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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
Scarlett - 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 (Scarlett)
CC Go Green (Becky)
CC Skillspace (Belinda)
CC Community (Wendy)



Meeting Dates

Skillspace Group

Business & Freelancers Networking Evening

May 11th, 2010 from 7:30pm to 9:30pm - The Beehive, Montpellier Villas

email Belinda



Vision 21
Transition Meeting
7pm 27th May
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SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT
Find out how changing our attitudes to transport systems can  reduce carbon emissions.

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

WHAT WENT ON IN APRIL 2010

OUR FIRST AGM

The first Cheltenham Connect Annual General Meeting was held on Wednesday 14th of April at Cheltenham Bowling Club in the Suffolks. From the launch at the end of June 2009 to the Auction of Promises, the networking meetings and Moka mornings, the 10:10 Campaign, the Christmas Craft Fair and all the other activities that went on over the year, it is hard to believe that we have achieved so much in such a short time. We now have 350 online members and over 1000 on the e-newsletter list. We also have 44 local sponsors who have helped and supported us over the year.

We would like to say a massive THANK YOU! to everyone for helping to make Cheltenham Connect so successful.

All Cheltenham Connect members can now see the minutes and the treasurer's report via their action group pages.

Cheltenham Connect Activities

CC Buy Local

Scarlett Harris is the new co-ordinator for the Buy Local Group, but we want to say a big thank you to Karen Wilson for being the first ever holder of this position and for helping us grow Cheltenham Connect over the last year. Karen did an amazing job and will be particularly remembered for her showstopping Santa's Grotto design!

Local Trading History Project

The website is now in development and we have started to input all the material. We hope that the site will be ready enough to show everyone by the beginning of July. If you, or your family members, have any old photos or memories of our local shops please let us know.

On each page we hope to show not only the history of the existing site, but 150 words taking about the current site and linking to the current address and web page.

Community, Craft and Music Festival

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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. A big thank you to local resident and talented illustrator Jane Farrar who is designing our posters and the festival programme. We are currently in discussions with the Bath Road Traders Association about how the local traders could also be involved over the week-end.

We now have a working group of craftspeople who are helping us plan the event and a large number of musicians, singers and bands have signed up to appear. The event listing is 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 Scarlett

The event will be run in association with the Launch of the newly renovated Norwood Triangle (Wendy is also a member of the team that have developed this) and the bicentenary of the tramroad. The team discovered that 200 years ago, on July 2nd, a celebratory dinner was held for 50 local residents only 'of first respectability' (!) and they are now in talks with The Daffodil about reproducing a Victorian Dinner for a similar event on Friday 2nd July.

We are looking for Raffle Prizes for the event. Please email belinda@cheltenhamconnect.co.uk if you would like to help with this. Donors will be mentioned in the programme and on the raffle display material, so will hopefully get some good publicity!

Prizes so far include:

Champagne Lunch for 2 at The Daffodil
Tea on the Terrace at the House of Commons - Martin Horwood MP
£15 Cheltenham Festivals Voucher
£30 Decorating and Interiors Voucher - Colour Matters
£30 Norwood Voucher - www.GlosWhatsOn.co.uk
£20 Voucher - Cooks' Kitsch-In
Bottle of Wine - Tivoli Trading
Bottle of Champagne - Intranet Future
£20 Voucher - Dance Locker
Decorated Tiles - Avicenna Design
Enough eco paint to decorate one room - EcoPaints

A big thank you to everyone who has donated so far.

CC Go Green

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Green Group member Sophie Bryan did a talk about the 10:10 Schools Assemblies that she has been running at the Vision 21 Transition event on the 27th of April. Wendy and Sophie hope to develop the project so that the schools can stay connected and share their own low carbon ideas.

Cheltenham Connect had another full page in the Gloucestershire Echo 10:10 Supplement and we have been continuing to produce the monthly 10:10 Things to Think About that you can see on the website

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The group has been talking with the Woodland Trust about a Cheltenham Connect visit to Lineover Wood. The idea is to do a circular walk starting at the entrance on the A436 (Seven Springs to Kilkenny road) lasting for about 2 hours on a Sunday. This would be an opportunity for about 20 people to be shown many of the interesting features of the wood and to learn about the landscape conservation work of the Trust locally.

CC Skillspace

This month at the networking evening the group had a mini workshop presented by Miranda Jenkins from Skills To Go followed by SkillSpace member Aimee Bowyer telling them about her story and how she comes to be in Cheltenham selling Forever Living Aloe Vera products.

The Curry and Quiz Evening at the Brown Jug was so successful that several potential tables had to be turned away! Everyone has a great time and the event raised £252.50 towards the ongoing running costs of Cheltenham Connect. A massive thank you to Matt Birch for being a fantastic host and to everyone who donated a raffle prize.

The group is now developing its ideas for a Local Business & Skills Directory and for a Mentoring Scheme.

Belinda is also helping the Buy Local Group with finding raffle prizes for the Community, Craft and Music Festival (see above)

The next networking evening will be held on Tuesday May 11th when the group will be welcoming Emma Burlow from Business Link, who will be leading a session called "Are you a Saver or a Maker? Simple sustainable routes to growing your business?"
There will are also be a mini LAUGHTER WORKSHOP from Jan Barley - www.janbarley.com which should, by definition, be fun!

The next Moka Tuesdaywill be on the 25th May 10am Moka, Suffolk Parade. A morning get together to chat, compare notes and work alongside each other (free WIFI is available)

CC Community

HEALTH AND WELLBEING
Are you interested in doing talks or workshops for the local community? If so let Wendy know on wendy@cheltenhamconnect.co.uk

CRAFTS GROUPS
We are also interested in developing talks and workshops to share the skills of our local craftspeople. Let us know if you want to help.

SWAP, SHARE AND SAVE - The Naunton Park Swap, Share and Save scheme 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.
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.

We are now looking for local people who have experience of fundraising, or who have some ideas about how we might go about this! Please let us know if you would like to help.
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