A resident from Hammersley Hayes has been announced as third place winner for the Midlands Region in the Tenant Participation Advisory Services Awards 2010 (TPAS) in the category of ‘Tenant of The Year’.

The Tenant of the Year award is given to people who go beyond the call of duty, acting as local leaders, ensuring that the warm words around tenant involvement translate into real change and empowerment and contribute to providing housing that people want to live in. They promote the concept of sustainable communities in what they do and make a lasting difference to their fellow tenants and neighbours. The award seeks to recognise those who have given up their time to improve their homes and communities, through organised participation, or their own efforts.

Gill Mason has been a resident of Moorlands Housing, a member of Harvest Housing Group, for 34 years and since 2002 she has volunteered a vast amount of her time to attend meetings, consultation events, training, community pride days and community events.

Gill’s work has predominantly been with the residents of Hammersley Hayes in Cheadle, where she is Chair of the Residents Action Group. The group acts to ensure that the views of the community are put forward and is central to Moorlands Housing’s neighbourhood planning processes, their monitoring and review.

Gill has been actively involved in partnership working and has been a fundamental part of the partnership meeting organised by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, involving key agencies working in the area.

Gill has also assisted in the development of many projects for residents that include a luncheon club for elderly residents, craft clubs, a junior youth club and a project to deliver a multi-use games area to Hammersely Hayes for the younger residents to play in. She has been key to accessing funding for the benefit of the community.

Commenting in Gill’s success, Regional Regeneration Manager, Nick Grubb said:

“Gill’s commitment to the community certainly has gone above and beyond the call of duty. She has helped to lower incidents of youth anti social behaviour through the promotion of youth activities and has been central in making the community more successful through the Hammersley Hayes Action Group. Structures are now in place in the community, both physical and cultural to enable involvement and participation for generations to come. This is Gill’s lasting legacy to her community.”