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

1. WELCOME AND APOLOGIES
Jean welcomed all members present. She thanked members for their support over the last twelve months and for re-electing her back into office.
Apologies were from: lily Halfpenny, Greta Ashford, Mary Cartwright, June bates, Crawford Powney and Eddie Clark,

2. MINUTES FROM THE LAST MEETING
All members had received a copy of the minutes and they were accepted as a true record of the proceedings.

3. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE LAST MEETING
FRANK OWEN COURT: There has been some movement on the problem regarding a fence.

FOWBRIDGE GARDENS: The tenant who has been waiting for three years for a shower to be fitted, has now got a date for the work to begin.

PENYARD GARDENS: After twelve months there is still a problem with the street lighting. Action S P to E C
A big thank you the roof has now been repaired.

SOUTHGATE COURT: Thank you Herefordshire Housing for fitting the shower.

BALLINGER COURT: Still no action on the lighting in the car park and the lack of a communal kitchen. Tony Jaques promised to liaise with a representative from that scheme.

ELM GROVE: Thank you Eddie for the master keys.

INNESFIELD: Still no action on the footpaths. Tenants have to walk in the road because of the large potholes.
Action S P to E C

Members said they felt that there were to many broken promises made by Herefordshire Housing since the take over. Tenants comfort should always come first before spending money on community rooms. Members felt there was a great need for Herefordshire Housing staff to liaise with tenants more.

Members also expressed their concern at the way the control centre was handling some calls from tenants.
Herefordshire Housing and Supporting People have always told SHTUG that the pull cord is there to use if you have any concerns or worries.

Members reported that having pulled the cord they were told to phone the services they needed themselves.

One member had pulled the cord because of a flood in a kitchen. They were told by the control centre to phone repairs. No one was answering the phone in the repairs department. It took one and a half hours to get through and in the
mean time the property was well flooded.

A member pulled the cord for a sick neighbour and was told they had to phone for the ambulance.
Members said that the caring part of the service had gone.
Susana said perhaps SHTUG should invite someone from the Care-line to one of the meetings.

4. GUEST SPEAKER
The guest speaker this month was Susana Piohtee. She had come along to update the group on the final arrangements for the SHTUG CHRISTMAS CRAFT STALL.

Members have been busy organising the event, which is to take place in High Town Hereford on Saturday 19th
November from 10am-4pm.

All types of crafts will be sold and the money raised will go to the Starlight Charity for children.
Susana also talked about the revised addition of the Sheltered Housing Tenants hand- book. She was invited by the group to attend the next SHTUG meeting to discuss any feed back from members.

Members were told about the gardens scheme. Susana is looking into and trying to set up a basic garden scheme.
Jean told the group of the scheme running in Ross-on-Wye. The scheme is run by the Ross voluntary service and is for sheltered housing at Fowbridge Gardens, Penyard Gardens and Smallbrook Gardens. The service is free and wardens on those schemes have been informed.

5. TREASURERS REPORT
To date we have £304: 50p in our funds.

6. TENANT LIAISON MEETINGS :
Fowbridge Gardens had a very good turn out. Better than it has ever been.
The Housing officer did not turn up to chair the meeting so the warden chaired it.

Innesfield had a good turn out. Main topic was the state of the pavements.

7. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Ballinger Court: A special meeting had been called to discuss the new boiler. The work was going to start with out any consultation with the tenants.

When the tenants were given the choice of new chairs, or floor covering for the lounge, the majority voted for chairs presuming that all old chairs would be replaced. This was misleading as only five chairs were replaced.

Fowbridge Gardens: Garden refuse sacks have gone up from 40p to 60p each. Can you use and store calor gas
containers in your properties?
Action S P to E C

Penyard Gardens: Paths are dangerous in places with large potholes. Someone is going to trip and fall.

A tenant has consistently received letters asking them to keep their dog on a lead and under control.
The dog was off the lead again and went for a tenant. The owner just laughed. Scheme representatives have had many complaints about the dog charging and threatening tenants. It has bitten various people on many occasions.
Action SP to EC

8. DATE AND VENUE FOR THE NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be held at the Ryefield Centre Ross-on-Wye on Thursday 1st December 2005 at 10:30am. After the meeting members and their guests will enjoy a Christmas lunch.
Jean then closed the meeting.