanded by the City from leaseholders for concrete works at Cullum Welch paid back. Thanks to Vernon.
• Highlighting the issues on the COLPAI site to do with crushing the concrete on site and getting the City to rethink and take the waste off site.
• Organising the event in the Community Centre on Christmas Day. Thanks to Anne.
• Organising the community conversation about anti-social behaviour. Thanks to Dawn and Anne.
• Organising an ideas event at the Christmas Market to get proposals together for the future of the estate.
• Representing GLERA on the COLPAI Liaison Group meetings and challenging the format of the meetings and the representation from the community.
• Challenging the decision to move the Estate Office into the Community Centre and encourage the City to look at other options.
• Organising a series of high level meetings with the City to discuss tenant and leaseholder issues.

Failures have been:

• Getting the City to keep the trees between the COLPAI site and the allotments.
• Getting the City to speed up the window replacement/upgrade programme to improve living standards especially for those in fuel poverty. Dawn proposed a motion at a Ward Mote that should have brought action but we still have no clarity on this.
• Getting the City to take seriously it duties in maintaining a Grade 2 and 2* listed estate. Some of the decorating repairs were not of good quality and the concrete repairs to Crescent House are an eyesore.

On a personal level I have been in protracted correspondence with City officers, Common Councillors and others every week. I have been to many meetings and have been on Estate walkabouts. With a full time job and a family it's not always easy to fit in but I'm encouraged by the progress we do make as a residents' association, and also the comittment of my fellow GLERA committee members. Do joins us and share the load. The more of us get involved, the less onerous the tasks and the more good we can do for the benefit of our very special neighbourhood.