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CC Buy Local

We have now had the first two meetings for the Bath Road DIY Streets Project that we have now renamed Connect Streets. You can see the new website on www.connectmystreet.org.    

We have some ideas about what we want to do, but the £5000 grant money won't go very far (even one timber planter with seating can cost £2500!) and we are hoping to find other ways of raising funds so that we can do more exciting things. We think that asking local residents to sponsor individual items (such as planters or trees) might be one way forward.

We are encouraging everyone to share their thoughts and ideas on the site so that the working group can then talk about all the possibilities.

The working group includes:

Cheltenham Connect, Cheltenham Urban Design Team, Cheltenham Integrated Transport and Sustainability Team, The Bath Road Traders Association (BARTA), The St Philip and St James Area Residents Association (SPJARA), CycleCheltenham, Leckhampton Online, The South Cheltenham Church Partnership and Walk 21.

We hope to now include the local community policing team and we are looking for a landscape architect to advise the project. Please  let us know if you can help.

As part of the project we thought that it would be a good idea to create a 'Friends of the Bath Road' group and you can join this through the website or by emailing lizzie@cheltenhamconnect.co.uk 

ORAL HISTORY PROJECT      

We are partnering with the St Philips and St James Area Residents Association (SPJARA) to run an Oral History Project that will enable our local primary school children to interview older residents about their memories of the area and how shopping has changed over the last 80 years. This is thanks to a £3500 National Lottery grant that has been given to SPJARA as an extension of the Norwood Triangle Project.The recordings will then be made available on our new history website.

 

If you are a local trader or resident (or have someone in your family) who would like to be involved in this please contact wendy@cheltenhamconnect.co.uk 

Don't forget that you can also download the new Southtown Walking Trail Leaflet from the site. 

SUMMER FESTIVAL - 25th and 26th June 

  

Following the great success of last year's Community, Craft and Music festival we are starting to plan the next one and this year hope to include a combined craft and farmers market. If you are a local craftsperson or food producer please let Scarlett know if you would like a stall scarlett@cheltenhamconnect.co.uk.  

THINK LOCALLY BOOK

The Think Locally book

that Wendy has been helping with will be officially launched on the 31st of March and we hope that it will bring many more people over to visit the wonderful indies that we have in South Cheltenham. You can read about Think Locally on

CC Go Green   

'LIGHT GREEN' PUB QUIZ 

We were sold out for the pub quiz that we held at The Brown Jug in February and a good time was had by all. Many thanks to Vanessa, Stuart, Scarlett and Chris for all the organising and to Matt at The Brown Jug for letting us have the venue.   

 A TALK ON THE WILD SIDE - 23rd March 7.30 - 9pm
  

For this year's Climate Week on 21-27 March, we are teaming up with The SPJARA Residents' Association and the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust to organise and promote a talk about Gardening for Wildlife from 7.30pm at Church House, 60 Painswick Road, Leckhampton. The event is free to attend but donations on the night are welcome.

   
ECO-OPEN HOME INITIATIVE

We are planning an Eco Homes initiative for later in the year and are putting out a call for anyone who has already invested in eco aspects for their home and who would like to be considered as one of the open homes. It will be supported with an exhibition run by theSevern Wye Energy Agency.

In total we're aiming to demonstrate aspects of:  

·       Energy conservation - e.g. low energy lighting

·       Insulation - e.g. internal and external insulation, retro-fitted double/triple glazing

·       Micro-generation - e.g. solar panels (photovoltaic and thermal), ground source heating, bio-mass boilers/stoves

·       Sustainable use of water - e.g. in the garden or as grey water systems in the house.

Please contact adrian.phillips@gmx.com if you are interested in being involved. 

SWAP, SHARE AND SAVE 

Along with the community group and Leckhampton online we are currently further developing the Swap, Share and Save initiative 

that aims to encourage people to swap, lend, or give away their unwanted items for free to other members in their community. This will follow the very successful initiative that has already been established in Naunton Park (see more details under the Community Group below).

To join the Go Green group click here

CC Skillspace

BUSINESS & FREELANCERS MEETINGS  

We have had two very interesting SkillSpace evenings at The Beehive. In January Rebecca Gardner talked to us about "The Art of the Interview" and in February we had "Facebook for Business" from Jonathan Pollinger. The February meeting was the busiest yet with 54 people attending and standing room only!

BUSINESS MENTORING

We are in the process of finalising the details for our Business Mentoring group and will be expanding on the process in our March meeting, before running a "Speed Mentoring"evening at The Beehive on April 5th.

The next SkillSpace meeting is being held on the 8th of March 7.30pm upstairs at The Beehive. The topic will be: "How to waste money on Solar Energy systems - real life experiences of going green at home" with member Richard Walter and we will also be launching our Business Mentoring Scheme    

LAPTOP FRIDAYS
Our Laptop Fridays are becoming increasingly busy and for many people it is a great way to end the week! We meet between 9ish and 12is every Friday upstairs at Maison Chaplais, Tivoli for coffee, chat and co-working. (I-Pads and fountain pens can be used :) Anyone is welcome to come along and say hello, or join us for the whole morning. 

To join the SkillSpace group click here   

CC Community

We have been very busy over the last two months helping to plan some of the activities that are happening in the other groups (e.g. the Green Group Wildlife Talk and The Royal Wedding Street Party) and developing some of our own.  

RAMBLE AND ROAST- 10th April starts 11am followed by lunch at 1pm 

Cheltenham Connect and the Leckhampton Green Land Action Group (LEGLAG) are partnering to organise a 2-hour walk around the fields of Leckhampton. The walk should be suitable for all ages but please wear appropriate footwear and, as there are a number of high styles, you may want to think about whether you are happy to lift your dogs over! The walk starts at 11am from Burrow's Playing Fields, Moorend Grove (off Moorend Road) and ends at the Brown Jug, Bath Road for a 2-course Sunday Roast Lunch. The walk is free to attend and the lunch is £11.50 for adults and £6 for children. Booking for lunch is essential - please call The Brown Jug direct on 01242 521736.

SWISHING EVENING

On 6.45pm on Monday 28th of March we are running a ladies only

clothes-swap event at the Beehive. Tickets are £10 and include a '

Trendwatch' talk by Berith of Limelight Image Consultancy.

A big thank you to Cheltenham Connect member Karen Wilson for her brilliant organising and newly acquired web design capabilities!

Please see the website http://cheltenhamclothesswap.weebly.com 

for more information.

SWAP, SHARE AND SAVE

Get to know your neighbours and support your local community with Swap, Share & Save!
Local residents can now swap, lend, or give away their unwanted items for free - if you live near Naunton Park by contacting Alison and Morgan on swapshareandsave@gmail.com and elsewhere by using the online facility on Leckhampton Online   

1) Post your swap, share and save items on Leckhampton Online

2) No money is exchanged

3) Items are just a walk away

4) Like freecycle (uses same message etiquette of Offers and Wanteds)

To join the Community group click here