Accrington Civic Trust

[Bob Dobson]

There will be a meeting of the Civic Trust on Wednesday (8pm) 12th January in the New Jerusalem Church, Hargreaves St

The meetings are held every other month I think.

Details from Geoff Roberts;

[bekibird]

Shame that 176 people viewed this thread and only 7 or 8 people turned up!! Civic Trust is looking for more members and any local resident is welcome. Next meeting 13th April 2011 at New Jerusalem Church at 7:30pm

[Neil]

Why not post about who you are and what you do. You might get more interest than moaning about people not coming.

[Less]

Originally Posted by bekibird

Shame that 176 people viewed this thread and only 7 or 8 people turned up!! Civic Trust is looking for more members and any local resident is welcome. Next meeting 13th April 2011 at New Jerusalem Church at 7:30pm

As Neil says, a shame that you can't be bothered to give people a better description before you bemoan people for not turning up.

Just out of curiosity did the 7 or 8 people, (with such small figures I would have thought a more accurate figure could be gleened), read it on accyweb then turn up? If so, I would call it a success.

[bekibird]

January was my first meeting. I went along after reading an article in the observer about the memorial stone outside of Yorkshire Bank. The trust chiefly aims to protect, preserve and be interested in things going on with public spaces, old buildings, public services and everything pertaining to the residents of Hyndburn. We have discussed things such as the developments at Owl Hall and Bank Top, the whereabouts and possible reinstatement of the clock that once stood in the arndale centre, the protection of the oldest cobbled street in Accrington, the proposed development of the Coppice area, the proposal to get rid of lollipop people and so on. There are a few people in attendance who have good links with the council and if enough people get together to express concerns and views about the area in which we live we may be able to bring about changes.I am still very new to the Trust but its certainly worth popping along if such things are of concern to you. There is a suggestion about getting the trust more 'visible' and interactive with the community - which I think would help enormously. The people that were in attendance when I went are long time members and I was the newest of the bunch. I really enjoyed finding out about plans and things in the pipeline that will affect my town, if I hadn't gone along I would be none the wiser!

[bekibird]

I find people are very quick to judge here. Why not ask nicely what has happened or when and where things are going on. I am aggrieved that an innocent comment could bring such responses as 'cant be bothered' and 'moaning'. Give people new on here a chance to post questions and ask advice. The comments i have received on this thread are not welcoming but are beneficial. Please be kind!!

[bekibird]

Originally Posted by Less

As Neil says, a shame that you can't be bothered to give people a better description before you bemoan people for not turning up.

Just out of curiosity did the 7 or 8 people, (with such small figures I would have thought a more accurate figure could be gleened), read it on accyweb then turn up? If so, I would call it a success.

in response, there were 8 people and I was the only new member, having read the article mentioned in the Observer. So really, no it wasn't a successs concerning Accy web

[Neil]

Originally Posted by bekibird

I find people are very quick to judge here. Why not ask nicely what has happened or when and where things are going on. I am aggrieved that an innocent comment could bring such responses as 'cant be bothered' and 'moaning'. Give people new on here a chance to post questions and ask advice. The comments i have received on this thread are not welcoming but are beneficial. Please be kind!!

If you read your post you did come on moaning that not many people attended the meeting so you were very negative.

I chair a couple of local community groups, one has a meeting every month and the other has meetings every other month. I know these types of groups have lots of people interested but not that many who actually want to get involved.

I have only been involved with community groups for about 5 years but I have learnt a few things.

It can be a little discouraging when others don't appear to care about something you do but do stick with it and try and get support by being positive about the group instead of negative like you first comments.

I hope you enjoy your involvement, I personally find it really rewarding when we achieve something and make a difference. Call me sad if you like but it gives me a funny warm feeling inside.

Ignore those who are negative towards you and your group, you will find that most of them are to lazy to get involved and prefer sitting on their backsides watching daytime TV

You should feel good about what you are doing, you are giving something back to the community and not just take take take like so many these days. Many people are now of the opinion that we pay tax so everything should be done for us while we sit down and do nothing.

Right enough twoddle from me, I have some work to do registering one of the groups as a Charity and then I am out for the day with my wife

[Less]

Originally Posted by bekibird

I find people are very quick to judge here.

You are quite right below is an example of exactly what you mean, how dare this person be so judgemental?

Originally Posted by bekibird

Shame that 176 people viewed this thread and only 7 or 8 people turned up!! Civic Trust is looking for more members and any local resident is welcome. Next meeting 13th April 2011 at New Jerusalem Church at 7:30pm

Originally Posted by bekibird

in response, there were 8 people and I was the only new member, having read the article mentioned in the Observer. So really, no it wasn't a successs concerning Accy web

In response to your response, YOU read an article, we got a date, time & place nothing more, I hope you are going to write a letter to the Observer castigating all those that read the article in there, THEY didn't turn up either!

No, not a success for accyweb, but then not a success for the Trust either, Perhaps a piece from someone that has been going for a while giving a good explaination about what goes on would get better results?

[Mikejoed]

I'm not sure what 'Less' problem is and can understand bekibird feeling judged by people who really aren't that interested in what the Civic Trust is all about anyway.

bekibird gave what I thought was a clearly defined explanation of what the Trust is about:

January was my first meeting. I went along after reading an article in the observer about the memorial stone outside of Yorkshire Bank. The trust chiefly aims to protect, preserve and be interested in things going on with public spaces, old buildings, public services and everything pertaining to the residents of Hyndburn. We have discussed things such as the developments at Owl Hall and Bank Top, the whereabouts and possible reinstatement of the clock that once stood in the arndale centre, the protection of the oldest cobbled street in Accrington, the proposed development of the Coppice area, the proposal to get rid of lollipop people and so on. There are a few people in attendance who have good links with the council and if enough people get together to express concerns and views about the area in which we live we may be able to bring about changes.I am still very new to the Trust but its certainly worth popping along if such things are of concern to you. There is a suggestion about getting the trust more 'visible' and interactive with the community - which I think would help enormously. The people that were in attendance when I went are long time members and I was the newest of the bunch. I really enjoyed finding out about plans and things in the pipeline that will affect my town, if I hadn't gone along I would be none the wiser!

C'mon Less, let's have LESS of your negativity and MORE of your encouragement to someone who is at least doing something to help preserve and promote what is good about Accrington.

So, you got a time, date and venue? What more did you need if you were at all half interested. Give Beki a break and stop being so nasty to her.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by bekibird

I find people are very quick to judge here.

Er...we can all do that.

Just as you did, when you mistakenly posted this...

Originally Posted by bekibird

Shame that 176 people viewed this thread and only 7 or 8 people turned up!!

You have no way of knowing how many people viewed a thread.

It might have been the same sad sap, who looked at the thread 176 times.



Hopefully more people will get to hear about this group, and attendances will increase.

Chastising people for not going, is hardly wise, when encouraging others to get involved.

[Bob Dobson]

I didn't feel as strongly about Bekibird's comments as others. I certainly didn't see them as criticism of the site's members.
I think it likely that 176 is not a true figure, as I think the number increases when someone re-visits the thread, but Bekibird, with her 24 posts, may not have realised this.

I started the thread in the hope that it would bring the Civic Trust to notice. The postings have tended to veer away from this. I hope that from now on, we can stick to discussing the Trust and not engage in sniping.

[cashman]

disagree Bob, i don't see any sniping, just comments that seem aimed at advice. or nasty as someone else said, seems to me a case of newish folk that don't have any idea of the members, which happens frequently, now if anyone wants nasty, i can more n oblige.

[bekibird]

oh dear - that didn't go well did it?! Thankfully, we got some new members who could read between the lines so to speak - we are going from strength to strength now - more people are turning up - who have a real interest in the town and want to preserve it for what it is - thanks to my 'defenders' I was merely trying to create some interest in what is inheritantly theirs!! Accrington is nothing without those people about care for it!!

[Mikejoed]

The next meeting is on the Tuesday 28th June commencing at 7.30 pm. at the New Jerusalem Church that is in Hargreaves Street. Behind the Tesco Express Garage on Abbey Street. You are all welcome.