Well as we come to the end of a very strange year where a virus plunged us all into the unknown and where had to adjust our whole way of socialising, shopping, working etc.
When it was announced that Tenant Involvement was going digital and that the Tenant Involvement Team would be working from home and that Ambassadors would no longer be able to meet in groups face to face but do everything on line I thought this isn't going to work for me so should I carry on with Tenant Involvement, being a Technophobe I was cynical as to whether I would get the hang of Zoom, Jitsi and all the other platforms of communication, yes I have a laptop, an Ipad and a mobile phone but to say I am competent in using them would be a lie! I still cannot do things like view more than one screen at a time and have several tabs open at one time, save things on memory sticks etc, I am indebted to my great friend and fellow Ambassador Tony Buchanan who has had the patience of a saint in trying to get me more computer literate, we used to meet every Wednesday at the Social at the Westgate Centre and Tony would guide me through various things and down load those apps I needed like Zoom and Jitsi so that I didn't have to Google them to get on line everytime while he was with me it was great, but by the time I got back home I had forgotten what he had said!!!!!
I have mastered enough to keep me iinvolved and have been introduced to new groups such as the Oxford Influence Group (where Tony and I have collaborated on some great pieces of work), I am now involved on the Great Estates Projects having joined the group that chooses sites to be improved for residents. (If you want to see the latest news on Great Estates Projects go to the File Upload section on the Portal) I recently along with Dave ( The Parrot Man) was involved in the interviews for a new Leaseholder Management Officer ( for those of you that don't know OCC has 704 Leaseholders of which 35o are absent Leaseholders and I am the only Leaseholder who participates in Tenant Involvement) an appointment has been made and I look forward to working with the new incumbent.
On a sad note we have lost a few Ambassadors over the year for various reasons all of whom added value to the the Tenant Involvement Process, we have welcomed new Ambassadors who have bought new enthusiasm to Tenant Involvement and have been made most welcome. I hope somehow we can get in touch with those who have left and try to encourage them to return to our family ( to me that is what Tenant Involvement is)
We have some exciting projects coming up, the White Paper for example being one of them.
So in closing I would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to the Tenant Involvement Team and my Fellow Ambassadors who have offered support and encouragement to each other in what has been a difficult and sometimes stressful year, we have more challenges to face now we have been plunged into Tier 4 as from Boxing Day but if we all stay strong we will come through this.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a brighter New Year for those of you separated from loved ones keep cheerful and don't give up hope of getting back to normality, for any of you have lost family or friends to the Pandemic I send my condolences to you.
Stay Safe, Stay Local and above all Take Care of yourselves.
Ps I am always available for a chat either on the phone or via Jitsi ( if I knew how to do it )
Great post Anthony! I think you said and covered all there which some like me would spend 3 weeks rambling on in a post about!
I know I am a bit late replying but Happy New Year to you and Everyone. Let's hope 2021 will eventually hold some sunshine amongst the dark clouds we been under for nearly a year. I have been out the loop a bit during last few weeks of last year and start of this 1 due to family health issues which hopefully now settling back down to its usual dull road and I can concentrate on getting on with some rambling and catching up on stuff.
Life throws these curve balls at times and though my dribbling skills far from good with the help of the medics we are back to normality for us with some tweaks and changes along the way. I like the parrot man reference! Much better to some I been called over the years!! 😂😂 But the parrots along with my hairy pals have all kept me sort of sane the last few weeks! Dolly is still singing her Christmas songs and will be through the year no doubt! Maybe time to teach her some new ones!
Let's hope this year is better to last, well couldn't get much worse! I look forward to chatting and hopefully doing my bit now and then when asked to help out with things. The Great Estates is looking good and hope in some way the big project going on residents can maybe see a little glimpse of what is to come.
Would like to endorse your sentiments Anthony. Let's all hope we emerge from the tunnel of darkness that has been 2020 into the sunlight again!
Wonderful post - Thank you