Maria Lloyd (00:01.454)
Hello and welcome to the My Local Marketer podcast which shines a light on the success stories, key learnings and insights from people and businesses based in Reading, Berkshire. I'm your host, Maria Lloyd. I've lived in Reading for 20 years and I've only recently started to appreciate what our wonderful town has to offer. Join me as I explore Reading's opportunities and lessons in more detail. Now, without further ado, let's jump in. Hello, this week we're talking with committee members of CADRA, that's Caversham and District Residents Association.

You'll hear from CADRA's chair, Helen Lambert, as well as two other members of the committee, Neil Tayler and Malcolm Pemble. As always, we'd love to hear what you think of this episode, so please do get in touch. Now, Helen is at first, so let's jump in. Helen, could you please give a general introduction to what CADRA is and what it does? So CADRA started almost 60 years ago, and it was very much part of the civic movement. A lot of organisations started at that time.

So it's about helping our lovely area between the River Thames and the Chilterns be a great place for people to live. So we're a membership organisation. We have about 550 households north of the river and they can hold us to account under the terms of our constitution. But we have a wider reach beyond that through our Facebook pages and our website. We hold two open meetings a year.

and we get audiences of over 100, they're available and not just to members and huge variety of topical issues and because we have good audiences we can get really good speakers. So a lot of the time we're trying to track what's going on, what decisions are being made and we're sharing that information through emails and newsletters and the Facebook, looking for where it's possible to influence decisions and helping other people.

to see where they could influence the decisions if that's what they want to do. We sometimes need to encourage and chase up action, things get stuck in the system, improvements that need to be made. And we've very much building an informal network, both with the council and other organisations. And that's all part of helping to get things done, knowing who to go to for what. We've done a number of projects on local history.

Maria Lloyd (02:25.72)
Caversham has a fantastic vocal history and that's part of why we love the area. And generally we try to play our part in fostering a strong sense of community in Caversham and Emmer Green. Now, as well as the general information that you just said about the general activities of CADRA, you also do special projects, don't you? Those one-off projects. Could you please say a little bit more about the projects, what sort of projects you do and maybe...

the results of them, how they've impacted Caversham. So there are a number of physical things around Caversham that you can see. There's the wind vane on top of the gazebo in Caversham Court Gardens. There's the Caversham sign. There's a heritage map on the side of the library. There's a panel about the famous William Marshal on Caversham Bridge. And each of those CADRA has taken through and they help people to know more about

where they live and feel engaged. one fairly recent project, the village sign that went up in 2001, was starting to look very tired and we wanted to get it refreshed. So we managed to track down the lovely man who made it, who has a brilliant workshop with all sorts of old fashioned wooden lathes. He's also a bodger. And we managed to make contact with him and asked whether

he would take the sign back to his workshop. He said, yes, he would. He said, this will be the last one I do. This will see me out. So we had to work with the council because it's on council land in taking the sign off the top of the post. We were in touch with the owners of the precinct and they said they would cover the costs. So we took the sign in the back of the car out to Stuart King's workshop and we left it with him and he did a brilliant job

getting it repainted and making some repairs. It's actually made from a piece of oak from a tree in Caversham Park. So the oak which is made has got its own history as well as the pictures on the sign. So Stuart did a fantastic job, but then we had to get a bigger car because there were more pieces attached and brought it back. Council staff reattached it and there it is. And almost every organization has it in their photos. How do you measure engagement, if at all, with like how people

Maria Lloyd (04:52.512)
find out about it or what they say about the special projects. It's very much informal. We try and keep talking to people. Facebook's a part, but that's not for everybody. So yes, you find different ways. Okay, so Malcolm, what has worked well for CADRA, like behind the scenes? What are you doing behind the scenes at CADRA to make CADRA run? Well, there's a lot of things. The planning list is what, which was one of the things that when we surveyed the members, they appreciate and thought was a

very useful. That's got a lot of what goes into monitoring what's happening in planning applications within the council, both Reading and South Oxfordshire, and looking for planning applications that have a wider interest across our area. thing that I think about the website is that it's a resource. It's got a lot of important historic information about the area, which we built over a long, long time.

it's important to keep that going. The other things we do are we get letters and emails from members and they all need to be replied to. Now you said the website was really important and I totally agree with you on that because it's not only a resource for people but to show over the 60 years what CADRA's actually done. If it's all collated there in one area then it's easy if you'd say look at everything that we've done and achieved. Yes it's not just what we've done.

The history it has goes back to the year dot. We have information about the archaeology and we have links out from the website into national databases. What's your favourite section of the website? Probably the planning list, which is what I spend most of my time doing, I suppose. The labour of love. Yes. One of the things about the planning list is that it's become more important quite recently because if you ever walk around the

your neighbourhood, often see planning notices that advise on next door neighbours. Historically, the council planning officers would email or write letters to people living close to the neighbours that this is no longer going to happen. What they will do is put notices up on the houses that are going to be redeveloped. So we think the planning list is now becoming a much more important thing for people to be able to look up.

Maria Lloyd (07:17.102)
with the website. I know we had a discussion before and you mentioned a couple of things. So could you just expand on what you think has worked well? So the website has got lots of different sections and there are two pages on local history and they started really with our big project called Caversham 100 Years On, where we worked with other organisations to focus on local heritage and we built up a lot of information and we discovered a lot of

places to find information and we started just listing those. We've taken time to find these, other people might find them useful. And so over time, we've got really quite an eclectic mix of bits of information, links and sources for information. And it will be a fantastic project for someone to take that and edit it and to work on Facebook, pick out snippets and share them because there's just so much material there.

and I think it will be great fun for someone. Now, what's your favourite section on the website? Well, I have to say that that's definitely one of them. There's just so many fantastic stories about Caversham. I think the stories are what bring it to life and help people to really feel a connection with something. Yes, very much so. What's worked well for CADRA over the years? Well, because CADRA has been established for a long time, it's been able to build up respect for the organisation. We've picked our battles.

as to which we can have some impact on. So we've had a strong team in the background and more recently we've built into Emmer Green where the previous association was no longer able to continue and we have a growing membership there and that's widened our impact right across North Reading. Okay, so Neil, you obviously live in the Emmer Green area. Can you say what's gone well for CADRA in the Emmer Green

So over the past couple of years we've picked up from where the Emmer Green Residents Association left off and we've carried on community projects. Notably we revamped the notice board in the centre at a precinct of shops over on the Cavendish Road. It had a very dilapidated, mouldy, rotten notice board that CADRA stepped in and working with local organisations. We've revamped the notice board and it's now looking very...

Maria Lloyd (09:41.006)
sort of brand spanking new, which is great for the community because obviously it means a central point of information, focal point for local groups to go and put adverts up there at what's going on in the area. now they've got a good board that's going to be there for number of years. So that's in last six months or so. Yes, we have. mean, we have a Facebook site that is sort of CADRA for Emmer Green, as opposed to the main CADRA site as well, sort of a sub branch of that.

and people are on there making comments that they're really pleased with what we're doing around the area. We've got other plans as well, like restoring and sort of cleaning the Emmer Green sign by the pond, which is a work in progress that we're trying to sort of get sorted at the moment. And when that happens, people again, I'm sure will come onto the Facebook site and make comments. Brilliant. I love the idea that you've got the Facebook group that can clarify if they like it or not. So that is your way of finding out if something's actually working. Yeah, we use the Facebook site mainly for CADRA events and news.

we share from other local organisations but being at Emmer Green and being chemistry we sort of separate the two in a way. So there's almost a dedicated Emmer Green site which is managed by the same guys who the main counter site so they get lots of news in both ways. Is there anything else that you've got planned? The site including is lined up. One of the past projects, especially the Emmer Green book which you're holding there, this is a book that sort of charts the origins of Emmer Green really from

way back, lots of photographs, lots of historical content, produced by a local lady, Margaret Ormonde, who lives in the area and still does. That went out of print many, many years ago. We reprinted a couple of hundred books and have distributed them around local schools. So next door, Emmer Green Primary, Highdown got a couple, The Hill got a couple. This is for the kids to share in the local area they live in. Just seeing that book is back into print is a real big project.

So Helen, as well as what has worked well, what hasn't worked well over the years? What challenges have CADRA come across? Well, the membership side has gone well. We have a growing membership and it's been interesting from our survey that the biggest group were those that have joined in the last five years. So we have new people coming in and we have, as well as the committee, we have what we call committee support team who pick up specific issues outside of committee attending occasionally. And that's been

Maria Lloyd (12:05.698)
really positive, brings new people in and it gives us particular expertise in different areas. But it's hard to find people who have the time to commit to the main committee roles. We know that our younger members find it really helpful to be kept in the loop as all our members do. But if you've got a young family and a full-time job, you don't have time to spare. It's been really useful when from time to time we've had

younger people in the team for a particular project for a year or two. We haven't any at the moment. We would really like to pick up on that again. So we've got a communication plan to try and reach out so that more people are aware of what CADRA does and to see ways that they could contribute that would fit in with their lives. You're right. In order for something to work well, you need to

diverse range of people from backgrounds, ages, everything in order to get that impact. So obviously, like you said, it's harder for younger people, they've probably got families or they've got jobs. But why do you think even despite all that, it's important to get involved in your local community groups? There's lots of payback for the individuals. It can be really rewarding and you learn a lot. It's a very good insight into how local government works and to see where you can influence.

That's really useful in all sorts of ways and being part of a wider network. So we think on environmental issues, on conservation, and it's an opportunity for people to bring in new skills, new ideas and new approaches. And the team's been really good at looking after each other. We all have lives to lead and there'll be times when we're not available to do things and we have to work around.

and help each other and everybody on the team is very much focused on what makes Caversham and Emmer Green a great place to live. I think that connects nicely to what you said earlier about how in order to do that special project, the example that you mentioned, you had to actually liaise with the local council. So yes, if anyone's interested in politics or getting involved, you really, like you said, you get to tap into different organisations and local.

Maria Lloyd (14:31.714)
government in order to do what you do. Yes, we get to know the councillors. We occasionally sit in or watch online the council meetings and you suss out what's happening and how the process works and where to find the documents on the council's website and all that kind of thing. Once you've sussed that out, you could discover all sorts of things, but it takes a little bit of time to get your head around it. How do you get feedback so you know what people think of what's CADRA’s doing?

So when our emails are going out, we're always saying, please let us know what you think, asking for comments on particular things. We did an extensive survey last year, which was really useful. And we spent time talking to people and we get some lovely comments back. Somebody said to me very recently, I came to your open meeting. I asked a question and I felt heard. It was lovely. Somebody else said, CADRA does the things that I would like to do.

if I had the time. And then the CADRA monthly emails are so useful as they summarise what I need to know in an easily readable format. And I find your newsletter invaluable to find out not only what's currently going on around Caversham, but also about potential developments. So it's really heartening to hear those comments and it helps keep us going. I think the comment that you said about someone saying they like CADRA because they do things that

they don't have personal time for is significant because obviously that person, although they aren't contributing their time, they are a paid member, aren't they? So they are still helping and supporting CADRA and the work that you do. So even if someone is back to back, they've got no time to volunteer, they can still help just by joining up to CADRA and the mailing list. Absolutely. and, having a strong membership is really important to us having influence in decisions. You know, we're not six people in a room with six ideas.

We are speaking on behalf of the community and so we need to be in touch with that community, with our members, but also more widely. But yes, please, if you haven't thought about joining CADRA, you can help give Caversham and Emmer Green a voice just by being a member. How can people sign up to the newsletter or to become a member? Is that on your website? Yes, it's all on the website and you can join and pay online. We've revamped all the processes and it's quick and easy.

Maria Lloyd (16:58.614)
And just to add, it's a minimum fee, isn't it? We're not talking hundreds a year or anything like that. It's really expensive. It's three pound for the household for the year. I would suggest maybe up in that price slightly, but we won't go into that here. Helen, Neil, Malcolm, everyone else who's contributed their time for this episode, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And yeah, let's get people joining CADRA. That's great. Thank you, Maria.