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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

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

email Belinda



Vision 21
Transition Meeting
7pm 16th June
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A showing of the
'In Transition Film'

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 MAY 2010

May was a very busy month with everybody thinking about how we could make the Summer Festival a really successful event. The plan is to then run it annually along with the Christmas Craft Fair.

We have been: creating the promotional materials, liaising with all the craftspeople, local organisations, local traders, musicians and entertainers, planning the music schedules, overviewing the site layouts, collecting the raffle prize offers, designing the festival programme, putting up the banners and hand delivering the posters and leaflets.

There is a lot to organise! Scarlett (our new Buy Local co-ordinator) and Kath (helping oversee the craft applications) have been doing an amazing job. Our Wednesday evening get-togethers in the Exmouth have turned into major planning sessions.

On top of that our local historians have been sending in the materials for the history website (Wendy and Graham are working on this) and we have had a number of other group events going on.

Wendy has undertaken to personally* assist with the creation of a 'Think Locally' book for Cheltenham that aims to promote all the local independent shops in the town. Started by a small publishing company in Oxford the idea is to create a 'coffee-table' quality book that people can then purchase for £4.95. The existing Oxford books are of a really beautiful quality and there has already been a very positive take up from the independent traders in Montpelier and The Suffolks. Phil from White Room Images in The Suffolks has agreed to work with Wendy and to oversee all the photography. If you are an independent trader in the area please contact Wendy for more information.

*As this includes the whole of Cheltenham it is beyond the constitutional remit of Cheltenham Connect which covers only South Cheltenham.

You can read about Think Locally on www.thinklocally.co.uk

Cheltenham Connect Activities

CC Buy Local

Local Trading History Project

We are in the process of building up the website and hope to have something to show everybody by the beginning of July. Amongst other things you will be able to print off a copy of the historical walking trail leaflets that we are developing in conjunction with SPJARA (The St Philips and St James Area Residents Association)

If you, or your family members, have any old photos or memories of our local shops please let us know.

Community, Craft and Music Festival

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We are now finalising the programme details for our 2 day local Community, Craft and Music Festival at The Exmouth and Norwood Arms on the 3rd and 4th of July. We already have 25 local craftspeople signed up together with a large number of local organisations and traders. More than a dozen local music and dance acts are providing entertainment over the week-end.

With a bouncy castle, face painting, badge-making, flag decorating, old fashioned games, health and wellbeing areas, green area, Pimms tent, barbecue and raffle there will be a lot going on!

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 as soon as possible.

The event is being run in association with the Launch of the newly renovated Norwood Triangle which will take place at 12 o'clock on Saturday 3rd (on the triangle itself). The 21st Earl of Suffolk will be following in the footsteps of his great, great, great, great grandfather who launched the original tramroad on the same date 200 years ago. Everybody is invited to attend and there will be an exhibition in Bethesda Church Hall afterwards.

CC Go Green

Read the June 10:10 Things to Think About here

The Green Group have been busy planning their own involvement in the Summer Festival and hope to run a number of tables promoting green activities.

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Eco Warriors
Following the 10:10 theme (that they have been promoting in all the local schools) they will be helping to organise the Children's Fancy Dress Competition and Parade under the theme 'Eco-Warriors' (endangered animals, carbon monsters, recycling heroes, green giants, planet earth protectors etc, etc). The Parade will start at the Norwood Arms at 2.30 on Sunday with the Prize-Giving at The Exmouth Arms at 3pm.

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They are now taking bookings (from Cheltenham Connect members) for the Woodland Trust walk in Lineover Wood at 1.30pm on Sunday 18th July. 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 is 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.

Please email Stuart if you are interested.


CC Skillspace

This month at the networking evening the group welcomed Emma Burlow from Business Link, who led a session called "Are you a Saver or a Maker? Simple sustainable routes to growing your business?" There was also a mini LAUGHTER WORKSHOP from Jan Barley - www.janbarley.com (much enjoyed by all!!)

The next Moka Tuesday will be on the 22nd June at 10am Moka, Suffolk Parade. A morning get together to chat, compare notes and work alongside each other (free WIFI is available)

Future Event

The group is planning an 'Evening with Martin Horwood' at The Beehive on Tuesday 31st August 7.30pm. This will be an opportunity to talk to our local MP and ask him what it is like to suddenly be the party in government. What is it like being in the coalition? What has changed about their green ambitions? Not a party political evening, but a find out about politics evening!!!
Tickets are £15 to include a buffet supper and are available through belinda@cheltenhamconnect.co.uk (available to Cheltenham Connect members only)

CC Community

On Sunday 18th July at 4pm we will be holding a Cheltenham Connect Summer Picnic - Anyone can come along to Naunton Park and we thought that it would be fun if everyone brought food to share (ideally locally sourced, home-grown, or home-made). If you are a local musician or entertainer please come along and join us.
It will be a very informal affair so bring your own picnic rugs and brollies!

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