End of Year Report by Vicki Blanchard

It is with delight I can say that the Association has gone from strength to strength in the past year. We now have 120 members and a strong volunteer base of committee members, old and new. In addition, we have also caught the attention of outside parties who recognize and applauded our work and what we are trying to achieve. The biggest news of the year was Hull City Councils bid for Newland Avenue to be one of the Governments Road Safety Demonstration Projects.

Tony Kirby and Paul Robinson of Hull's Transport Department competed with 28 other local authority bids, and thanks to their hard work Hull was chosen, with the reward of 1 million to be spent on improving road safety on the Avenue. This is a 3 year project, with local businesses, schools and residents involved all along the way. This is a much needed boost for the Avenue, and I know that the strength of the Traders and Residents Associations helped enormously with the decision.

We have also benefits from improved radio reception thanks to the hard work of Ernie Addy, put into obtaining a central radio station. We have more than our fair share of crime along the avenue, but we have acted together and developed a system that allows us to monitor any situations, and in many cases make traders on their own feel that bit safer. In the coming year we hope to develop this system further with a link to the local police station and a log book of crimes mentioned over the radio, which we can use as evidence that we need a greater police presence. Following on from this, we also had the good news of being involved in the City-Wide CCTV link up. We are in line for 7 cameras in total, which will cover the entire length of Newland Avenue, including back streets where thieves can escape or late night revelers cause a disturbance. This is a Government and local authority decision though, so at this point we are awaiting a news update on this. continued below..

End of Year Report continued by Vicki Blanchard

On a lighter note , we had another successful Christmas Event, highlighting our dedication and commitment to the local community. More lights were bought from our fund raising efforts and a grant from Hull City council and, if funds are healthy, this year we will be purchasing more. Feedback from the event suggests that we keep it more family based and use the schools for entertainment such as plays, choirs etc. It was perhaps too big, resulting in no late night shopping. We need to discuss this further as we all need to be happy with the developments.

We will shortly be hosting our Midsummer Fair, which was born out of the Golden Jubilee Fair we had last year. This again was another extremely successful community event, which also helped raise funds for the Association. The event will be bigger this year, with 6 big rides coming from an outside company specializing in entertainments. There will also be local schools performing on the day. As always, volunteers are desperately needed to make the day a successful one, so if you can give up a few hours please let me know.

Thanks to the Hull Community Fund, hanging baskets have been installed on 26 of the 30 lampposts along the avenue. The area is lacking in greenery and we felt that a nicer environment encourages visitors and shoppers to Newland Avenue. Trees will be installed as part of the road Improvement scheme as well. We will also be working towards more litter bins and benches- a long but beneficial process of improving the area. We hope to have the flowers yearly if funds are sufficient.

The Association is maintained by an annual membership of 120 strong memberships whose contributions allow us to continue our progress and keep Newland Avenue alive and well. But it's not just financial help that's needed, not only for ongoing events but also for all the work and effort "behind the scenes", with regular meetings, new issues to deal with, grants to apply for.

We would also like to hear what you would like to see done by the Association, new ideas, and improvements, can we help you sort out any problems? Remember we are all volunteers, and there are sometime not enough hours in the day for all the things we would like to see done for the Avenue. But you can rest assured that our commitment is 100% as we are all working towards a better standard of living and working environment, to ensure the vibrancy of Newland Avenue continues to grow and flourish.

Newland Avenue Shops featured on www.thisisull.com. Check out their pages! below or on the right menu, scroll up... Angeline's Floral Studio. W.Foster DIY Shop Viva - Expresso yourself! The ZOO Café, Coffe Shop and Vegetarian Cafe.

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