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News from Cheltenham Connect

Local People

Local Pride!  

Cheltenham Connect is a rapidly growing local community initiative that  aims to strengthen and empower the residential and trading areas of South Cheltenham.

It is run as a membership association and is overseen by a small group of dedicated volunteer residents (most of whom have other daytime jobs!)

It is open to anyone who either lives or works in the area.

  

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
Dave - Treasurer
Scarlett - Buy Local
Becky - Go Green
Belinda- Skillspace
Jennifer - Community
Debbie- Media and PR

plus all the other members of the CC Networks

Email us

CC Buy Local (Scarlett)
CC Go Green (Becky)
CC Skillspace (Belinda)
CC Community (Jennifer)


Visit the Group Pages

CC BUY LOCAL
CC GO GREEN
CC SKILLSPACE
CC COMMUNITY


Transition Town Cheltenham
transition2
Transition Town Cheltenham have a new leaflet which explains  all the good work that they are involved in. You can download it 

here  

 

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


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


ageofstupid



     Apologies for sending out the newsletter again but the          

       previous version had included an old sponsors link.
         Thank you to Jane from Aziza for picking it up! 
 

SEPTEMBER UPDATE 2011  


IN THIS NEWSLETTER

New Fundraising initiative 

Latest News 

Update on Bath Road Connect Streets Project

Update on Oral History Project

 

WHAT'S COMING UP - KEY DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

11th September - Green Group: Sustainable Homes Open Day
13th September - Skillspace Networking Meeting 

30th September - Skillspace: Connect Business Day
November - date tbc - Local History event
November - date tbc - trip to Monmouth Cinema 

2nd, 3rd and 4th December - Christmas Craft Fair  

6th December - Skillspace Christmas Dinner  



Help support the work of Cheltenham Connect by joining our new Monthly Cash Draw!


cashdraw 
The idea is simple. You commit to pay £1 a month for a year and every month your name goes into our draw. The winner of the draw then receives 20% of the monthly income from the draw. 


The odds are great, the money will stay within our local community and we will publish the monthly winners on our website. 

You can see the leaflet here and print out a standing order form here. (Please enter the date of the 1st of October as we hope to start it then).

Latest news

Our Website 

We have been trialling a new website design and hope that you will bear with us while we make the necessary changes. All the current action groups can still be accessed as normal through the site or the left-hand side links of the newsletter.  
     

PR 

We are delighted to welcome onboard Debbie Smith, who runs Helix PR. Debbie will now be taking over all our PR activities from Barbara Stopher.

 

Buy Local Group

Oral History Project

The project has been a great success and we are now working on the films for the website and a book that will capture all the material that we have gathered. We are planning a big celebration later in the year so that the whole community can see what we have been up to.

 

Connect Streets Project 

Everybody has now had the chance to see the plans that we put up at Cook in the Bath Road and there has been a very positive response. We hope to soon know the costs of all the planters so that people can offer to be sponsors. We also hope to soon have the first planters and the noticeboard completed.

 

mas1Christmas Craft Fair - The '2011 Crimblefest!" 

Make a date in your diary for the Christmas Craft Fair that will be open on Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd December 10-6 and Sunday 4th December 11-4. If you are a local craftsperson who would like to exhibit, please contact  scarlett@cheltenhamconnect.co.uk for an application form. The closing date for entries is Monday 17th October.

 

To join the Buy Local Group click here 

 


Go Green Group

SUSTAINABLE HOMES OPEN DAY - THIS SUNDAY (11th Sept)!! 

 

In association with UK wide Heritage Open Days we have joined forces with Vision 21 for Gloucestershire and Transition Towns Cheltenham to plan the opening of up to 10 Sustainable Homes to the public in Cheltenham on Sunday 11th September.  

 

The houses will demonstrate aspects of energy conservation, insulation, micro-power generation and the sustainable use of water. The owners will be on hand to explain their experiences of adopting these measures.

Mike Bush's house
One of the Sustainable Homes

 

 We have chosen a variety of different styles and age of house to match those in our area and hope to encourage people to adopt sustainable measures in their homes to help protect the envionment, whilst saving money.

 

 

For further information take a look at the Go Green page on the Cheltenham Connect website.   


CAR SHARING

We are continuing to look at the possibilities of developing car sharing and will keep you updated through our newsletters.  

 

TRANSITION CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL 
We hope to have a presence at the Transition Town Festival that will be held in the Garden Gallery in Montpelier from the 23rd to the 29th of November. 

 

To join the Go Green group click here 

Skillspace Group      

Upcoming Skillspace Talks

 
Tuesday 13th Sept - QR Codes, what they are and why you should care - Using 2D bar codes to turn your print advertising into
memorable mobile marketing. With Emily Davis, Digital Marketer from
http://firehoop.com
.

 

Tuesday 11th October - Your computer: is the tail wagging the dog? with Duncan Tincello, freelance IT consultant and chartered engineer.

All Cheltenham Connect Skillspace meetings are held on the second Tuesday of the month at The Beehive, Montpellier Villas and start at 7.30pm with an opportunity to network with other members

 

   3OTH SEPTEMBER - OUR CONNECT BUSINESS DAY

(100 already signed up!) 

 

20 local business experts will be taking stands for the first Connect
Business Day at the Cheltenham Bowling Club in Suffolk Square on
Friday 30th September 10am - 4pm. After an official opening by
Martin Horwood MP, best-selling business author Geoff Burch will
give a presentation entitled "Go It Alone, the Streetwise Secrets of
Self Employment". There will be an optional networking lunch
followed by a chance to have a go at bowling.  

 

geoffbirch
It's an opportunity to meet and talk to other local companies, to
discuss how they can help you achieve your business objectives.
Whether you're looking for advice on social media, a fresh new
designer, expertise in green issues or an experienced recruiter who
can help you find the best local talent, we have people who can
help.


AGENDA

 

10am Official opening by Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood  

12 noon Presentation from Geoff Burch, internationally renowned

business expert on "Go It Alone, the Streetwise Secrets of Self  

Employment", followed by a book signing

 

1pm - 2pm Networking lunch with standholders and attendees -  

pre-booking essential £5.50 per person

 

2pm - 4pm "Have a go" at bowling

 

After 4pm Drinks at the bar

 

Stands are open 10am-4pm, so come for a while or stay all day.

 

Cheltenham Mayor, Barbara Driver, will be attending at 1pm.


If you want to win over £1000 worth of highly useful services from

our experts, please put your business card into the prize draw box

at the Connect Business day.

 

Please go to http://www.connectbusiness.org.uk to book your FREE place. You can also book and pay the £5.50 for the networking lunch (which must be booked in advance).

 

If you have any queries, please contact

belinda@cheltenhamconnect.co.uk. 01242 573433.


AND DON'T FORGET LAPTOP FRIDAYS - MAISON CHAPLAIS 

We meet between 9'ish and 12'ish every Friday upstairs at Maison Chaplais, Tivoli for coffee, chat and co-working. Any Skillspace member is welcome to come along and say hello, or join us for the whole morning.   

 

And our Christmas Dinner - sorry to mention this already! - will be held on Tuesday 6th December at the Beehive. Please book with Belinda. 

 

To join the Skillspace group click here  

Community Group

The Community Group has had a quiet couple of months with so many people away. There are plans afoot for the autumn though that include:

 

A Magazine Library

A theatre outing to Monmouth Cinema

A day or evening at the races

A book club  

 

So let us know if there is anything that you would like to set up or be involved with.

 

To join the Community group click here    

Sponsors

It's hard to keep up with our list of sponsors! We are immensely grateful for everyone's help. Please let us know if we have missed you off the list.

 

  See our current Sponsors list

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