Kingdom tenants enjoy family fun at Tenant Gathering in Craigtoun Park

Kingdom Housing Association held its second Annual Tenant Gathering last Saturday at Craigtoun Park, St Andrews.

Thirty-six tenants, with their children, attended the event to hear more about opportunities for customers to become more involved with the association.

Bill Banks, Kingdom Group Chief Executive, welcomed the delegates and gave a short introduction on Kingdom’s plans for the future, stressing the importance of tenant participation. He said:

“Over the last few years, we have been developing a range of measures to encourage customer involvement, and we would like all of our customers’ views to be recognised, including the opinions of our younger tenants and family members, who are our customers of the future and can bring a different and valuable perspective to discussions.”

Mr Banks added:

“Events, such as the tenant gatherings, are essential, to ensure our plans recognise all our customers’ views and priorities.”

Max Scotto, Kingdom’s Tenant Participation Officer, promoted different opportunities to participate and encouraged more tenants and customers to get involved. He said:

“There are many ways to get involved at a level that people feel comfortable with, as much or as little as they want: from surveys, to one-to-one discussions or being part of a group such as the Scrutiny Panel.

“We are keen to support customers who want to participate and provide them with training, if needed. The most important thing is helping our customers to find ways to be involved according to their circumstances and abilities, so they feel comfortable and enjoy it. I would like to encourage more people to approach me to discuss how they could participate.”

George Duncan, one of Kingdom’s tenants in Denbeath, has been a member of the Scrutiny Panel for over a year. He said:

“I love being involved. I find the experience very enjoyable. First of all, it helps others as it improves the services that Kingdom provides, but it also helps me in many ways. I would strongly encourage others, regardless of their age and circumstances, to be involved.”

The session was closed by Matthew Busher, Kingdom’s Head of Housing. He gave further details on different ways that customers can get involved in reviewing and monitoring landscaping services.

Among the Kingdom staff present was Energy Advisor Michael Hui who was able to speak to tenants about energy saving and give advice.

After the main conference event, guests were able to meet informally while they were having lunch and discussing common issues before enjoying a family afternoon enjoying the amenities at Craigtoun Park.

Aaron Cunningham, a 15-year-old resident of Guardbridge who attended the event, said:

“Thank you for today. We had a great day. You and your colleagues made the day.

“The conference was really good. I thought it would get boring after a while, but no, I enjoyed it. It was informative and interesting to hear other people’s views on different topics and aspects of Kingdom. The lunch was great, and it was really good meeting new people and catching up with Max, Matthew and Bill.

“I have put my name forward for participating with projects that interest me and gaining experience as I do so.”

Amanda Brogan, a tenant from Kincardine, who came with her three children, said:

“We had a wonderful time. My children really enjoyed it. My 17-year-old daughter was very interested in the talk and wants to get involved as well. Thank you very much for organising events like this.”