Rochdale Boroughwide Housing Big Mutual Do

RBH staff and junior wardens

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Rochdale Boroughwide Housing held their first annual members meeting as a 'mutual' today (Saturday 21 September) at Wardle High School.

The meeting gave tenant and employee members a chance to get involved with finding out what has been done over the past year and let them have a say in what happens next year. The meeting also gave members a chance to question specialist representatives from their area.

The meeting also involved interactive activities for both members and their families.

Chief Executive of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, Gareth Swarbrick, said: “We want to encourage as many people as possible to get involved today.”

The meeting was split into two sections. One half of the hall contained the members meeting, which took place with tenant and employee members. The other half of the hall included charity stands and arts and crafts for young children, as well as interactive tables for people to give their opinions. These included a consultation area in which people could express their opinions on what they would like to see happen and what should be done in certain areas.

Mr Swarbrick added: “Sometimes meetings like this can be a bit dry so we wanted to encourage as many people as possible to get involved. The activities lets them bring their families a long as well so they can have a look at things.”

Springhill Hospice, Boroughwide Housing’s charity of the year, had a stand as well as Manchester Credit Union, Rochdale Hornets and Rochdale Circle. Not Just A Little Business also had a stall. Not Just A Little Business is a group of young people from Rochdale who have set up a business with the aim of helping farmers in developing countries.

Yumna Mayam who is part of the business said: “We buy Fair Trade items and sell them on to raise money for charity.”

The business hopes to spread the word of fair trade through sales and word of mouth.

Yumna added: “It’s good to help people who are not as fortunate as us. I really enjoy doing this.”

Around 220 people attended the meeting today, a great turnout said Gareth: “Meetings like this would usually draw in about 10-15 people so this is a really good turn out and this format is something we would definitely do again.”