CROWN ROAD COMMUNITY NEWS

The Crown Road Community

I'm afraid the project has fallen into a deep sleep. But it is still alive, and will remain so, waiting to be awoken . . . !

I phoned the contacts at Redbridge Council provided to me by Vanessa Cole: Peter McGeary, manager of Tenants & Leaseholders Participation at the Housing Department; the Department of Culture & Community Learning Services; the Department of Strategic Services; and the chief regeneration officer, Chris Shellard.

The department of culture & community learning services connected me with Janet Wilkinson of the Strategic Services Partnerships Team, who, among other things, suggested I get in touch with the Redbridge Council for Voluntary Service. I sent an email to its chief officer, Ross Diamond, telling him about the Crown Road Community Project and asking if his department could offer any support.

I haven't heard anything from Dave, but don't think that he can do much until I've got a provider for the website. I emailed the British daughter company of my German provider asking them which package they would recommend for my purpose, but their response was not very helpful. I'm now inclined to wait and see what my contacts with Redbridge Council yield.
 

I sent an email to my three local councillors telling them about the project and asking for their help in obtaining the support of Redbridge Council. One of the Conservative Party councillors, Vanessa Cole, replied very quickly, providing me with the names and telephone numbers of a number of people at the Council she thought might be able to help, as well as offering further suggestions and advice.

I received an email from Dave asking if I'd made any inquires regarding a suitable web server for our interactive website, and suggesting a number of open-source content management systems (the software necessary for running an interactive community website) for me to take a look at.
 

I visited an acquaintance, Owen Guerin, who lives down the Road in Duke Gardens, and his friend, Dave Kay, who are in the process of setting up their own, 2-man Internet company (www.viscare.com). I told them about the dummy website I'd set up and they warmed to the idea, offering to help me create an interactive site.
 

After a hesitant start, the website, www.crownroad.co.uk, or rather, a preliminary draft (dummy) version of it (which has exhausted my IT skills and is as much as I am capable of on my own), is now accessible on the Web.
 

I received an email from Lee Scott suggesting that we meet in Barkingside on 10 February to discuss the project.
 

I emailed our local MP, Lee Scott, informing him about my intention of setting up a Crown Road Community website and asking if he would support it. He email back to say that he would.
 

Today I discovered an Internet company (www.1and1.co.uk) offering to host co.uk domains for a very reasonable price. The first name to come to mind was "crownroad.co.uk", which I checked out, found was available, and promptly ordered. With it I would create a website dedicated to something that I've been wanting to do ever since moving to Barkingside in November 03: initiating the establishment of a local community. I already had a name for it: The Crown Road Community Project.  Slowly, the potential of such an interactive website started to dawn on me. I was surprised that I hadn't thought of it before, considering my interest in both establishing a local community and in the potential of the Internet.