TPAS Annual Conference 2018: Tenant report
The Tpas 2018 conference was held, once again, in the beautiful Chesford Grange hotel. An excellent venue which lived up to its well-earned reputation.
The rooms were spacious and comfortable, the meals were lovely, and the service and general helpfulness of the staff was second to none.
The conference itself was a well-planned, enjoyable and interesting event.
From the very start of the conference, with a wonderful speech by Tom Murtha, to the closing session at the very end, we were treated to a range of uplifting, interesting and educational speeches and workshops.
Perhaps one of the most important aspect however, was meeting other people in this sector and listening the other people’s views, ideas, successes and failures – from which everybody can learn.
For me however, the most salient point, which was spoken about in the opening session with Tom, and echoed throughout the entire conference, was a very positive overview of where we are now and, how we got here, and more importantly, where we are going.
How nearly every housing association or similar body is working towards the same ultimate goals. I.e. greater tenant involvement, a more coherent and unified voice to advise government policy, a feeling of pride in what we have achieved and what we have yet to achieve, and the knowledge that we are not a bunch of uneducated, alcoholic, scroungers that the current rash of biased media representation would have the country believe.
Instead we are a group of normal people, who contribute to society, and are working hard to both show and prove that we can, and are, making a huge difference both within and outside the realm of social housing.
Wren Giles
Involved Tenant