Tattenhall resident group in Chester recently held its first residents meeting at the Barbour Institute.

Residents had initially contacted their Customer Services Manager, Catherine Devin, expressing an interest in forming a group. Catherine then contacted Community Project Officer, Lisa Earle, to lend a hand. An initial visit was carried out by Lisa to assess the groups needs and to see what their aspirations where and 3 weeks later, the first meeting took place. Residents had lots of issues they wanted to discuss with their Customer Services Manager face to face and lots of ideas for us to improve our service to them and their community. One of those ideas was to take ownership of a piece of Arena Homes land in Smithfields and turn it into a vegetable garden for the residents, an idea which Lisa Earle has agreed to take forward. The group are now considering constituting in order to work further with Lisa on community events for which constituted groups can apply for their own external funding as well as Arena residents forum grants.