Welcome to the October edition of the TORC News Bulletin. Did you know that 9th – 15th October marks Fire Safety Week in Ireland?! Its so important not to become complaisant about fire safety in your home and to stay informed about the steps you can take to protect yourself, your family and your homes from fire. Check out this month’s TORC Top Tip for some great tips on fire alarm maintenance.
This month is the last News Bulletin you will receive from me as your TEO! I am going on leave but don’t worry, tenant engagement updates, initiatives and community events will continue as normal with a new TEO from next month.
Bethany – Tenant Engagement Officer
Latest News
TORC Has Been shortlisted for a Community Housing Award – We Need Your Help!
We have been shortlisted in the ‘Best Family Housing Scheme’ category in the prestigious ICSH Allianz Community Housing Awards 2023. We need your support – your vote can make a significant difference! These awards showcase projects that promote innovation and sustainability in social housing while also emphasising community-building and engagement.
Please click on the ICSH Allianz Community Housing Awards 2023 link below to cast your vote. TORC Sustainable Housing is listed as ‘Bundle 2 of the Social Housing PPP Programme – Best Family Housing Scheme-Cork County Council’. It takes just 30 seconds to vote.
Congratulations to all of the TORC residents who were awarded funding under the TORC Foundation Education Bursary 2023 last month. In all, TORC has been able to fund 15 residents (an increase from last year’s 10 residents) to attend further education. The funding came to €8,939 and is provided to residents to cover a full or partial amount of their education or training course fees.
Check out the TORC website to see the full list of awardees and their courses. There is a huge array of subject areas – from Nursing Studies, to a Bridal Hair Masterclass to a Masters degree in Digital Marketing and Excavator Operation Training – our residents are doing it all! The Education Bursary will be launched again in the summer of 2024 so keep that in mind if you are considering an education or training course.
National Walking Day Initiative – Winners Announced!
The TORC team had a great time going through all of the entries and seeing all of the amazing places that our residents walked to last week to mark National Walking Day (and National Heart Health Day). Congratulations to the winning residents in each of the categories. Your FitBit Versa 3 Watches will be on the way to you shortly – hopefully being able to track your health statistics will help you to stay motivated with your walking goals !
Longest Walk – Eleanor (Skibbereen)
Most Scenic/beautiful Walk – Linda (Skibbereen)
Most Interesting Place to Walk – Denise (Galway)
Best Group Walk with Neighbours -Ria & Emma (Clonakilty)
Runners Up: John & Somala (Clonakilty), Enam (Galway)
Presentation Gardens Community Mural Completed!
The Presentation Gardens Community mural has now been completed by ‘The Walls Project’ artist Magda. It has certainly brightened up the area and added a bit of magic to the scheme for our younger residents. The nature elements of the design are nice to bring into a scheme which is in an urban setting in the middle of Waterford City.
The final design is based around theme suggestions and designs from residents – the main theme was ‘enchanted garden’ as well as woodland animal elements. There is a single feather in the centre of the design which is a special commemoration for a resident who recently lost a loved one.
House Inspection Updates and Feedback
The annual house inspections for Clane, Shannon, Roscommon, Galway, Macroom, Clonakilty and Skibbereen have all now been completed by the TORC team. If you missed your inspection, your Housing Officer will be in touch with you to rearrange it.
Unfortunately the inspections for our Waterford scheme had to be rescheduled. The new date for Presentations Gardens is the 7th November – residents will receive a letter regarding this next week.
How was your house inspection experience?
TORC understand that conducting house inspections can be a sensitive matter, however we are required by the Local Authority to undertake one every year. We welcome feedback on what we are doing right and more importantly, what we can do to improve this process. Residents should have received an SMS with a feedback survey link after their inspections – but its still possible to provide your feedback using the link below. It should only take a couple of minutes.
1/Cluain Ailbhe Planting Month: Register for Daffodils
Add a splash of colour to your garden and to Cluain Ailbhe by planting some vibrant Daffodils! This month, TORC will be providing our Clane residents with some mixed variety Daffodils that can be planted anytime between now and the end of November.
Any resident of Cluain Ailbhe can register for a pack of bulbs using the link below and the Tenant Engagement Officer will deliver them to you in the next month. Why not use some for your garden and some to brighten up the communal areas in Cluain Ailbhe!
This popular TORC competition is back again for a 3rd year – spook us out with your best Halloween costume photo! There is one €30 One4all gift card prize for a winner from each of the 8 TORC Schemes. Closing date for entries is Sunday 5th November.
To take part, take a photo of your child/children dressed in their Halloween Costume and send it to TORC between Monday the 30th October and Sunday the 5th of November. You can email the photos to: info@torcsustainablehousing.ie OR WhatsApp them to: 0876275605.
3/ Deadline to Register for Halloween Bingo is 11th October
The Halloween edition of online Bingo scheduled for Friday 27th October. All residents are welcome. In addition to the normal prizes for winning lines of bingo, there will be some bonus raffle prizes for participants.
To register and receive your bingo tickets in the post, click the registration link below. The Deadline to register for bingo tickets has been changed to the 12th October.
4/ Mid-Term Cinema Trip for Galway and Macroom Residents – last chance to register!
TORC is arranging tickets to a screening of a family friendly movie for residents living in Macroom and Galway for the mid-term holiday in October/November. The full details of the film are still to be confirmed but the dates are:
Clairin– Salthill Omniplex Cinema– Tuesday 31st October (approx. 2pm)
Children will need to be accompanied by a parent and you must be able to make your own way to and from the cinema. To register, complete the form below. Please only register if you are going to be available on the relevant screening date listed above. Deadline to register is 12th October.
5/ Presentation Gardens Resident Association (Waterford)- Emergency Services Day!
The committee of the new Resident Association of Presentation Gardens has organised their first community event!
If you are a resident of Presentation Gardens make sure you turn up and support this great event! The committee have organised for representatives of various local emergency services to come and meet residents – our young residents will love it! Its also a lovely opportunity to get to know your neighbours a bit better and to build on the amazing community spirit in Presentation Gardens.
Sunday 22nd October 2023 at 3pm
On the Green – Presentation Gardens, Waterford
TORC Top Tip for Tenants
Did you know that even though the fire alarm systems in your house (heat and smoke alarms) are ‘mains wired’, they also use a battery as a back-up? This means that the battery in each alarm unit will need to be replaced periodically.
It is your responsibility as a resident to test fire alarms and replace the batteries but if there is an alarm in a very hard-to-reach area of your home/building, please contact the repair team for support.
Check out this month’s Torc Top Tip to make sure you know when and how to change the batteries in your home fire alarms. You can also check out the ‘property guides’ page on the TORC website to watch a step by step video guide on changing batteries.
