The following was provided by Bruce Bland, who is Joint Coordinator of the Rose Bay Good Neighbour Group.

What was your project?

The event “Say G’day on Neighbour Day“ was a get together for local Rose Bay residents held in Pannerong Reserve Rose Bay on Sunday 28 March 2010, at 5:30pm

How did you organise yourselves?

We organised it through the Rose Bay Good Neighbour Group, which was previously The Rose Bay Neighbourhood Watch Group.

The Neighbourhood Watch group worked towards trying to make the local area safer and more friendly; and we felt the above event was a good way to achieve that.

What worked well?

The whole event seemed to work very well for all involved. We had about 200 people of all ages turn up, people mixed well and all of the comments were favourable.

We had name tags with first names and that helped people mix easier. The free sausage sizzle with a soft drink and puppet show for kids plus Cranbrook boys playing music created a great local atmosphere with something for everybody.

The small size of the reserve made people feel closer and created a more intimate atmosphere than a large park.

What could be improved?

I feel that it could be improved by more publicity, plus more local performers and perhaps starting at 5:00pm instead of 5:30pm because of light at this time of the year.

What assistance did you receive?

We received great assistance from Woollahra Council in the form of a $1000 community grant, waiving of the reserve hiring fees and wonderful friendly helpful money saving cooperation from the Community Development Department.

The local butcher donated meat and services for the sausage sizzle, the local supermarket donated soft drinks and schools, churches and other local organisations all lent a hand and contributed to the success.

What advice can you pass on to others?

• Organise well in advance
• Don’t count on too many workers
• Involve as many organisations as possible
• Use every avenue possible for publicity
• Keep people involved
• Follow up 3 times more than you think you should need to. Ring and e-mail all the time.
• Always remember the old saying “you are never better served than when you serve yourself“
• Don’t forget insurance

And one last thing: if you don’t ask you don’t get, but ask nicely.

Bruce Bland
Joint Coordinator
Rose Bay Good Neighbour Group

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