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New Things for Carwood
by Rob Smith

6.30pm, Monday 4th April, St Peters Church Hall, marked the official re-launch of All Saints Tenants’ and Residents’ Association (ASTRA).

Fully attended with food sponsored by the Area Panel, people from Carwood and the surrounding area joined together to voice their opinions on the welfare of that section of our community.

Having recently had the local community centre inside Carwood Estate revamped, many raised major concerns about the place being too small. “It ain’t big enough to stand ten people with furniture, never mind twenty,” said one gentleman. “Aye, and why can’t we have somewhere bigger? What about that place just over there?” added a lady pointing at All Saints Community Centre, “That was built for us round here, they said, but we never get to use it.” she added, to the agreement of others.

Councillors Steve Jones and Jackie Fields listened and took note of what was being said as John Clark, Chief Executive of BNDfC was urged to explain why it had taken so long for anything to flourish from the £52 million programme.

“There’s always a mess outside our houses on Carwood. It’s dirty and they never clean up,” added an elderly resident. Adrian Ford, representing our local council housing department, attempted to explain the pains they’d been though to try and address this issue. “Not good enough,” suggested a voice close beside him. “Maybe all we need is more visible litter bins,” suggested a softly-spoken lady sat close to me. “Yeah but some of them still won’t use them will they. They just throw their rubbish everywhere, on the street, anywhere. They just don’t care,” murmured another voice.

Adrian also added that they would look into the issue of tipping and waste disposal bins alongside some of the newly-assigned BNDfC-sponsored environmental teams now working in the area.
I sat and listened as two nominations for the vacant seat of ASTRA secretary were announced.

ASTRA was also proud to show off its own two-page newsletter that informs members of what is scheduled for each monthly meeting, including housing issues and membership concerns. I enquired if any attempts had been made to translate notices and newsletters, which would enable an unrepresented and newly-arrived section of Carwood to get involved, and take more pride in the community they also reside in. This was clearly noted as an oversight and something that would be addressed with help from BCAT development worker Donavan Modest.

Having reported under the headline ‘Who boarded up the heart of Carwood’ in Messenger Issue 13 (June 2001), I can agree that the community foundation is small, but with the dedication I saw at this meeting, combined with ASTRA’s future efforts to become more inclusive, then I can only see it growing. This is Rob Smith closely following what’s happening inside Carwood and its surrounding area.