Young residents at The Vineries in Gillingham, Kent enjoy a teddy bears’ picnic » Housing » 24dash.com

On Wednesday 20 August young residents at The Vineries grabbed their favourite cuddly toys and went down to the community house, The Activity Loft, to take part in a teddy bears picnic. Toys of all shapes and sizes arrived with their owners looking forward to a morning of fun and games.

Attendees enjoyed games of hopscotch and skipping and played pass the parcel too. The morning of activities, organised by Moat and local residents, allowed families who live at The Vineries to get to know one another better and also provided a morning of enjoyment for the Little League.

The Little League is made up of young residents aged between five and nine. The group is based at The Activity Loft and run by resident volunteers in the community. The Little League allows younger residents to get involved in their neighbourhood through fun activity sessions and promotes respect in the community at The Vineries.

Kelsie Waller, aged six, is a resident of The Vineries and says: I had a great time! I really loved playing pass the parcel and the jelly and ice cream!

ENDS

About The Vineries:

The Vineries in Gillingham, Kent consists of 159 homes that are owned and managed by Moat. In the past, the community has had challenges with anti-social behaviour and a lack of community spirit but that has all changed!

To turn the neighbourhood around, Moat worked directly with residents and external partners to determine that what residents really wanted in their neighbourhood was a place where they could meet to hold events to bring the community together. Through Moats Neighbourhood Fund, a grant of over £24,000 helped turn a previously vandalised vacant property into that reality. In July 2006 The Activity Loft community house was officially opened and ever since it has become the hub of the community and surrounding area.

Since the house opened over two years ago, there has been a significant reduction in crime, homes at The Vineries have become easier to let and most importantly, residents have expressed how much happier they are to live in their community.

About Moat:

Moat is a housing association that has provided affordable homes for people in the south east for over 40 years. With particular strengths in affordable home ownership and key worker housing, Moat also provides general needs homes for affordable rent, supported accommodation and tenancy support services.

Moat is one of the Housing Corporations development partners and is also the governments appointed HomeBuy Agent in Essex, Kent and Sussex. Moat employs 450 people and manages nearly 19,000 homes for affordable rent and shared ownership.

Moats south region owns and manages over 7,700 homes across 21 local authority areas in Kent and Sussex.

Moat is an active partner in the Stanhope and Christian Fields regeneration projects and is involved in providing affordable homes at Brighton, Crawley, the Medway towns and Thames Gateway.

Moat is a leading housing association offering excellent customer service and building high quality affordable homes within thriving communities.

www.moat.co.uk

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