Ringlestone Community Action Day - A Big Success

7.43.40am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 8th Oct 2007

On Saturday 22nd September, on a beautiful sunny morning, Ringlestone Residents and Tenants Association staged their first ever Ringlestone Community Action Day. This popular event was organized by local residents with keen support from Angela Borsos of the "The Beat Project" and local councillors Jenni Paterson, Ian Chittenden and Tony Harwood.

The focus of the day was for the whole community to get together and have some fun whilst allowing an opportunity to meet representatives of key local agencies and support groups and raise some cash for charities. A further aim was to drum up greater community engagement and participation in the work of the Residents and Tenants Association. The event was supported by Kent County Council, Maidstone Borough Council, Maidstone Housing Trust, West Kent Primary Care Trust, Kent Police and local business. An art project saw local children compete to design the new logo for the Association and produced two excellent winners - 'Tracey Emin had better watch her back' commented competition judge Tony Harwood. Local youngsters also tried their hand at writing and performing their own 'urban beats' at a rap and percussion workshop - and betrayed an inspiring level of self-confidence and lyrical ability.

Maidstone Council Cabinet Member for Environment Tony Harwood manned a stall encouraging waste re-use reduction and recycling and managed to shift prodigious quantities of re-usable Maidstone shopping bags. The Clean and Tidy Maidstone theme continued with County Councillor Ian Chittenden distributing gloves and pickers and leading local youngsters in a clean-up of the estate. All the councillors and agencies at the event went away with a lot of excellent suggestions from local residents to improve their services. A documentary video recording of the day was also produced to be aired before key decision makers.

Borough Councillor Jenni Paterson said of the day "This was a brilliant example of how local residents of all ages can get together and have some fun. It also provided an opportunity for better understanding between key agencies and local people."