Author: Deborah Castellanos
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Questions to Ask Before Booking a Hall
I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, staring at a pile of crumpled invoices and wondering why our little neighbourhood group was bleeding money just to have a place to sit. Everyone told us that finding… Continue reading
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Setting Up a Residents Association Properly
I’ve spent thirty-one years watching well-meaning neighbors try to fix their streets, only to see their momentum vanish because they thought they needed a legal team or a massive grant to begin. There is this exhausting myth that you need… Continue reading
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Recruiting Volunteers by Describing the Job
I’ve sat through enough “community engagement seminars” to know they’re mostly a waste of good tea and even better time. They’ll tell you that you need a digital marketing strategy, a branded social media presence, and a complex onboarding software… Continue reading
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Saying Yes to Less
I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, watching a perfectly good neighbourhood garden project crumble simply because the three people in charge had burned themselves out by mid-July. They had all the passion in the world,… Continue reading
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Reading Handwriting From 1790
I remember sitting in the damp basement of the parish hall three years ago, squinting under a flickering bulb at a bundle of minutes from 1954. I wasn’t looking for some grand historical revelation; I just wanted to know who… Continue reading
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The Event Costs You Forget
I remember sitting in a drafty church hall in 1994, watching a perfectly good neighborhood street party dissolve into a shouting match because someone had “misplaced” the receipt for the bunting. It wasn’t malice; it was just a lack of… Continue reading
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Why Nobody Came to Your First Meeting
I remember standing in a drafty church hall in 1994, clutching a stack of glossy, professionally printed flyers that I’d spent half the committee’s budget on. I had spent weeks planning the “perfect” engagement strategy, only to sit there staring… Continue reading
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The Council Complaints Process Step by Step
I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, listening to a group of well-meaning residents vent about the broken streetlights on High Street. They had spent three hours shouting at each other, but when I asked what… Continue reading
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What Two Hours a Week Actually Means
I remember sitting in a drafty church hall in 1994, staring at a stack of unfiled minutes while three different committee members argued over the cost of a single trestle table. Everyone tells you that community work is about “giving… Continue reading
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What an Mp Can Actually Do for You
I remember sitting in a drafty parish hall back in ’94, watching a perfectly good community project fall apart simply because the chairperson thought a “chat” over tea was the same thing as a formal request. People often think that… Continue reading
