Volunteer Saturday - Thanks to all who came.

There must have been some kind of logistical problem - and please tell us what it is, because this Saturday NO-ONE came to the refurb that had been made open specially. This is not strictly true - Paul came down (but he lives in Spey Street), Steve and his Wife came down from Essex, Darryl arrived late in the afternoon.

At a guess one third of the members of the co-op live within a mile, something like 250 members live in the same borough, and the DLR stop (which was open) is 100 yards away. We must be failing to reach people, please tell us what we can do. Otherwise I can only conclude that people were too busy, perhaps they were put off by the sunshine in the morning (or the rain in the afternoon).

Here are a few reminders as to why the refurb is important.

The numbers of flats Phoenix gets from Poplar HARCA has peaked and there is no large scale alternative - this means Phoenix will have to chose who it rehouses and who it doesn't from people as their properties are handed back. Subtle Hint, Phoenix does this based on the rent account record ('Do you pay your rent on time?') and the Volunteering record ('Did you volunteer while you were a member of Phoenix?').

I have already had a number of people asking me about flats in Spey Street when the refurb is done - I have to say that seeing as they will last a minimum of 5 years and will be done up to a very good standard I think they will go like hot cakes. On the whole I would like to see them go to the people who have done the work.

If you are in the Co-Operative but not in imminent danger of handback perhaps the best way to think about it is that Poplar Harca properties pay for most of the running costs of the Co-op (this is why they show up as a loss in the budget) and if we didn't have these properties we wouldn't have this money coming in, and it would therefore have to be paid by all the remaining Co-op properties by means of increased rent.

Phoenix can only undertake these development projects if its members volunteer their labour, if they do not then nothing can be done. Thanks to all who came.