Still some new firsts!

It’s over a year but through Scrutiny there are always new committees that you can join.  As it happens I finally managed to get to one that I had expressed interest in before Christmas!  Called Service Improvement & Finance, this group does 'what it says on the tin' in that it looks at services the council offers in the aim of suggesting improvements where possible.  Although I say I managed to get to it, typically I had another meeting with clashed with it so was only there for about half an hour.  But even in that short time I felt I could identify with its aims.  With a bit of luck I’ll do the whole meeting next time!

There are a number of initiatives being tried on the Hill to help those people living there, particularly when it comes to money & budgeting, something even some of the most intelligent & cleverest people can be known to struggle with.  I went up to a drop in session in Phoenix Library to find out more about one such scheme, and also visited Gors Community Centre one afternoon for an advice open day, with CAB, LASA credit Union, Age Cymru and so on.  The worry I have, and probably all likeminded people, is that despite leaflets, flyers, social media, it can be very difficult to get people to come along to these.  But not only because they don’t get to know about it but for all sorts of other reasons, like embarrassment, feeling stupid, don’t want to ask for help etc etc.  Added to this the number who are needing this help is surely going to escalate. 

I’ve also been to Area 1 planning meeting for the first time – I swapped from Area 2 as I felt I wanted to be able to hear about issues affecting neighbouring wards even if the planning applications for Townhill itself were rare.  And I’ve had a double dose of Governors – the Finance Sub-Committee & the final full Governors meeting for the academic year. 

Last but not least I chose to go on a day & a half Summer School looking at Credit unions.  It turn out to be the ‘curate’s egg’ – good in parts, but bad in others!  However I probably benefitted from it more than it felt like at the time.

Les

Give a little, get back a lot

In May I managed to remember to go to the LASA Board meeting (somehow I didn’t put the date in my diary for April so not surprisingly I didn’t get there!)  It’s been quite a learning curve even though I have been involved in both this, and other credit unions, in the past. There is just so much going on, and I’m having to learn about it all at the same time as brushing up on policies & procedures.  I’ve probably mentioned this before but for me the priority is to promote LASA as the right alternative to all the hundreds of legal loan sharks out there, who as I see it are making money by legally ‘stealing’ from the poorest in society.  I read an interesting article recently which pointed out that many people in desperate straights just don’t bother to think about how they will pay the money back, which is why it’s so easy for these companies to get away with it.

In the last fortnight have also been to Trustees meeting which isn’t held very often. This is usually quite rewarding as we are able to give small grants to various social enterprises and so far we have rarely had to say no to anyone. 

And the last council meeting was one of the lighter ones I’ve been to.  It included a very interesting presentation on the Penllergare Trust who are doing excellent reclamation work on the woods in that area of Swansea.  A Welsh speaking councillor was critical of the spelling but as it happens although not strictly correct it is in keeping with the way the word was spelt at the time the house existed, and those grounds laid out.
 
In the same meeting we also enjoyed an excellent answer from the deputy leader to a question about what will replace the members’ coffee machine. You may have seen the article on the front page on the local paper.  They made it look like for years the council has been squandering loads of taxpayers money on tea & coffee!  The point is we realise that it’s a waste so not only are we getting rid of an expensive ‘toy’ but we all agreed we would now pay for this from now on.  The paper, of course, failed to mention that!  Anyway, she inferred that because of the changes we would definitely require a drinks monitor, and fortunately her intended ‘target’ laughed as loud as the rest of us!

And to end on a nice note, I was invited to the launch of the first smoke free playground in Swansea, opposite the Phoenix Centre.  There’s always a feelgood factor when you are able to do something that will benefit kids, giving them a better future.

Les