MEMBERS PRESENT
JEAN FISHPOOL CHAIRMAN
SHIRLEY BALDWIN VICE CHAIRPERSON
MARGARET VALLELEY, SECRETARY
MOLLY HODGES, TREASURER
DIANE HOWLS
ROY ADAMS
MARY WEST
JACK HALFPENNY
GRETA ASHFORD
BETTY MARCHANT
JO ANSCOMBE
LILLIAN JONES
NANCY EVANS
MENAI ROBERTS
KEN SANGSTER
CHRIS SANGSTER
PEGGY CAVANAGH
GORDON CARTWRIGHT
DOUGLAS GREEN
LESLEY BEEKS
SUSANA PIOHTEE HEREFORDSHIRE HOUSING
EDDIE CLARKE HEREFORDSHIRE HOUSING

1. WELCOME AND APOLOGIES
Jean opened the meeting and welcomed all members present. She presented a cheque for £100 to Susan Edmonds the warden from Penyard Gardens. This was money raised by the group when they did their charity stall in Hereford High Town. The chosen charity was Starlight who helps terminal ill children.
Susan thanked members very much and explained how the charity helped her son.

Apologies were from: Crawford Powney, Mary Cartwright and Mrs Barnfield.

2. GUEST SPEAKER
This month's guest speaker was Simon Herdsfield, Careline Manager. He introduced Sue to the group. She is one of the operators. Simon told the group that he manages twenty-three staff at the Careline. They are made up of both full and part time members. They work a three shift system and the Care line is manned twenty-four hours a day.

'We don't just cover Herefordshire Housing tenants; we have 15,000 connections all over the country. All our staff are well trained and have strict guidelines to follow. We aim to answer calls within sixty seconds and have incoming calls per month and 12,000 out-going calls. Members voiced recent concerns. After pulling the cord for a sick neighbour
they had been told on two occasions to ring the ambulance themselves. Also,a ninety year old locked themselves out over the Christmas period. When they finally got access to the pull cord they were told that there was no warden on duty to deal with the problem. They had to go home and break a window to gain access.

Simon assured the group that these matters would be dealt with. He emphasized that if you pull the cord and request an ambulance the operator should always call one for you.

Jean thanked Simon for attending the meeting.

3. MINUTES FROM THE LAST MEETING

All members had received a copy of the minutes. They were true record of the proceeding.

4. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE LAST MEETING
Penyard Gardens: Two letters were handed to Eddie from Paul Keetch.

Ballinger Court: Eddie was asked if there was any news on the lighting in the car park. The work will be carried out before next autumn.

5. TREASURERS REPORT
We now have £210-57p in the fund.

6. EDDIE
Six members had arrived to the meeting very late. Eddie suggested that we look for alternative transport because the existing taxi company were not reliable. This has been an on-going problem for some time now. Members agreed to
look at other taxi companies. Eddie suggested he write to the old taxi company explaining the dissatisfaction of the service provided by them.

Eddie informed members that from the 1st April 06 the charge for the alarm was going up to 78p per week. The service charge will be going up from £13:12p to £13:54p per week. Rents will also go up. If you are a Herefordshire Housing tenant it will go up by 3.2% per week. If you were a Hereford Council tenant it will go up by 4.95% per week. The rent on garages will also go up to £5:28p per week.

A letter telling you of the changes will go out at the end of February. Next week you will receive an up to date statement of your rent.

Herefordshire Housing is holding a competition. Those Tenants who are in credit with their rent on the 2nd April 06 will be entered into a draw.

Mazars will be starting a stock survey next week.

Sheltered housing is hoping to get some money in the budget in April to spend on communal areas in sheltered housing.
There is a great shortage of affordable housing in the county. Herefordshire Council have a development at Argyle Rise. These are two bedroom properties, but are not sheltered. Bungalows at St. Andrews are for supported housing. Disraeli Court. No decision has been made yet on the future of the site.

7. TENANT LIAISON MEETINGS

Penyard Gardens had a well-attended meeting. The main topics were the street lighting and the state of the paths.

Ballinger Court: The petition has gone through. It was mentioned that the carpets were to be replaced also a new communal kitchen is to be installed.

Brierley Court: Paths have been power washed. It took five days and looks good. A dead tree needs attention.

8. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Fowbridge Gardens: New paths are very slippery. Action E C

Innesfield: Smoke alarms. Are they electric and do they have a battery back up?

The doors at Birch Hill Road are very unsafe.

The 0.T. told a tenant six months ago that a shower would be fitted. They are still waiting. Action E C

A member said that their warden had told them that they should no longer be a member of SHTUG. The Chair Person asked the group for a vote of confidence in the member. There was a unanimous vote of confidence by the group. Members said that the person concerned was a valued member of SHTUG and that the wardens had no right to say who was a member SHTUG.

9. GUEST SPEAKER FOR THE NEXT MEETING
The group decided to invite Jim Russell as guest speaker to the next meeting.

10. DATE AND VENUE FOR THE NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be held at Barklie Court on Thursday 2nd March 2006 at 10:30am.

It is with regret that Mr and Mrs Sangster have to retire from the group due to ill health. Jean wished them all the best for the future and thanked them for their continued support.