Who is your Community Development Officer?
My name is Kieran, and I started working for Abri back in 2012. I used to be a Team Manager within the Customer Services team and started with the Community Investment team back in 2021. I have previously covered the Portsmouth and Bristol within the Community Investment team, and I am currently working in Bracknell covering the Great Hollands area.
In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my wife and two kids, and I have a big interest in music. I play guitar in a band locally, so I am often listening to music and learning new songs. I also have a keen interest in bonsai trees. I am just a beginner, but it is an addictive interest and the only plant I have been able to keep alive for longer than a few weeks. I am a big Welsh rugby fan too.
You can contact Kieran at Kieran.Jones@abri.co.uk
You Said, We Did
You said:
There is poor waste disposal with a lack of respect for others
We did:
In response to this, we have run a large number of mini community action days in collaboration with Bracknell Forest Council. These sessions were designed to spread awareness, gather ideas and identify key areas where we can tackle the problem. We removed a number of large bulky items from these events along with community litter picks. We have also combined them with installing some CCTV cameras to deter from continuing fly tipping at key hot spot sites.
You said:
Youth anti-social behaviour (ASB), particularly with e-scooters
We did:
We have commissioned a local arts studio, South Hill Park, to run an art exhibition highlighting the dangers of e-scooters. This will be in collaboration with the fire service, police, and engaging with local primary and secondary schools. The exhibition will be exhibited around local school and community spaces, with a video being produced that can be shared across social media sites.
As part of the youth ASB priority for the CIP, I am working on a project with Brentford FC who are going to be running some youth football session within Great Hollands. This is to provide diversionary activities for young people and has been successful in reducing ASB in other areas. It also helps promote physical activity and provide volunteering and potential career prospects for those that take part.
What have we been up to in Great Hollands?
Ran by Bracknell Town Council, we attended the event to spread awareness about what we are doing in the local community and how we can help support. The Summer of Fun event, welcomed a number of organisations and charities to provide free activities for kids and share what their organisation is about. We provided a pot a seed service where kids could colour in their plant pot and then pot a seed that they could take how and watch it grow. We were also giving away free snacks and drinks. The event was a success with the highest number of people attend the event and we gave out around 200 plants pots to children. Customers were very complimentary thanked us for our support.
Summer of Fun event
From speaking with customers, we know that poor waste disposal is a common theme and a key priority across the whole of Bracknell. In response to this, we delivered a series of community engagement events designed to engage with local residents to promote correct waste disposal practises. We invited customers to come and talk to us about their experiences within the community, share information promoting correct disposal and encourage them to take part in community litter picks. Speaking with customers who attended these events, they were pleased to see a presence from Abri within the community and liked the ideas of us putting these sessions together. We always strive to work in collaboration with the local police, who attended a selection of the events, we also welcomed Bracknell Forest Council’s Waste Management Team. They have been installing food waste bins at some of the blocks during these events, which is a new project for Bracknell Forest Council. This further enhances the collaboration and successes we are helping to create within our estates.
There is a local community café based in the centre of Great Hollands called the Look In café which we have committed to supporting. We are supporting them with getting WIFI at the café, funding some works needed to make the café more inviting and working with them to get a pantry installed for local people to use. We are looking at running some digital training sessions at the café in collaboration with a local charity to help get customers online to have a wider breadth of access to services available to support them. We are also going to look at hosting an energy roadshow with Green Doctor to provide support for energy bills and saving money.
