Welcome back and hoping everyone had a lovely Christmas. It would have been nice to have had a White Christmas but at least it wasn't too cold. As a reminder, here is a lovely photo of the Village Green when it snowed last year.
It's been busy these past 3 months with the launch of the Parish's Village Appraisal. This is partly the reason why we haven't had the chance to keep our blog up to date. Our website is also out of date, and we apologise for the inconvenience. All the latest news will be uploaded early in the New Year. In the meantime, here is an excerpt from the Village Appraisal Steering Group's first Newsletter. Volunteers are always needed, so why not attend the next Steering Group meeting on Thursday, 3rd January at the Heart of England Social Club from 7:30pm.
"A group of residents from Meriden Parish, which includes Meriden Village, Millisons Wood and surrounding areas, have come together to improve the area, its environment and the life of our community.
We’ve formed ourselves into a Steering Group and successfully applied for grants from the National Lottery Awards for All and from Solihull Borough Council. We are working very closely with Meriden Parish Council.
The first stage of our plan is to undertake an appraisal of Meriden Parish. This is a review, carried out by local people, of all aspects of the community – identifying its assets and strengths; its deficiencies, problems and needs; and its future challenges.
To start this off and to help us plan our further work, we have been asking people two simple, but challenging questions:
“What do you really like about Meriden / Millisons Wood?” and
“What would you wish to change to improve the area and its community?”
We have been discussing these questions with groups and organisations from all sections of our local community since November and will continue to do so into the early months of 2008. You may have seen our page in the Meriden Mag.
A number of other organisations have already contributed, including the Women’s Institute. If you belong to an organisation in the area that would like a speaker for a meeting or would like to contribute views at this stage, contact us (details below).
We’ve formed ourselves into a Steering Group and successfully applied for grants from the National Lottery Awards for All and from Solihull Borough Council. We are working very closely with Meriden Parish Council.
The first stage of our plan is to undertake an appraisal of Meriden Parish. This is a review, carried out by local people, of all aspects of the community – identifying its assets and strengths; its deficiencies, problems and needs; and its future challenges.
To start this off and to help us plan our further work, we have been asking people two simple, but challenging questions:
“What do you really like about Meriden / Millisons Wood?” and
“What would you wish to change to improve the area and its community?”
We have been discussing these questions with groups and organisations from all sections of our local community since November and will continue to do so into the early months of 2008. You may have seen our page in the Meriden Mag.
A number of other organisations have already contributed, including the Women’s Institute. If you belong to an organisation in the area that would like a speaker for a meeting or would like to contribute views at this stage, contact us (details below).
We’ve had tremendous cooperation from Meriden Primary School, where the children have given their views and we had a stall at the PTA’s school Christmas fete.
The answers to these questions will help us shape a questionnaire that we will be asking every household in the Parish to complete in the spring of 2008.
This is a most important part of the Appraisal as it will enable everyone (of all ages!) in the area to have a say.
Undertaking this survey is a big task and we need as much help as possible (we are all volunteers doing this in our spare time). If you would like to help distribute and collect questionnaires and/or help in any other way, just get in touch (details below). You will be very welcome – and it’s fun!
After further discussion and community engagement, the Appraisal will lead to a Plan for the area covered by Meriden Parish. This will be based on our collective vision for the future and will be a blueprint for action to improve Meriden and the life of our community".
Contact: Iain Roxburgh (Chair of Meriden Parish Appraisal)
Tel: 01676 522496, Email: IainRoxburgh@btinternet.com
Tel: 01676 522496, Email: IainRoxburgh@btinternet.com
And finally, from Meriden Parish Council, we wish you all a Happy New Year in 2008!
