Hello, I hope you are all well.  Can I first apologise for not being able to compile a newsletter sooner, I had not been too well for a long time but now, fingers crossed, I am on well on the road to recovery however with that naturally my workload is starting to increase and I am currently very busy again.  So please forgive me.

Anyway enough about me and my troubles!  Where to start, gosh so much has happened in the last year, the best by far for us is the proposed play area so I will start with that, Orwell Housing Association (OHA) and Ipswich Borough Council (IBC) have agreed on the terms of a peppercorn rent for the land.  (For new tenants, Newlarks Residents Association for some years have been trying to develop a play area on small piece of waste ground adjacent to St Catherines Court).  We have raised a lot of money so far but there is a couple of thousand still to go so we are currently looking into different ways we can raise funds with the help of the children.

A company called Playdale have drawn up a play area lay-out which we will blow up and display on a notice board by the land, so keep an eye out for this.  If you have any ideas for fund raising and/or would like to get involved in any activities please contact Kate on the details at the end of the newsletter, we would be pleased to hear from you.

Flooding in St Catherines Court – This is the second best (part) result for us, 4 of our ‘at risk’ properties have now been fitted with floodboards.  As we are approaching the risky 3-month period when the flash floods seem to happen we are confident they will provide effective protection.  We are also in constant contact with Anglian Water who are currently investigating why this should be happening so lets hope they come up with some answers soon then perhaps we will be nearer to resolving this issue – at last!  

The biggest improvement scheme to have happened in St Catherines Court is the installation of a pathway; we can all walk up and down the estate in safety now!  Sincere thanks go to IBC Liveability Fund, Debbie Owen Liveability Officer, Councillors Roger Fern and Keith Rawlingson and OHA for making this possible; it really does make a difference to the estate.

The Amenity Fund for 2005 purchased 2 security lamps for St Catherines Court.  Each year OHA award their recognised residents association with £1.250 to spend on estate improvements, this year it was suggested that due to poor lighting and a spate damages around the estates we purchased security lighting. 

After gaining committee approval David Knight, our Resident Caretaker, and myself walked around the 3 estates one evening and picked out 5 areas of which we considered were in desperate need of lighting.  The 2 lamps totalled £1974.00 so some of 2006 funding was used leaving £526 to spend for 2006, if you have any suggestions on what to spend this money on please contact us, however if no suggestions come forward the committee will consider the installation of another security light for another priority area.

Street Lighting – St Caths had been pledged updated street lighting from IBC for well over a year now, myself and Councillor Fern at various council meetings (and any other opportunity!) raised this issue and we have been informed it will be carried out by the end of the financial year, we have also just heard that all 3 estates will be updated now, so that is very good news.

Skip days – these have been held in St Caths and Newnham every 3 months and have proved very successful it is very much hoped that funding will be approved for this service to carry on.  OHA will inform us if and when the next days are scheduled.  Please use them.

This naturally leads on to the continued bulk refuse issue - can I just remind everyone that clearing bulk refuse is not part of Dave’s job anyone putting items other than household kitchen waste in the bin area’s could receive a bill from OHA for clearance – which is about £35 – so be warned.  A reward scheme could be in place soon for residents who report people leaving bulk refuse in any parts of the estates. 

This planet is sinking with all our waste so where possible RECYCLE, remember, “one persons rubbish is another person’s treasure” just because you do not want it anymore doesn’t mean someone else might not!