Covent Garden London
The heart of London's West End
Co-ordinator's Report
A short overview is unlikely to do justice to the enormous efforts that have gone into the day-to-day running of the CGCA. The work by individual residents, volunteers, committee members, and also various council and Police officers, as well as the CGCA staff, for the benefit of this community has been far greater than meets the eye.
As is the case with most community organisations, the CGCA relies heavily on volunteers. The co-ordinator's workload would be vastly increased if it were not for the volunteers who stuff envelopes, keep cuttings of newspaper articles, deliver thousands of letters and leaflets, do our filing, etc. In particular, every week of the past year we have benefited from Robert Clark's leafleting and photographic skills, Mary Henry's filing of mountains of paperwork, David Lusty's help with planning applications, Liam DelaHunty's amazing Web skills and Carey Gordon's publicity efforts.
During the year we have also become more aware of the cost of managing and using volunteers. With small office premises and the lack of the latest high-tech equipment, it is nothing short of amazing that such very considerable work has emerged, often under very adverse pressure.
In a confident and forward-looking move the Executive Committee decided to employ a part-time assistant co-ordinator and since January our 'team' has been strengthened by Alison Cattermoule. We expect that her work will enable the CGCA to further improve its existing services, develop a number of new projects and, most importantly, will free-up time for much needed fundraising.
Part of the year has been spent on preparing some of the special events and activities to celebrate the CGCA's 30th anniversary, with most of the 'action' taking place during the current year. We aim to celebrate this milestone and raise the CGCA's profile in the local community and beyond through events and activities that are fun, entertaining and educational.
The CGCA will continue a lot of its work 'behind the scenes' - influencing local and national government policies is often so much more effective than merely objecting to an endless stream of harmful planning, licensing and traffic proposals. We liaise and meet with a wide range of other groups and organisations and play our part in the democratic process in central London to the full.
The whole CGCA 'team' looks forward to less challenging, more relaxed times in the future, though realising that these are increasingly unlikely! Despite that, our efforts will continue unabated as long as you need us and play your part. We would be pleased to hear from you if you wish to volunteer some of your time with the CGCA or would like to help in any other way.
Covent Garden Community Association Annual Report 2000-2001
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