Hello everybody, I’d like to introduce myself as the new President of R2 and welcome you all to, (and ask you to encourage other owners to regularly view and use this), OUR website.  My name is Alan Fleming and I moved here with my wife Moweena and dog Jessica at the beginning of this year, (Jessica is the ugly one in the picture - - now now)!

Firstly I think we should thank Derek and Sue for holding the Presidency over the past 4 years, I’m sure we all think of it as being a load of hassle and a completely thankless task.  However it doesn’t have to be and I’m determined that it isn’t.  I put up to take over from Derek not because I particularly want to, or because I think I look good in uniform, but because I think it is important that there is someone here on site to manage all that needs doing.  But REMEMBER I will be doing it on behalf of everyone so I will expect help and advice whenever I ask for it.  Different people will have different skills so lets tap into that.  Offer your services.

This block R2 is OUR community, we all have a vested interest in its maintenance, security and appearance.  I expect we all originally thought of our purchase here as an investment and like any investment it’s value will fluctuate with the vaguaries of the markets at large, but unlike the usual investments of stocks or pension funds, we do have a little control over its potential value.  What I mean by that is that the better our overall community is maintained and managed, the potential property value or rental income will be enhanced.  Therefore we should all act like a community, supporting each other and helping each other, because the state of your neighbours property (investment) or the standard of your neighbours tenant, has a direct bearing on the potential value of your investment or income.

As a community there have to be rules set and decisions taken but no decision or rule is going to please everyone, so the answer is to be sensible and to compromise to suit most people.  Rules are there not to stop the individual from having fun but to allow the majority of people to enjoy themselves.  I am not going to be your policeman, if anyone on this community sees anything that they are unhappy about, i.e people drinking in the pool, people allowing their pets to wander and foul around the area etc. then they are entitled to challenge that, they don’t have to come running to me and expect me to do something.  As long as they are being reasonable then they will be supported by the rest of us.  As an example if someone is smoking around the pool and throwing their cigarette butts all over the grass, it would be unreasonable to ask them to give up smoking but it is perfectly reasonable to ask them to use a bin or ashtray and clean up when they go.

Equally this community is beginning to need more and more maintenance and a lot of that can be done by us and that means all of us.  For example, cleaning up litter, general weeding, painting railings or washing the water stains off their walls (remember the state of your property reflects upon your neighbour so be considerate).  Most of us who live here do an awful lot of clearing up that the rest of you don’t even see but it’s unfair to rely on us few.  For example a lot of you will have a flowerbed on the path outside your property so adopt it and look after it, plant flowers in it and pull weeds and cat/dog poo out of it.  Not many turn up to the AGM but each of us knows our neighbours so lets encourage that community spirit within our own social groups to generate more participation.  I repeat we all benefit by keeping this community clean and tidy and well maintained.

Finally I am a great believer in the power of communication.  Experience has taught me that most issues or concerns people have are more easily resolved when there is good communication between the parties.  The problem we have is that because residency here is small, we meet or contact each other very infrequently and this is why we have developed our own R2 website.  The theory of using this website is so that we can all know what’s going on and are all able to have a say in its management.  As long as the comments are aimed at being constructive, (even criticism if it’s not personal can be constructive) and remember the underlying motive of having a community is because we own properties here, so we will all benefit if we help each other to make this a place worth living in.