Our busy month of September

CEO presents the awards

Our first Garden Competition - what a success! This month saw our office at the Rurals transformed and adorned with garden photos and flower shaped balloons when we held our first ever Garden Competition. Leaflets were sent to every customer and we received a whopping 67 entry forms. The judging panel was made up of keen gardening customers and staff as well as our Grounds Maintenance Contractors. Karen Armitage our CEO led proceedings and the awards event attracted; 97 customers, Directors and Heads of Service. It was a lovely occasion which celebrated the efforts of our customers, some of whom won first and runner up prizes of £150 and £75 for best garden, communal border, allotment, hanging basket, communal garden.

Best communal garden

Runner up best tub/planters



Best communal border

Best back garden



So what? This was a great opportunity to acknowledge the effort and investment our customers put into their gardens and improving their communities.

Survey form

Grounds Maintenance Spotters. We have recruited a massive 25 customers. They give us their opinion on the service in their area; things like staff politeness, satisfaction with frequency and overall quality of service. These busy customers are spread all over the borough and the information they gather gives us more control over measuring the service delivered to customers. For more information contact Anna McLauchlan on our free phone number 0800 111 4554 or email the Community Involvement Team at cp@sarh.co.uk

So what? This is a great example of how customers can shape and tailor the way we deliver our services and enables SARH to be responsive to customer needs.



Penkside partners

Penkside Environmental Improvements.We are working to improve the environment in the Penkside area over the next 18 months and will be working closely with the Penkside Project. Penkside is one of only three areas in the whole of Staffordshire to receive funding to help improve the area and address any inequalities in health and well being of children and families and employment.

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So What? Delivering estste wide improvements with customer and partner consultation, enables SARH to deliver real and lasting improvements.

The Delivery Team

Newsletter Delivery! After producing the first edition of the Penkside Project Community Newsletter, only one thing was left to do – deliver them! Staff members met on site bright and early including Craig Taylor, Head of Customer Services and Dave Wilkins, Head of Asset Planning and Delivery, along with staff from Stafford Borough Council and some Penkside Community Champions. With some good organisation and team-work it only took a couple of hours to deliver to 1000 homes. If you want to be involved in future deliveries contact the Community Involvement Team.

So what? Providing regular information to the community raises awareness and keeps customers informed and involved in decisions that affect them



Craft Club

The Community Resource Centre at Greyfriars is an important asset to the local community offering a wide range of support and events to a diverse range of local people. Thanks to working in partnership with Next Step we can offer 1 – 2 – 1 career advice on a Monday. On a Wednesday morning a Job Club is held which is open to all. Tuesday’s Craft Club has worked on many levels with blankets, scarves and children’s clothes the group has made going to International Aid and TThursday sees an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) group which has seen people referred to us by the Red Cross, Job Centre Plus, other ESOL groups or word of mouth.

So what? By putting communities first, we can support and sustain neighbourhoods.

Rising Brook Community Fire Station turned 1 year old. We were invited to celebrate with them as we have done a lot of partnership work with them over their first year. The Fire Station community room is a popular venue for our Customer Learning Programme courses, and the Firemen help out at the Glebelands Troupes Youth Group. The Birthday Celebration was open to other partners of the fire station, schools and the general community. It was a fantastic opportunity to network and promote involvement.

Activity Event

Fireman Sam

So What? New contacts have been established and existing partnerships are enhanced, for example Staffordshire Police, Stafford Borough Council, Stafford Sports College. There is a greater awareness of SARH and increased customer involvement.  

Market Square Stafford

In September a housing exhibition was held in Stafford Town Centre, Market Square. Members of staff from the Neighbourhood Services Team, Independent Living and Community Involvement Team attended the exhibition and set up a stall in order to promote their services. We spoke to a number of customers and non-customers who received advice and information on a range of things such as applying for a house, dealing with financial issues, ways to be involved with SARH, and different Lifeline and Telecare options.

So what?Opportunities like this raise awareness of SARH, and the services we provide. Raising awareness increases our chances of getting more involved customers on board.

That's all for this month; Sandra Shipperley signing off till next month when we will bring you another update on activities for October.