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Autumn 2012
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t: 0300 111 3030 sms: 07797 885035 e: info@mid-walesha.co.uk
Tenants’ Fun Day Maintaining Your Home In The Freezing Conditions Scam Story Welcome Roofus Community Events We’ve Been To This Year Good Gardens Committed To Providing Welsh Language Services Kidz Zone Contacts
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The quarterly newsletter for Mid-Wales Housing Association tenants. Keeping you informed.
Affordable homes. We’re equal to it.
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Any Bright Ideas?
For a number of years, the Association has operated a Suggestion Scheme among its staff to encourage ideas which will be of benefit to the Association and its customers – that’s you, our tenants – as a whole. We are now extending the Scheme to our tenants as we feel sure you will have some great ideas which will help us. Suggestions should result in one or more of the following: Improvements to the quality of service to customers. Improvements in health and safety for staff and/or customers. Improvements in cost effectiveness and/or efficiency. Benefit the aims and objectives of the Association. In the next few weeks, you will receive a Suggestion Scheme card on which you can write your idea and post it (free) to the Association. You may be contacted for further information before the suggestion is considered. If the judging panel think it is a good idea, you will be
Tenants’ Fun Day 2012
This year we joined up with Newydd Housing and Powys County Council to bring you the biggest Fun Day yet. The theme of the day was Health and Wellbeing and many of you turned out on the day. We had a climbing wall, inflatables, the fire service, children’s entertainer, cooking demonstrations, massages, nail and face painting, money advice, a hog roast, jewellery making, first aid workshops, tai chi lessons and much more! Thank you to everyone who came along. We had some great feedback and are looking forward to having a similar day next summer.
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rewarded with High Street vouchers as follows: Gold suggestion This is a suggestion considered to be a good idea which will be put into practice. The reward will be £50 of High Street vouchers. Silver suggestion This is a suggestion considered a good idea but which will not be put into practice (e.g. it may be too expensive or not practical at this time) or is to happen in any case. The reward will be £25 of High Street vouchers. So have a good think about how we could improve the way we go about our business with you, our customers. But remember, ideas have to be original; suggestions such as “I think we should have new windows /kitchens/bathrooms on our estate” will not be successful, as that is something the Association considers every year as part of its planned maintenance programme.
We’re waiting to hear from you!
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Maintaining Your Home In The Freezing Conditions Now that winter is coming the Association would like to ensure residents are aware of the dangers that the freezing conditions may have on your property. PREVENTION Prevention is always the best option. Where safe & possible keep heating on at all times. It is better to keep the heating on low and constant than switching it on and off. Hints and tips for keeping your property warm: Keep curtains closed to keep warmth in Use draft excluders to stop drafts Ensure you have enough electricity and gas to top up your supply In rare cases where damage is caused by these freezing conditions please be mindful that the Association’s insurance policy is to protect the building NOT the contents, therefore ensure you
have adequate contents insurance to protect your belongings. As the freezing conditions begin to thaw be aware of the following: WATER If you have a burst pipe telephone the Association straight away.
STOP TAP Please be aware of the location of your stop tap, these are generally located in the kitchen, bathroom or downstairs toilet if you have one. In the event of a leak or pipes freezing please turn water off stop tap.
GOING AWAY? If you are going away from your home overnight, please turn water off at stop tap. To report an emergency repair please call: 0300 111 3030 Yours sincerely The Asset Management Team
Dog watch
Please keep dogs outside or in a separate room when our staff and contractors visit. Some people do not like dogs‌..and some dogs do not like some people! It is in your best interests as our staff and contractors are within their rights to refuse to come into your property if they do not feel comfortable with your dog. This 3 may delay the repairs or other reasons for our visit to you.
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Scam Story
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A woman’s handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet... etc...was stolen. 20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says 'I received your text asking for our Pin number and I replied a little while ago with it.' When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text 'hubby' in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes all the money from their bank account had been withdrawn.
Youtube Video
This year, you will have noticed that we have not sent you an annual report. That’s because we have put together a video of what we have been doing this year. The video follows Shane Perkins our Chief Executive on a journey through MidWales. Staff, Tenants, Board Members and Care and Repair feature along the
Welcome Roofus
In the Summer edition of LOOK we ran a competition to name our mascot. Congratulations to Marilyn Roberts of Aberystwyth and Jackie Reese of Newtown whose suggested name of “Roofus” was chosen as the winner by a panel of judges. They both received £25 worth of High Street vouchers. We had 45 entries, so thanks to everyone who got involved. Roofus seems very happy with his name and he will now be a continuing feature in the newsletter so you can see what he has been up to.
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Moral of the story: Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list. Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mum, etc.... When sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back. When you're being texted by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you don't reach them, be very careful about going places to meet 'family and friends' who text you.
way. You might be able to spot some familiar locations and faces. The video can be found by typing this address into your computer www.youtube.com/ user/MidWalesHA or click the link on our website. Hope you enjoy and please leave a comment!
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Community Events we’ve been to this year We have been out and about in the community this summer to meet as many people as possible. Supporting the communities of Mid-Wales is important to us. As such we have attended and supported your local events, fairs and fun days. So far we have sponsored bouncy castles and children’s drama classes, provided aprons for cookery competitions and been involved in judging floats. Thanks to all the organisers for inviting us along. We will have seen many of you there, so thanks for those who came to see and talk to us. We are hoping to continue to attend events throughout the year, so look out for us! Here is a list of where we have been so far and a few photos of the fun had. Kerry Fun Day Newtown Carnival Builth Wells Carnival Welshpool Street Scene Festival Llanidloes Carnival Aberystwyth Carnival Knighton Show Llanfyllin Show
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GOOD GARDENS
We would like to say a big thank you to those of you who spend time on your gardens. It not only brightens up your day but also brightens up the day of those you share your community with.
Your tenancy agreement states that you will
“keep all paths and any garden for which the Tenant is responsible in good order, clean, tidy and free of weeds and overgrowth, to cut grass on a regular basis and to keep the whole garden free of rubbish. Not to allow trees or plants to overhang adjoining property. “ It is a privilege to have a garden and so they should be maintained. Here are some of the shining examples of this summer. We are hoping to run a gardening competition early next summer. We will keep you posted.
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Committed to Improving Welsh Language Services
Mid-Wales Housing Association is delighted to have appointed a fluent Welsh Speaker to join its Housing Team. Mr. Cyril Evans is employed by the Association as a Housing Coordinator.
The Association is committed to supporting the Welsh language and providing a bilingual service to its tenants and the general public wherever possible. Over recent years, the Association has organised and financed several Welsh courses including weekly in-house classes for 16 weeks open to all staff. The Association was pleased that 59% of office based staff attended the classes obtaining a basic level of
Welsh or improvement on their current abilities. The Association also finances two members of staff to attend weekly evening classes and residential intensive courses. As a result, the Association is delighted to have seen an improvement in the abilities of spoken Welsh in the workplace.
The Association’s Chief Executive, Shane Perkins said “Housing difficulties are frequently an emotive issue for people and it is vital that applicants and tenants can express their views clearly in their preferred language. The Association is determined to ensure its customers can use either language equally”.
All White On The Night!!
Clawdd Helyg, Comins Coch, Aberystwyth is the first of the Association’s estates to receive the “Costal Cleaning” treatment. Cardigan based Costal Cleaning applied an Eco Friendly product that killed off the mould that can be seen on properties throughout Ceredigion. The results speak for themselves, take a look at the before and after pictures.
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Jokes
Knock Knock Who’s there? Duane Duane who? Duane da bath I’m dwowning
Why didn’t the skeleton cross the road? Because he didn’t have any guts.
Why should a golfer keep a spare pair of trousers? In case he gets a hole in one.
What do you call two rows of cabbages? A dual cabbageway
Why did the bald man paint rabbits on his head? Because from far away they looked like hares.
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Useful telephone numbers
Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) Aberystwyth 01970 612817 Cardigan 01239 613707 Radnorshire 01597 822000 or 0845 6018421 Montgomeryshire 01686 624390 or 0845 6018421 Phoenix Furniture – Supplier of low cost furniture Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) Welsh Tenants' Federation (WTF) National Assembly for Wales
01686 623336 02920 237303
01685 723922
0845 0105500
Powys County Council Offices Llanfyllin 01691 648381 Newtown 01686 617522 Welshpool 01938 552828 Llandrindod Wells 01597 826000 Brecon 01874 624141 Information on Housing and Council Tax Benefit 0845 0581879 Environmental Health 0845 6027037
Ceredigion County Council Offices Aberaeron 01545 570881 Aberystwyth 01970 617911 Information on Housing and Council Tax Benefit 01970 633252 Jobcentre Plus - Incapacity Benefit, Income Support & Jobseekers allowance enquiries For new claims 0845 6013614 Newtown 01686 863100 Llandrindod Wells 01597 753100 Machynlleth 01654 543800 Welshpool 01938 525200 Shelter Cymru – For assistance with housing issues including rent arrears and homelessness 0845 0755005 Inland Revenue Child /Working Tax Credit 0845 3003900 Child Benefit 0845 3021444
Emergency Repairs 0300 111 3030 Mid-Wales Housing, Tyˆ Canol House, Ffordd Croesawdy, Newtown, Powys SY16 1AL
t: 0300 111 3030 F: 0300 111 3031 sms: 07797 885035 e: info@mid-walesha.co.uk
Printed by IMPRINT, Newtown 01686 624137
British Gas 0800 0480202 Swalec 0845 0260656 Scottish Power 0845 2700700 Npower 0845 7145146 If you do not know who your supplier is then phone Gas 0870 6081524 Electricity 0845 6015972