Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
New group delighted to be helping community
Neighbourhood digs deep to answer donation call
Kirkwood’s new tenants’ and residents’ association is celebrating the success of its first community projects, with successful collections of school uniforms, baby items and foodbank supplies.
The neighbourhood organisation was established five months ago and is already taking up issues raised by residents, including potholes, housing repairs and the condition of the local play area.
Group members have staged summer collections of items ranging from food and toiletries to uniforms and toys – and were accompanied in their efforts by Coatbridge MP Hugh Gaffney.
Association chair Karen Williams told the Advertiser: “There hadn’t been a tenants’ and residents’ association in the area for quite a number of years, so we held a public meeting at Old Monkland community centre to see about setting one up.
“There were a lot of issues we felt weren’t really being addressed; there’s a lot of discussion about budget cuts but we thought, how can we work with officials and what can we do?
“So far we’ve been able to get bollards fixed and repairs in houses, and the car park behind the shops on Woodside Street is going to be fixed too. We meet with police, the anti-social behaviour team, politicians and the local federation of tenants’ and residents’ associations; and because we’re an official association, we can get council officials, such as from the roads and housing departments, out to have walkabouts with us and we can make them aware of issues.
“People have been really happy with the things we’ve been able to get done already, and we have 230 members on our Facebook page, which gets people chatting to each other and knowing what’s going on the area.”
The group’s other office bearers are vice-chair Martin Seel, treasurer Agnes Kerr and secretary Allison Russell, and further supporters have joined its committee.
Association members decided to help the community through collections for local good causes, appealing for school wear for Cool School Uniforms, clothes, toys and household goods for the baby bank and supplies for the town’s foodbank.
They ran sessions, with outdoor collection points being set up on Mitchell Street, and were inundated with items.
Karen said: “Our treasurer, Agnes, also volunteers with the baby bank and is really passionate about it so we thought of doing a collection and ended up with two carloads of items.
“We also collected for Cool School Uniforms at the start of the holidays, and people brought lots of blazers, shirts and ties. They thought it was a great idea to share things they’re not going to need.
“Hugh Gaffney MP joined us when we were collecting for the foodbank and helped us in knocking on doors and collecting items.
“We’re delighted at how well our first appeal went and to see the community coming together – all these causes are important and it’s good if we can help them regularly and keep things going.”
The association is now planning its next projects, including cleaning up the children’s play area in Old Monkland and ushering in the festive season by installing a Christmas tree in the neighbourhood.
Karen added: “We’ve been asking people where they’d like a Christmas tree to be and putting up posters with details of meetings and what we’re planning.
“The next step is to apply for grants for things we could be doing in the community.
“It ’ s all about keeping tenants informed and building communication; we’ re passionate about working together to make Kirkwood a better area.”