Windsor Press Releases
Charity Begins At Home
The official opening of Windsor Housing’s successful redevelopment at North Road, Stoughton, Guildford will take place on Thursday 15th October 2009. The exciting community regeneration project of ten new affordable homes and a modern resource centre for Headway Surrey, a head injury charity, will be opened by Dad’s Army favourite Bill Pertwee MBE.
Peter Coleman, Windsor Housing’s Chair said, “After such a successful collaborative approach to this project, it is very exciting to be jointly launching the scheme with Headway. It’s a redevelopment that we are really proud of, providing much needed affordable housing in Guildford and offering excellent facilities for an extremely worthy and valuable charity.”
The charity supports people who have suffered head injuries, along with their families and carers, promoting understanding of the implications of head injury and offering encouragement and guidance, working towards rehabilitation back into the community. Chief Executive, Oliver McGeachy, commented, “This is the culmination of a number of years planning and hard work and means a great deal to people in Surrey who have suffered a brain injury. It gives us a secure, custom-built base from which to provide our unique, and vital, range of services.”
As part of Radian, this exciting venture saw a working partnership between Windsor Housing, Headway Surrey and Guildford Borough Council to realise and maximise the site potential. The building programme took less than 12 months, and was completed in May 2009, providing four flats for affordable rent and six, two and three bedroom houses for New Build HomeBuy. This inspiring scheme also includes the provision of fresh new facilities for local charity, Headway Surrey, as well as strengthening collaboration with the local school.
The North Road development includes some exciting innovative elements, with the installation of photovoltaic panels in all houses, the communal areas of the flats and the resource centre, which not only supply renewable energy, but also help keep electricity costs low.
Building contractor, Croudace Homes in Partnership Ltd, ensured each property was finished to a high specification. John Fitzpatrick, site manager from Croudace and golf enthusiast, was so inspired and encouraged by the charity that he nominated Headway Surrey as the ‘Captain’s Charity of the Year’ at his local club, Clandon Regis, helping to raise a substantial amount of money for their continued good work.
A significant community focussed project, the scheme was successful in receiving grant funding from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) towards building the affordable units.
To find out more about Headway Surrey, please visit: http://www.headwaysurrey.org/index.htm
The official opening will take place between 3pm – 4pm on Thursday 15th October.
Youth Soccer Sponsorship
Windsor Housing, part of Radian are supporting New Windsor Youth FC this season, sponsoring resources and sports equipment for the ‘Early Birds’ coaching sessions for children aged 5 to 7 years, as well as providing funding towards coaching courses for volunteers. Football training for the club’s youngest age group takes place every Saturday morning from 10am at Hanover Way, Dedworth in Windsor.
This partnership creates some exciting new opportunities for the youth football club, who are always keen to encourage new young players to get involved and join in the fun. Rachel Bennett, Windsor Housing’s Community Development Officer said: “We are really proud and delighted to sponsor the ‘Early Birds’. This is a fantastic opportunity for kids and parents within the community, endorsing youth fitness and team work. Being able to contribute to essential equipment will hopefully enable these sessions to continue and expand, and get more girls and boys involved.”
As the leading youth and community club for the Windsor and Eton area, New Windsor Youth FC has been running for over 25 years and now attracts over 400 players aged between 5 and 16 years, playing in over 20 teams around the district. They also host an annual tournament each June, with an impressive turn out of around 170 teams taking part. The ‘Early Birds’ sessions are becoming increasingly popular, attracting up to 40 children from 6 to 7 schools around the borough. The scheme includes a variety of activities to promote exercise and teamwork to a mix of young kids throughout the community, from interactive fun and games to technical coaching and skill development.
The club is continually looking to improve facilities in order to establish a top-class environment for youngsters. Windsor Housing has specifically provided a large all-weather canvas shelter to be used during training and on match days throughout the season, ideal for parents and supporters. Windsor’s funding will also help the club to buy additional mini-goal sets and training tops for the coaching staff.
Organisers recognise the sessions’ growing potential and value for money to parents but admit that many more children could become involved and make use of this initiative. Manager of the ‘Early Birds’, Will Calvert, said, “We have a very talented and committed group of parents and coaches, who are always keen to help out on a Saturday. We teach a variety of technical skills, but also inspire our kids to have fun and promote the importance of fitness and staying healthy. The support we receive from Windsor Housing allows us to continue to invest in coaching courses and hopefully get more fully qualified coaches involved.”
New Windsor Youth FC is the second youth football club Windsor Housing sponsor, as they also champion the Old Windsor Tigers FC, Under 11s team. Rachel Bennett added, “It’s a great opportunity to be able to support both youth clubs in areas where we have homes; they offer great initiatives for children and young people, encouraging regular exercise and the enjoyment of team performance.”
For more information, or to get involved, please contact Will Calvert at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or on 07920 504704.
Schools Out For Summer
Hundreds of local children benefitted from the free workshops and activities offered by Windsor Housing, throughout Windsor and surrounding areas, over the past 4 weeks. Summer in da Hood (SIDH) is a positive free activity programme for young people aged 8 to 19 in Windsor and the surrounding rural areas during the summer holidays.
Windsor Housing established SIDH in 2007 and continues to lead and manage the initiative. Consultations with participants over the last 2 years have shaped and informed the programme to ensure it entertains and meets youth needs. 
The project aims to celebrate youth achievement and learning through the arts and sports whilst promoting community cohesion and having a positive impact on anti-social behaviour. The children’s and young people’s achievements are celebrated through an accredited awards system, raising self-esteem and enhancing CVs with new skills sets.
In order to benefit more members of the community, in 2009 the project developed into a strategic multi-agency group with new and existing partners including the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM), the Army, Thames Valley Police, NHS Berkshire East and Churchmead Secondary School in Datchet, East Berkshire.
Key multi-agencies including Thames Valley Police and RBWM Community Safety Wardens led workshops to specifically target crime reduction and raise awareness and understanding of social responsibility whilst retaining an element of entertainment. These included knife crime, stranger danger and internet safety.
Windsor Housing also opened the project to ‘business days’ sponsored by local companies. These workshops included Nokia instructing the children to invent a new and imaginative mobile, Honda hosting team building games, Microsoft informed the children, and the staff, about internet security and ensuring safety and privacy of online accounts like facebook.
Over the 4 weeks around 250 different children attended the workshops and most are keen to see the activities introduced during other school holidays, such as Easter and Christmas.
Steph Dixon, RBWM Prevention Worker, said, “These early intervention projects give positive and social activities to steer youngsters away from anti-social behaviour and encourage community cohesion. The business days have been a real success with everyone.
Vicky Moran and Claire Pembroke, both 15, said “During the school holidays we run out of things to do. Coming down here is great as you get to socialise with people our own age. There’s lots of people here that you see around the neighbourhood, but here we get to meet them, hang out and make friends.”
Ruby Wade, aged 9 said “It was all great fun. I especially enjoyed making comics, having my photo taken on top of the slide and putting it on the computer made me look as though I was on top of Everest.”
Arun and Akshay Tah, 9 and 10 respectively, thought the Nokia day was the best and said “We found the details of the workshops at school and have been following them around throughout the local area for the past three or four weeks.”
Cheryl Monk, Community Relations Manager, BAA said “Although this is the first time the Communications Team has been involved, we do a lot through our Community Investment Programme which is focussed on local area. We really enjoyed it and hope to be able to attend again.”
Free fun and games on the beach
The Army Welfare Service in partnership with Windsor Housing and RBWM brought the beach to Broom Farm, Dedworth. A beach was created complete with sand, water, buckets and spades, ice cream, seashells, bouncy castle, human table football, Egyptian dancing and sumo wrestling.
Local residents turned out with their families to take advantage of this free event to promote play and interaction for children and parents in the community. Research demonstrates that good play opportunities for children can build resilience. The event highlights the importance of play in an environment packed with positive, natural play opportunities.
It also raised public awareness of the facilities available for everyone to access at Broom Farm, as well as providing an opportunity for local families living on the estate, and in Dedworth, to mix and socialise. A short clip of video footage taken on the day is available here: http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/news/article-12263-video-life-s-a-beach-for-windsor-kids-on-play-day/
The beach play day also marked the redevelopment of two neglected play spaces to now provide accessible, landscaped play environments for children, young people and families to enjoy. A Sure Start Centre will also be opening on-site in 2010 for the estate’s residents and the wider Dedworth community.
Rachel Bennett, Community Development Officer for Windsor Housing, who also led the children in an Egyptian dance in the sand said, “Windsor Housing were delighted to be invited to work in partnership with the Army Welfare Services to deliver this valuable and innovative event. Broom Farm will soon enjoy new facilities with a Sure Start Centre and brand new play area to benefit the whole of Dedworth where Windsor Housing has a large number of homes. It’s important to build links between the Broom Farm and Dedworth communities so everyone is encouraged to make full use of the children’s facilities.”
Adrian Voce, Director of Play England, said: ‘Play is an essential part of every child's life and is vital to their emotional and physical development. Research shows that, through play, children learn about themselves and the world around them, develop confidence, self-esteem and creativity. We’re asking for everyone to make play a priority for Playday 2009.’
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QHS Audit Results
Windsor Housing, part of the Radian Group, has received a glowing audit from Quality Housing Services (QHS), a non-profit organisation recognised for its knowledge of service quality within the housing sector.
As a member of QHS, Windsor receives twice yearly audits to ascertain the levels of service they are offering to residents. Windsor received an increased score in all of the areas inspected except Diversity which remained unchanged.
On this occasion the areas for inspection included: Maintenance, Rent Collection and Payments, Complaints Handling, Estate Management, Reception and Diversity. The individual scores are below with the results from the previous audit in brackets.
The scores were:
Maintenance 76% (69%)
Rent Collection & Payments 89% (87%)
Complaints Handling 87% (75%)
Estate Management inc. ASB 82% (73%)
Diversity 87% (87%)
Windsor’s overall average achievement was 85%, which puts them amongst the best performing housing associations audited. The vast majority of areas inspected were not only well above the QHS Certification Target, but also above the Enhanced Certification Target.
Chris Scott, Assistant Director, Windsor Housing said “It is fantastic news that the QHS, a leading independent organisation, reports that Windsor is doing well across the board and is getting even better.”
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