Adactus tenant Maureen Stirpe (pictured right) attended a conference back in June. Maureen is an active member of our Tenants Forum and Virtual Forum. Here, Maureen shares her experience of attending the conference:

 On the weekend of the 27^th of June 2006 I attended the Northern Housing Consortium Resident Involvement Conference at the Hilton Hotel in Blackpool.

The conference started at 11.00am with introductions by Cath Purdy of Phil Morgan and the Chief Executive of TPAS. After the introductions Yvonne Davies from the Audit Commission gave a fascinating speech about the 'audit process' .

 In the afternoon session I joined the Tenant Empowerment Group. This group stressed the importance on improving customer care and consultation.  During my final session of the day I joined Philip Hardstone Tenant Participation Development Manager (Kirklees MC). The theme of this group was the importance of employing the right people for the job, improving services, and monitoring and reviewing progress.

At 7.30pm Dinner was served and then we were given a choice of evening entertainment but it had been a long day so I retired to bed to read my handouts and work pack.

The following day I attended 2 further workshops and listened to a speech in the main hall. During all these workshops the same theme and principles were coming through that the need for good customer service staff and effective communication with tenants was vital.

Unfortunately I could not stay for the final speaker, however the two days were informing, stimulating, enjoyable, thought provoking, enlightening and value for money. The only negative aspect that I could identify over the two days was the buffet style lunch, as this resulted in a large amount of queuing.

I would like to thank Adactus for the experience. I now have a better understanding of some of the aims of Housing Associations, and how they have to be seen to be working for the improvement of tenants and their homes.