Summer 2024
Sunshine and community spirit in the air for OARA street party
The general feedback seems to be that OARA Street Parties keep on getting better! There was a great turnout from across our community for the latest one on Saturday 1 June. Organised together with SUSU, the Southampton University Students’ Union, it was a really friendly and lively event, with old friends and new faces coming along.
There was joyful entertainment from singer Siobhan, John’s Ukefonics, the students’ Brass Band and Folk Group, our own wandering minstrels Mike and Maggie and, making a special first appearance, the Dravets Bulgarian Dance Group, joined by partygoers for their final number!
There were many stalls and activities to enjoy too: facepainting, plant sales, Bevois Mount History, badge making, the Hula Hoop Competition (an amazing 1000 revolutions achieved by the winner, Amber), Turning Rubbish into Art, street games, local Art & Craft, and big bubbles!
People were generous in bringing food to share and real ale from Steamtown Brewery went down well.
We were well supported by our local Police team and Councillors and grateful as ever to Avenue St Andrews for lending us chairs and tables for the day.
It’s probably fair to say that we always worry if things will be ok. Will anyone come? Will there be enough entertainment? Will there be enough helpers? Will there be enough food? Will the sun shine? Well, the answers this time all seemed to be a definite YES - and the sun did shine!
Thank you to everyone who helped in any way to make the day a success and bring our neighbourhood that bit closer together. And a special thank you to John Hayward, our Chair, who does more than anyyone to make it happen.
See you all for the next one in October!
Ordinary general meeting for members and residents
Monday 24th June 7-8.30 (doors open 6.30 for refreshments and chat)
PLANNING and HMOs
What are the current planning laws that affect us?
Do you get frustrated at the impact of HMOs?
How can we keep a healthy balance of housing?
How can we make our voices heard?
Come and find out more from…..
Stephen Harrison, Service Manager from the Planning Department
Steven Hayes-Arter, Service Manager for Private Sector Housing
Greening Group Needs To Grow!
A small but loyal band of Greeners, led by Sue Swallow, has continued to graft away, ensuring that the beds, borders, barrels and planters on our patch continue to be a source of pleasure to passers-by, earning plenty of compliments in the process.
However, we need to grow the group as well as the plants! Could you lend a hand from to time - just an hour or two here and there? It’s good for wellbeing as well as the environment!
Particular thanks to Sue, Chris and Diane for their tireless efforts to bring a bit of beauty to our streets.
Please contact Sue on sesswallow@gmail.com
Joint Effort On End-of-Term Clearout
As we all know, the end of the university year can be a messy time - students moving out with a lot of stuff to get rid of. As usual we’ve tried to get ahead of the game with this and have had our now established meeting with the Community Engagement Team and Students’ Union at the University and representatives from the Council Waste and HMO teams.
This time we also managed to get one of the major student landlords to join us online. As a result:
There will be an additional general waste collection on Saturday 29 June funded by the University and provided by SCC
Students are being reminded to try and recycle as much as they can and where to do this, rather than throw away good stuff
We have sent reminders to our weekly Bin Buddy list of households – and helped with staggering throw out time and bin space
Posh Pads will be collecting surplus waste bags from their student houses
We now have a new stash of recycling bags to distribute to new student households.
Hopefully this will help students as they move out and help avoid the rubbish mountains that have occurred in the past. The joint team effort worked really well last year so we’re hoping it works just as well this time round.
Partnership Against Waste
Do you get frustrated that you can’t currently recycle more types of plastic in your blue-lid recycling bins?
Did you know that Waitrose has a recycling bin for flexible plastic items - including crisp packets, sweet wrappers, plastic film, any plastic bags and food (but not pet food) pouches?
It’s just on the right inside the main doors as you go in. Southampton City Council is due to introduce a wider range of recycling, with funding anticipated to support changes designed to bring more consistency across the country.
Until then the Waitrose bin is a useful resource - and we are happy to join in with their “Partnership Against Waste”.
