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News from Cheltenham Connect
Cheltenham Connect is a new community initiative that aims to strengthen and empower the residential and trading areas of South Cheltenham i.e. Naunton Park, Leckhampton,
The Bath Road (south), Tivoli, The Suffolks and The Park. It is currently run by a small group of dedicated residents (all of whom have other daytime jobs!). If successful we hope that it could be replicated in other areas of Cheltenham.
See our website

exmouth

We normally meet very informally every Wednesday evening at The Exmouth Arms
7pm to 9pm.

Come and join us!
Who are we?
Wendy - Chair
Clare - Secretary
Angeline - Treasurer
Karen - Buy Local
Becky - Go Green
Belinda- Skillspace
Wendy - Community

plus all the other members of the CC Steering Groups and Networks


Visit the Group Pages

CC BUY LOCAL
CC GO GREEN
CC SKILLSPACE
CC COMMUNITY


Email us

CC Buy Local (Karen)
CC Go Green (Becky)
CC Skillspace (Belinda)
CC Community (Wendy)



Meeting Dates

Skillspace Group

Business & Freelancers Networking Evening

April 13th, 2010 from 7:30pm to 9:30pm - The Beehive, Montpellier Villas

email Belinda


Vision 21
Transition Meeting
7pm 27th April
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Find out how Cheltenham Connect is working with local pupils and schools to help them lower their carbon footprint.

Room TC002a
Francis Close Hall Campus
Swindon Road
CHELTENHAM
Gloucestershire
GL50 4AZ

A date for your diary!

Community, Craft and Music Festival

3rd and 4th July

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We are holding a two day festival to celebrate our history project, the renovation of the Norwood Triangle and the bicentenary of the tramroad. If you are a local organisation or a craftsperson that would like a table or stall please let us know
Can you help us with storage?
storage
Over the last nine months we have been accumulating lots of picture boards and promotional materials, together with things that we have been given by sponsors. We are now seeking somewhere to put them all!

Please let us know if you have a local dry storage space that we could use.

Cheltenham Connect is the proud recipient of a £4000 Cheltenham Borough Council Community Pride Grant

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Become a Sponsor of Cheltenham Connect
We are actively looking for people to help us grow. If you can help in any way let us know

MARCH REVIEW 2010

March was a busy month with lots of different things going on. The history website is under development, the summer craft fair taking shape and the Green group held their 'Question Time' event.

OUR FIRST AGM!

The first Cheltenham Connect Annual General Meeting will be held at 7pm on Wednesday 14th of April at Cheltenham Bowling Club in the Suffolks. All members are welcome to attend but we do ask that you email us in advance so that we have an idea of numbers. You can access the draft agenda here

This is an opportunity to hear about all the things that Cheltenham Connect has achieved in the last year, to see who is involved and to have a say in our future activities.

Cheltenham Connect Activities

CC Buy Local

Due to a family bereavement we have been without Karen for most of the month so a big thank you to those who have helped us maintain the Buy Local activities.

Local Trading History Project

Although the researchers have now started compiling the material both the Bath Road Traders Association and Cheltenham Connect have been let down by Cityscape Maps who had previously agreed to extend the existing Cheltenham map to include our local trading areas (the existing map does not include South Cheltenham which seems very strange and compromises our ability to attract visitors to the area). We understand that the company has had some internal problems but we were reliant on the relevant section of map to use on the website and this has meant that we have had to delay the web design. Fortunately we have a new skillspace member who is a talented illustrator and has offered to help.

Cheltenham Connect member Graham Boston has agreed to design the website and we will be working with him over the next couple of months. If you, or your family members, have any old photos or memories of our local shops please let us know. We hope to be able to tell you more about the website in the next newsletter.

The preparations for the 2 day local Community, Craft and Music Festival on the 3rd and 4th of July are going well and we are currently intending to run the event at both The Exmouth Arms and The Norwood Arms on The Bath Road. We now have a working group of craftspeople who are helping us plan the event and a number of musicians, singers and bands have signed up to appear. The event listing should be included in the main Cheltenham Music Festival brochure and we are planning to produce our own 8 page festival booklet. If you would like to have a stall or to be involved in any way (including having an advertisement in the festival programme) please email Wendy while Karen is away.

CC Go Green

Green Group member Sophie Bryan has been very busy working with all the primary schools in the area to help them with the 10:10 initiative. Sophie will be taking about her work at the next Vision 21 Transition event on the 27th of April (see side panel for details)

The Green Group 'Question Time' Panel with our local political candidates was very well attended and proved to be very interesting for all concerned.

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Cheltenham Connect had a full page in the Gloucestershire Echo 10:10 Supplement and we are continuing to produce our monthly 10:10 Things to Think About.

Green Group member Jon Walker had an article in the Echo about his new eco-paint business. You can read the article here

The group are planning a summer field visit by Cheltenham Connect members to Lineover Wood (above Dowdeswell reservoir on the A40) with the help of the local Woodland Trust group

CC Skillspace

This month at the networking evening we had a talk from Anne Hawkins called "Too Successful to Survive?" together with a brainstorming session lead by Alison Crane "Threats and Opportunities for businesses as oil prices rise". You can see details of some of the past networking talks here

The next evening is being held today at 7.30pm at The Beehive on Tuesday 13th April. There will be a mini workshop presented by Miranda Jenkins from Skills To Go followed by SkillSpace member Aimee telling us about her story and how she comes to be in Cheltenham selling Forever Living Aloe Vera products. You are welcome to attend if you live or work in the Cheltenham Connect area.

The next Moka Tuesday will be on the 27th April 10am Moka, Suffolk Parade. A morning get together to chat, compare notes and work alongside each other (free WIFI is available)

Curry & Quiz Night

This group is holding a fundraising Curry & Quiz Night on Friday 30th April 7.30pm at The Brown Jug. With provisional bookings of 32 already in place, you will need to be quick to get your team in.
Skillspace member Chris Farrell has kindly offered to be our QuizMaster on what promises to be a fun evening!

More Details and Download Team Entry Form here

Raffle Prizes

We have now acquired a licence to run a raffle at the Community, Craft and Music Festival on July 3rd & 4th. We also have our first offer of a prize. Many thanks to The Daffodil for offering a Champagne Lunch for Two with a Goody Bag to take away.

We are keen to offer a good range of prizes for the event and would be delighted to hear from anyone who would like to donate something. We will have a notice board at the event  displaying all the prize details so everyone donating a prize will get a personal or business mention as a sponsor. Please email belinda@cheltenhamconnect.co.uk if you would like to help.

We are also running a raffle at the Curry and Quiz night, where we already have some great prizes donated by The Brown Jug and The Handmade Biscuit Company. Please let me know if you can donate something, even a bottle of wine would go down well!

CC Community

We are looking for someone to help co-ordinate the activities of this group (as Wendy really does not have enough time!). Please email us if you can help.

SWAP, SHARE AND SAVE - The Naunton Park Swap, Share and Save scheme has been very successful and is always looking for new items. Please email Alison for more details

DO YOU HAVE ANY SPARE STORAGE SPACE?
We are still looking for somewhere to store all things that we  have now been given and collected (such as our picture boards, collection boxes, Christmas decorations etc)  Please let us know if you have a spare storeroom or garage that we could use.

Leckhampton Online!

There is a new website dedicated to Leckhampton that we are keen to support - see www.leckhamptonOnline.co.uk. Take a look to find out what is going on in the area. It is currently giving local residents the opportunity to post online questions directly to our political candidates so have a think what you would like to ask!
Fundraising

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As a voluntary group we are always looking for new ways to help us grow. As we meet in each others homes (and very often in pubs!) our running costs are very small, but we have lots of things that we would like to do and each project needs to be funded.

Please let us know if you would like to help or have any great fund-raising ideas.
Our Sponsors
We are immensely grateful for everyone's help. Please let us know if we have missed you off the list.


Jane Farrar from JAM Designs for designing the poster for the Curry and Quiz night and helping us with the Local Trading History Project.

The Local Church Partnershipfor helping with the 10:10 Initiative

St James' C of E Primary School,Naunton Park Primary School, Leckhampton Primary School and Richard Pate Primary School for helping us with the 10:10 Initiative.

Robin and Sue at Mobenn Marquees for helping us with the marquee for the Christmas Fair

Ryan at RS Audio for his help with the music for the Christmas Fair and our Christmas party.

Richard Walter for D.J.'ing at our Christmas party and teaching us to Salsa!

Greenway Nurseries for providing the Christmas trees for the Craft Fair

The Handmade Biscuit Company for supplying luscious lemon slices at the auction of promises and thankyou biscuits for sponsors of the Christmas Fair.

Cheltenham Ukulele Band for offering their time at all our major events

The Dixies for playing such cool jazz at our launch and the Christmas Party

The Incredibelles for singing at the launch and the Christmas Fair

The La La Lunchtime Chorus for singing at the Christmas Fair

Pip and Jim's (St Philips and St James' Church) Choir for singing at the Christmas Fair

Thrill Collins for playing at the Christmas Fair

The Music Manfor entertaining the children at the Christmas Fair

Tivoli Tradingfor providing the signage for the Craft Fair

Taylors Fancy Dress for providing the elf costumes for the Craft Fair

Cooks Kitsch-In for providing Christmas lights for the Craft Fair

Morans for providing Christmas decorations for the Craft Fair

Chris at Dodwells for regularly providing us with stationery at cost price

The Exmouth Arms for the use of their meeting room and providing our launch venue

The Beehive for offering their upper room for our monthly CC Skillspace business network meetings

Graham Boston (from Gloucestershire Connections) for designing the logo

Belinda at GlosOffers.co.uk for our noticeboard on The Bath Road

Clare at Cheltenham Directories for providing a page of editorial about Cheltenham Connect each month.

The Sign Studio for the banner that we used at The Suffolks Fair

Karen at Colourmatters for helping us with the printing costs of our first T shirts

Matt at The Brown Jug for helping with our launch preparations and storing the tombola prizes

Mike and Louise Preston at Independent Eye Carefor providing two beautiful Bugattis for our launch

adVANce+MAN (01242 517 886) for supplying a man with a van to pick up the exhibition stands for the launch

ILEC for the loan of their van for the launch

.St Philips and St James' Church - for the loan of tables for the launch event and the Big Picnic Lunch.

Bethesda Church - for the loan of tables for the launch event and offering their venue for our Green Group events.

Jan Vaisey and Ian Harvey for singing at our launch

St James' Primary School PTA for lending us their pergolas for the launch and the Big Picnic Lunch.

The University of Gloucestershire for loaning us their exhibition panels and providing the Park Campus for The Big Picnic Lunch

Simone Williams (freelance artworker) simone@hockeyhouse.co.uk - for designing The Big Picnic Lunch poster

Angeline Fuller from Entire Credit - for giving us a large cash box!

Mobenn Marquees for helping us plan the Christmas Craft Fair and offering to provide a marquee at cost.

Cheltenham Bowling Club for the use of their clubroom as a meeting venue. 

Duncan at Paperbox for providing the Trader Invitations and the sample history board.

St James' Primary School for the use of their hall for the Auction of Promises.

In2digital & Mailing Ltd for printing the Auction of Promises catalogue 

Cotswold Linen Care for the tablecloths for the Auction of Promises.



Please feel free to send a copy of this newsletter to anyone that you think might be interested in Cheltenham Connect.

If you are an editor please help us to let people know about Cheltenham Connect by asking for articles/editorial.

It really is all about people power.
 
The Cheltenham Connect Team
By supporting Cheltenham Connect you are helping to protect and preserve your local community

www.cheltenhamconnect.co.uk