Thread to post up links to community/local newsletters etc

[e19896]

http://yorkshireanarchist.wordpress.com/ and we think The EDL are racist scum.

 

[durruti02]

Hereford Heckler #11 now out!

Hereford Solidarity League
The December/January issue of the Hereford Heckler (bulletin of the Hereford Solidarity League) is out now...

Including:
~Council 1 - 0 'It's Our City' - the campaign against the ESG development
~Locals turn out to oppose BNP
~What next after the climate carnivals?
~Villagers battle to save pub

as well as: short news, sports round up, Helen Heckler column & much more!

*To view this issue go to; http://herefordheckler.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/hereford-heckler-w11.pdf

***Hereford Heckler now on facebook*** - Search 'Hereford Heckler'



Hereford Solidarity League
- e-mail: kay.bulstreet[at]hotmail.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.herefordheckler.wordpress.com

 

[Stardark]

Our newsletter is just a pdf. There's a link to it on the webpage, but the webpage isn't exactly, erm, officially sanctioned, inasmuch as I was asked to see if I could find a cheaper option than the one a local company was offering, and found I could make a pretty decent one for free, whereupon I got a snotty email telling me to delete it immediately, as I had not been given permission to make a website. I just thought that if it wasn't costing anything, it wouldn't hurt to throw something together (it was the kind of website builder where you publish as you create), and show the committee what I'd come up with. I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquistion...

http://bartred.webs.com/minutesconstitutionnewsst.htm

Now I'm getting all kinds of grief from the chairman, apparently because my asking him why he's not honouring the constitution rules allowing all members to attend committee meetings, and why the minutes are always so inaccurate, equals 'abuse'. He even offered his resignation, although I don't think he meant it. Another board member was very quick to say 'sure I speak for everyone... ask you to continue as chair... yadda yadda'.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Our newsletter is just a pdf. There's a link to it on the webpage, but the webpage isn't exactly, erm, officially sanctioned, inasmuch as I was asked to see if I could find a cheaper option than the one a local company was offering, and found I could make a pretty decent one for free, whereupon I got a snotty email telling me to delete it immediately, as I had not been given permission to make a website. I just thought that if it wasn't costing anything, it wouldn't hurt to throw something together (it was the kind of website builder where you publish as you create), and show the committee what I'd come up with. I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquistion...

http://bartred.webs.com/minutesconstitutionnewsst.htm

Now I'm getting all kinds of grief from the chairman, apparently because my asking him why he's not honouring the constitution rules allowing all members to attend committee meetings, and why the minutes are always so inaccurate, equals 'abuse'. He even offered his resignation, although I don't think he meant it. Another board member was very quick to say 'sure I speak for everyone... ask you to continue as chair... yadda yadda'.

All that 'Neighbourhood Partnership' waffle strikes me as something not very grassroots up, but something that's very local authority sanctioned and a 'community organisation' that's basically invented by the local authority to participate in 'con'sultations and rubber stamp all the local authority's pet projects... call me a cynic...

Or I could be wrong...

 

[Stardark]

You're not wrong. There's a woman I know, something of a local activist, who plays a leading role in several campaigns, like getting a level crossing re-opened, saving a bandstand in Gloucester Park from demolition, and getting more people to use the nearby allotments (the people aren't the problem, it's the council blowing cold on applications for plots). She attends lots of meetings, including those of her partnership, described by the city council as an 'exemplar' for other NPs. At the end of the last AGM, after the committee had enthused about it's works, she pointed out that there weren't enough people present to constitute a quorum, and the meeting should have been postponed 'til the following week. As it turns out, the previous AGM wasn't quorate either. Months later, the meeting that was supposed to be held to discuss this still hasn't happened yet. In answer to her questions about this, the council's partnership co-ordinator has said that the partnership's constitution isn't 'legally binding'. In other words, the chairman/woman can do anything he/she likes, as long as no-one (who matters) makes a fuss, and it's surprising how many of the regulars who turn up at these meetings and get on committees seem completely serene about what the 'boss' does. This woman doesn't matter, apparently, and neither do I.

The best partnership in the city, though not necessarily the one that sucks up to the council most, is the City Centre Community Partnership. Even it, though, doesn't have the one thing that I think is vital for keeping in touch with the grass roots, and which I have tried to introduce, first through Facebook, then on the website - a message board. While I was Googling partnership websites/newsletters on the net to see what I should put on the site I wanted to make, this was what struck me. Not even a guestbook, no way for any member of the public to say anything in public, rather than email the people in charge. It isn't too hard to see why they might want to discourage such behaviour. It's not like anyone wants any failings discussed publicly, which is what would probably happen, but they might also get praised publicly, if for no other reason than that they did permit real transparency. Diminishing chances of that happening with my lot, now...

 

[durruti02]

http://actioneastend.blogspot.com/

 

[The Black Hand]

Sun'erland! http://sunderlandwelfareaction.wordpress.com/

Good blogging here...