Saturday, 19 February 2011
Erskine and Malminkartano
Colin is just back from a visit to Erskine's housing development in the NW suburb of Helsinki - which is actually our headline photograph above. He was fortunate to make contact with a resident there and had a guided tour of the inside apartments and even the roof! Bit cold at -18degrees but amazing. So thank your Jorma for showing Colin around. We are making international links and it is getting pretty exciting.
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Off to a good start in 2011...
We are starting the new year the way we meant to go on - so December saw the launch of the reborn (from the ashes) Byker Phoenix community newspaper. 20 pages of news, views and local gossip to get people talking, playing and generally interacting in Byker. It is packed with information, games, jokes, sports, gardening tips AND a FREE CUT OUT SANTA!! all for free... you can't complain about that can you?
The Byker Phoenix was originally published by volunteers living in Byker during the mid 70s to the 80s giving residents news on current affairs, redevelopment, local history and local happenings such as the Byker Festival. As a piece of social history the original Phoenixes are a treasured resource in the community.
It has been talked about resurrecting it for a few years now. There is a real need for those living in the Byker Ward to have a public voice and even though there appears to be more of an opportunity for people to engage in social media - facebook, twitter, blogs, etc etc - what are we doing with it and does it give us a group voice as opposed to solely individual opinions?
So we obtained some funding from the Byker Ward Committee, got some paper, a photocopier, scissors and some glue and have put the first issue together using good old technology of cut and paste and the first issue came out in December 2010. Get in touch with us at bykerphoenix@yahoo.co.uk if you would like a copy posting out to you...
Next issue comes out in February 2011 and all contributions are welcome. We especially want to hear from local residents and other residents of Erskine housing (come on you Swedes, get writing!)
The Byker Phoenix was originally published by volunteers living in Byker during the mid 70s to the 80s giving residents news on current affairs, redevelopment, local history and local happenings such as the Byker Festival. As a piece of social history the original Phoenixes are a treasured resource in the community.
It has been talked about resurrecting it for a few years now. There is a real need for those living in the Byker Ward to have a public voice and even though there appears to be more of an opportunity for people to engage in social media - facebook, twitter, blogs, etc etc - what are we doing with it and does it give us a group voice as opposed to solely individual opinions?
So we obtained some funding from the Byker Ward Committee, got some paper, a photocopier, scissors and some glue and have put the first issue together using good old technology of cut and paste and the first issue came out in December 2010. Get in touch with us at bykerphoenix@yahoo.co.uk if you would like a copy posting out to you...
Next issue comes out in February 2011 and all contributions are welcome. We especially want to hear from local residents and other residents of Erskine housing (come on you Swedes, get writing!)
Saturday, 13 November 2010
Head of Steam
The Society is surging along - we have had talks with Newcastle University, Northern Architecture, Newcastle Libraries and others and we are all very keen to work together on projects - huge potential to get interesting action going.
We ordered some books from the Centre for Alternative Technology (Wales) and now are the proud owners of 'Shed Nation' which is very inspirational! Also a book on permaculture, planting by the moon and building your own compost toilet. Who can stop us now?
Amazingly, out of the blue, we are also the owners of a brand new tricycle! How cool is that?
We ordered some books from the Centre for Alternative Technology (Wales) and now are the proud owners of 'Shed Nation' which is very inspirational! Also a book on permaculture, planting by the moon and building your own compost toilet. Who can stop us now?
Amazingly, out of the blue, we are also the owners of a brand new tricycle! How cool is that?
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Update from our AGM 17th Nov 2010
We had our AGM today which was a great success. A good cross-section of activists came along to discuss our events over the past year, to assess where we are and where we want to go from here.
There was a lot of enthusiasm for developing more projects - the most popular one seemed to be the relaunch of the Byker Phoenix community newspaper so we will progress with this as a matter of priority as both a printed newspaper and as an online magazine.
We want to continue with our environmental projects around the estate and met with Colin Riley, The Byker Housing Manager, last week to progress ideas to improve Raby Street.
Another popular idea is a regular lawn bowls event at Headlam Street - this can happen again when the season starts in May 2011.
There was a call for a social space to be open daily for people to drop in and socialise. There were a few ideas where this could be.
So keep watching this space for exciting things happening around the estate. The momentum is building! See you here soon.
There was a lot of enthusiasm for developing more projects - the most popular one seemed to be the relaunch of the Byker Phoenix community newspaper so we will progress with this as a matter of priority as both a printed newspaper and as an online magazine.
We want to continue with our environmental projects around the estate and met with Colin Riley, The Byker Housing Manager, last week to progress ideas to improve Raby Street.
Another popular idea is a regular lawn bowls event at Headlam Street - this can happen again when the season starts in May 2011.
There was a call for a social space to be open daily for people to drop in and socialise. There were a few ideas where this could be.
So keep watching this space for exciting things happening around the estate. The momentum is building! See you here soon.
Friday, 17 September 2010
Bolam Coyne Info Event 16th Sept 2010
The Society took part in this information event for residents of Raby Cross and the surrounding area. It was definately a learning curve for me. RES set up a stall outside of the building, with a table cloth, plants, photographs, books, newspaper cuttings, apples and I (heart) Byker badges. We did this because we like living there, know a few people in the area and basically like humanity and engaging with people.
We had a good day. It is interesting to see the response from different age groups: the under 12s are so enthusiastic about everything, the teenage lads kind of like hanging around being a bit reluctant to want to look interested, many of the adults just are not interested, but some were persuaded to come and get a plant and voice their opinion - which was mainly 'It is shocking that the Council allowed Bolam Coyne to get in to such a mess in the first place and then leave it for 10+' which is a very good question for which I doubt we will ever get an answer!
So here is onwards and upwards!
We had a good day. It is interesting to see the response from different age groups: the under 12s are so enthusiastic about everything, the teenage lads kind of like hanging around being a bit reluctant to want to look interested, many of the adults just are not interested, but some were persuaded to come and get a plant and voice their opinion - which was mainly 'It is shocking that the Council allowed Bolam Coyne to get in to such a mess in the first place and then leave it for 10+' which is a very good question for which I doubt we will ever get an answer!
So here is onwards and upwards!
Monday, 13 September 2010
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