StreetBank - Share things with your neighbours

The Missing Rollerblade Mystery

We hope you've had a good start to your year. Things were quiet in the run up to Christmas but since Boxing Day you have been very busy! We've seen a big rise in visits to Streetbank and lots of new people joining. We have been trying to work out why. Perhaps you have been seeking good homes for unwanted Christmas presents or perhaps you were feeling a bit hard done by on Christmas Day and looking to provide a good home!

We were interested by a new report by the Charities Aid Foundation on giving. Apparently 58% of us in the UK say that we are willing to help a stranger and that puts us only 26th in the international ranking. Still the majority of us are willing and that kind of behaviour is exemplified by Sandra who found three pairs of rollerblades in her road in Hammersmith and has put up a notice in an effort to find their owner. We salute you Sandra and the 58% that you represent!

Cheers,

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

Pass on a Pie!

2010 has been a big year for Streetbank. We spent the first few months of the year recruiting friends and generous West London residents to be Streetbank guinea pigs. Thanks for trusting us! In April we had 600 members and the confidence that the Streetbank concept worked. We held a big launch party at St Paul's Church in Hammersmith which included a version of Streetbank Live. By May we hit 1,000 members, by July we hit 2,000 members and after a flurry of online recommendations and some local press we hit 4,000 members in late September. As the year closes we have 5,681 members and we estimate that 3,000 meetings have taken place - an average of about one per member. Thank you to each and everyone of you for spreading word of Streetbank, for all your generosity in sharing your things and time and most of all for having the courage to connect with your neighbours. We've loved hearing about the fondue sets borrowed, the pianos picked up, the homemade bread shared and the gardens cleared.

We hope you have a great Christmas and look forward to all that 2011 will bring.

Cheers,

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

P.S. We've just been contacted by an enterprising guy called Alex. Alex is one of 12 young people on a mission to change the world. He is being filmed by Channnel 4 and his aim to get people to meet their street so he has created a challenge called Pass on a Pie. This is what he says "Pass on a Pie is a chance to get to know your neighbours. Simply buy a mince pie and take it round to someone on your street to introduce yourself. Then upload your photos, videos and stories to http://facebook.com/meetyourstreetor send them to passonapie@gmail.com. All pie passing will be featured on http://battlefront.co.uk/alex. The best way of staying up-to-date with Pass on a Pie is by attending the Facebook event (http://on.fb.me/ftfn9m). Here you can download and print a Pass on a Pie flyer, then put it in your window." Nice work Alex!

A Good Gift

Christmas Greetings!

We have been reflecting on what makes for the best present on Christmas day. Is it usually the most expensive one? Is it the one that precisely matches what we asked for? We agreed that usually the present that means the most to us is the one that has been given most thought, where a need or want has been spotted, where a sacrifice of time has been made and where creativity has been used. To that end, it might just be worth looking on Streetbank at what your neighbours are giving away. There just might be something that a limited budget couldn't normally afford but that would give someone you love much pleasure. A good gift is not so much in the cost but more in the creativity and the care.

Cheers,

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

A Top Five

We're often asked what are the most popular things/skills that people request on Streetbank. This week we've had a go at answering that question and we are a bit stumped. How do you categorise swiss balls, bike carriers or lessons in paper aeroplane making? About half of the messages that are sent are a request for something, well, a bit wierd. The other half are easier to categorise so here is, in no particular order and without being scientific, our top five:

1/ DVDs - usually for borrowing and usually a box set - The Wire/24/Friends.

2/ Language lessons - Spanish nudging French as the most popular.

3/ Old but still working electric things - hoovers, printers, tvs

4/ Dog walking - good for the owner, for the dog and for the walker - win, win, win!

5/ Breadmaker - definitely worth taking a look at Streetbank before you ask for one as your main Christmas present!

Cheers,

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

Happy Advent!

It seems premature to say Happy Christmas but it being December 1st we would like to wish you a Happy Advent! - we hope you have a good run up to Christmas and enjoy this time of expectant waiting and preparation.

We're feeling a little bit tantalised as a smart looking Moulinex Juicer has just been added which we thought would be a fun present to... well... us... at the Streetbank office but it is just outside our 1 mile radius. We have rules about these things....

You should see on the right a map showing where Streetbank is most popular. Meanly we're focusing on the South of England because this is where we are busiest but we are equally excited about emerging Streetbank communities in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Malaysia, Canada, Australia, Turkey... We could go on.

Have a great week.

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

1 mile to 10 miles!

Over the next few weeks we're going to be doing something behind the scenes that will allow you to widen your Streetbank community to 10 miles if you want to. You will only be able to see other "10 milers" so those of you living in more rural areas can have a few more friends. Those of you living in the busiest areas will probably prefer to stick with your 1 mile area and will remain visible only to other "1 milers" but if you are feeling especially sociable you can see who else has clicked the 10 mile button. Anyway, you've been asking for something like this and we think we've finally worked out how it can be done! Let us know if you have any comments on the blog on the front page and we'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, a bumper crop of flyers and bumper stickers have gone out this week - thanks to all you Streetbank champions. We are mighty grateful.

Cheers,

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

Asparagus, guinea pigs and honeymoons

There is much to update you on this week!

Perhaps the best thing for us was a wonderful email from Maire from Fulham who told us what a difference Streetbank had made to her. This is what she writes:

"Without Streetbank, I would have hoarded all my baby gear as opposed to meeting someone really nice who passed on to a deserving home. Without Streetbank I might not have met the amazing neighbour who gave a knitting lessons to my child while we downed red wine and chatted, or met the neighbour who strung my daughter's guitar after my child with special educational needs had bitten through all the strings; or for that matter made contact with other neighbours who volunteered to do the same thing. I might not have the fab music centre that was fortuitously advertised the day mine died; or met the amazing Chrissy who gave my daughters a ton of brilliant books. I might not have had coffee with another really charming neighbour whilst experiencing pangs of Floor Envy (she has a great floor), I think the thing that touched me most was the number of people who rustled up VCRs for me when in desperation I contacted Streetbank: My child with Autism fast-forwards and re-winds videos and when they break and we have no replacement ready and waiting she screams the house down. I was really moved that so many people were quite so incredibly kind. Similarly when a pal was looking for some urgent advice on NHS dentists, and I posted a query, the response was fantastic. People bothered to reply. That's the thing. In a world that can be quite bleak Streetbank is quite an eye opener to the possibility that many people have a kind and altruistic side to them."

If you have any stories about Streetbank do drop Catherine a line at catherine@streetbank.com

In other news our favourite items added are an asparagus steamer offered by Deborah, a guinea pig hutch from Louisa and advice on honeymoons and overseas weddings from Marisa. And we've grown by another 200 people so we now have 5,302 members - thanks to those of you who have been flyering/facebooking/emailing your neighbours!

Big thanks,

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

Did we make it?!

A big apology to those of you who didn't receive the newsletter last week. It was a complicated techy thing that is sorted now... So you might remember that two weeks ago we set the goal of 5,000 members in the week and you might be asking yourself, did we make it!? You'll be pleased to hear we now have 5,100 members though we have had an extra week to get there (last Wednesday we were at 4,988 members so darn close).

If you would like some flyers or car windscreen stickers to grow Streetbank in your area you can email cath a one liner saying how many of each at catherine@streetbank.com

The most interesting item offered this week is "Gandalf". Sadly this isn't Ian McKellen himself but according to Liz is "a full size card board cut out, a bit bashed up but loads of fun and a talking point".

Thanks Liz and thanks to you all,

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

Did we make it?!

It has been a good week - to be honest we didn't quite reach our goal of 5,000 members by today but we got darn close - at the time of writing we have 4,988 members. We didn't help ourselves by sending out the wrong link for the facebook connection first time round.... But thanks to all of you who persevered. Those of you who haven't but still want to connect you still can by clicking here

Thanks Liz and thanks to you all,

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

Correction - The Facebook Challenge

Apologies – for many of you the link to connect with facebook did not work – thanks for trying but we would be really grateful if you could try again by clicking here - it will make a huge difference!

As we explained yesterday what this means is that whenever you add an item to Streetbank it will automatically get posted on your Facebook Wall. This will really help us get word out about Streetbank and the more people know about Streetbank, the bigger and more vibrant Streetbank will become and the more things and skills you and your fellow Streetbankers will enjoy.

104 of you have already done it and we have seen a big difference to numbers - we have grown by more than 250 people this week so that there are now 4743 of us. Would be great to break 5,000 this week....! We will let you know if we do in the next newsletter.

Cheers,

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

A Plug from Higgidy Pies

The big news this week is that Streetbank is being featured on the side of special boxes of Higgidy Pies. Higgidy is a baker and maker of the finest hand made pies and they have just developed an extra big pie "for sharing". The guys at Higgidy thinking that Streetbank is all about sharing and fitted the pie for sharing theme decided to pop a short story about us on the side of some of their boxes. So we are getting a bit of a plug. You can pick up a Higgidy Pie at most Sainsbury's and you can read more about Higgidy here

Hero of the week is Louisa who is not just offering dog walking but is actively advertising her offer of help by circulating it through "requests etc". We think that is rather generous.

Cheers,

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

The Facebook Challenge

We would love 30 seconds of your time – it will make a big difference. We would love it if you could connect your Facebook account with your Streetbank account by clicking here and then clicking the big "Connect with Facebook" button. It means that whenever you add an item to Streetbank it will automatically get posted on your Facebook Wall. This will really help us get word out about Streetbank and the more people know about Streetbank, the bigger and more vibrant Streetbank will become and the more things and skills you and your fellow Streetbankers will enjoy.

Cheers,

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

A Quick Favour

Apparently 75% of British people think that helping others is key to happiness. As a streetbanker we are pretty sure you will be in the 75% but if you would like to read more about how life is more than just getting rich you can read more in the report "Wholly Living" at http://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/mainnav/theos-news.aspx

A quick favour - we would be grateful if you check if you have been specific with the things that you are offering on Streetbank. We are seeing that things that are actually picked up or borrowed have specific titles. For instance "two man ikea ektorp sofa" will generate a perfect image and is much more likely to be picked up than plain old "sofa". So if you are someone who has generously said "all my DVDs" if you could go back and just put the name of one or two up you'll find that that is miles more helpful to your fellow streetbankers.

Elsewhere, we've added some "Guidelines" on how to use Streetbank and stay safe. They are just common sense with a twist of generosity and grace but you'll find them in the blue panel under "Guidelines" at the bottom of each website page.

Cheers,

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

Bananas, Nemo and Board Games

When we're asked what is the most common request on streetbank we struggle to answer. Tesco know that they sell more bananas than anything else. But then, Streetbankers don't make it easy for us to categorise what you have been up to. This week for instance you were busy giving away amongst much else, wicker storage baskets, Finding Nemo, a cream leather sofa and blue fairy lights.

Our favourite story of the week is from Justin who offered to lend his board games but instead received an invitation from a neighbour having a dinner and games night. As Justin told us, he made two new friends who he would not have got to meet without Streetbank.

Thanks for all the stories - do keep them coming!

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

A doubling, tomato plants and TV tuning

Thank you for everything you are doing to spread the word - we now have 4,200 members - a doubling in less than two months. At this rate we will have 10,000 streetbankers by Christmas. That would be great because we are finding that the more popular Streetbank becomes the more useful it becomes and the more you use it.

Fun things given away this week were ipod speakers, an Action Man (very 1980s) and a tomato plant (must be a biggy at this time of year?). It has also been a busy week of little gestures of help, help with getting a printer working and someone else tuning a TV. Happy, happy days.

Big thanks,

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

Trimming back, pretty parrots and a small introduction

We were pleased to see a number of interesting items featured on Streetbank this week - including a community request for a parrot, to take part in a fashion shoot. Perhaps more entertaining was a request for help with tree surgery in return for a free hair cut. A beautiful irony there which was greatly appreciated down at Streetbank HQ.

We also thought this would be a good opportunity to welcome Cath on to the Streetbank team. Cath is a bit of a marketing whizz. If you heard about Streetbank through a forum or a blog then there is a fair chance that Cath had a hand in that. Cath likes Bovril rice cakes, life drawing and physics.

Cheers,

Sam, Ryan, Nic and Cath

An attitude of gratitude

More fun things have been added this week - thanks Patricia for putting up a flatscreen TV. Our favourite though are cooking apples added by Hilary. Thanks Hilary.

When we explain Streetbank to friends they often think of it as a swapping site. A place of I-scratch-your-back-you-scratch-mine. So when we say actually it is really about no strings attached help , they look surprised but usually say something along the lines of “so let me get this right, all you get is a warm feeling inside.... hmmm... I’m not sure it will work but that is nice”. Generally, though we hear that the receiver of the help is grateful and just occasionally does something grateful in response. Like Sophie from Fulham. Sophie through Streetbank picked up a box of empty jam jars from Elizabeth, made some jam and as a thank you dropped off a jam jar full of delicious strawberry jam on her doorstep.

Do you have any stories through Streetbank or otherwise of gratefulness? If so let us know at the blog on the front page.

Cheers

Sam, Ryan and Nic

P.S. We now have car windscreen stickers so let us know if you want some, how many and your address to sam@streetbank.com and we'll send some across in the post.

A Tipping Point, Facebook Fans and Turkey

So what's news?

Streetbank seems to have hit a bit of a tipping point. It took us 4 months to reach our first 1,000 members, 3 months to reach 2,000 and just two and a half weeks to get to 3,000.

We've been enjoying your comments on the Facebook Streetbank fan page - thank you so much for them. You can find these at http://www.facebook.com/#!/streetbank?ref=ts . If you had 30 seconds to become a "fan" too and post a comment that would be super helpful as it will get word spread around facebook.

We've also been excited to see new communities emerging in Vermont, USA, Cape Town, South Africa and in Turkey. Which makes us say Hello! Sanibonani! and Merhaba!

Cheers,

Sam, Ryan and Nic

Scotland, a new tally and hedgehogs

It has been an interesting week at Streetbank. A few of the highlights have been:

Being featured in the Big Issue and in the Scotland on Sunday Magazine.
Creating a new tally on the home page showing how many items you have in your area. Hopefully you'll find it creeping up every week.
Seeing a request was from Clayton in Nottingham who needs some help with his hedgehog rescue centre called Snuffle Lodge. He is after rabbit runs, guinea pig cages and cat food. If you are interested go to www.snufflelodge.org.uk

Cheers

Sam, Ryan and Nic

Requests, recommendations and events

We've enjoyed seeing the number of requests messages shooting up in the last week or two. Ladders seemed to be the most frequently asked for item but we've seen requests for lego bricks (but only if they are white, black or grey), Bum Genius washable nappies, furniture items for someone who is helping someone else who has been long term unemployed but best of all was a plea to borrow a cat to scare away the mice.

Cheers,

Sam, Ryan and Nic

Tell us your stories!

We’d love to hear your Streetbank stories! We’re beginning to get some press coverage (details can be found on the site under Press - a tab at the bottom of the page) such as in the Daily Candy, the Hammersmith and Fulham News and next week the Big Issue….

It is exciting because it means word of Streetbank is spreading more deeply (there are more than 800 of you in Hammersmith) and more widely (hello Edmonton, Canada!). But we are often asked for stories of how Streetbank has been useful or led to real relationships or wierd and wonderful things are being offered. If you could let us know by writing to sam@streetbank.com we would be super grateful and it will allow all those journalists to write some more colourful stories about Streetbank. Big thanks as ever.

Sam, Ryan and Nic

Tidying up and "staycations"

Greetings

We’ve just been doing a bit of a survey and found that 86% of requests for a thing or a skill get a response. Thanks for being so community spirited! Admittedly you don’t always get a “yes” but that is mainly because the generous person who has put up the item has not taken it down when it has been given away. If you are one of these generous people now is a good moment to tidy up! (Click on the “profile” tab and then open the item to delete it).

If you are one of the millions who have opted for a “staycation” and are looking for something rewarding to do we can’t recommend saying hello to your neighbours more highly. There is a bunch of research that says we’re happier when we are connected to our neighbours and resolve disputes more quickly. If you wanted to use Streetbank as a reason to knock, you can download a flyer from the “Grow” tab or we can send you some glossy ones if you fire us your address to sam@streetbank.com

Have a happy week.

Sam, Ryan and Nic

Hotting up

Greetings,

You may have noticed that things have hotted up at Streetbank over the last week or so. The main reason was a recommendation by The Daily Candy, the London newsletter that keeps you in touch with the very latest in living well. So hello Daily Candy readers - thanks to the 500 or so of you that have joined!

If you know of other email newsletters that you think might be open to featuring something on Streetbank let us know at sam@streetbank.com

In the meantime, look out for us in two weeks time in the Big Issue and next month’s edition of Yoga Today and if you happen to know David Cameron, do put in a good word for us. Without wanting to get too poltical we're fans of the spirit of the Big Society and have a suspicion that Streetbank fits in with what the Government is trying to do.

Hope you are enjoying the holiday season and if you aren’t sunning yourself in Bognor or Barbados, you are finding time to enjoy the pleasures of your own neighbourhood.

Have a happy week.

Sam, Ryan and Nic

Mary's Garden Team

Streetbee of the week is Paul from Hammersmith. Paul has an elderly friend, Mary who’s garden has gone to seed (is this a pun or simply literal. We don’t know). Paul spotted a couple of generous hearted people offering gardening help and a few others offering garden tools on Streetbank and pulled together a team of four. With his team it didn’t take long on Sunday to make Mary’s garden all spic and span. And Paul made three new friends in the process.

Good work Paul and his merry team.

Sam, Ryan and Nic

Welcome to our first international member

It's been a very exciting week this week because...

Streetbank has gone international!

You might be thinking that this slightly premature, but we do like to think ahead. We'd very much like to welcome our first international member. Clara from Portugal. We very much hope you enjoy using Streetbank and bem-vindo à rua (which roughly translates as: welcome to the street!)

Cheers,
Sam, Ryan and Nic

A Huge Welcome to Leeds!

It has been another exciting couple of weeks. We want to welcome on board Leeds â€“ you seem to be joining in droves! Weâ€™re not sure who is behind it but if it is you we salute you.

We were also excited by an invitation to meet with the guys at the Big Lunch. We went to meet them at their funky offices in Soho and to learn more and since then they have been plugging Streetbank on their Big Website. We want to return the favour as theyâ€™re all about the same things weâ€™re about â€“ neighbourliness and building community spirit.

What is the Big Lunch? It is a celebration of neighbourliness which will take place on Sunday 18th July when communities across the UK will join by eating lunch together, in the middle of their streets, around tower blocks and on patches of common ground. Last year around a million people took part in over 8000 lunches. It was the biggest set of street parties since the Golden Jubilee!

Itâ€™s a chance for different generations and backgrounds to listen to each other and share stories, skills and interests. The Big Lunch is part of the journey we want to take - to rebuild our communities. They call this phenomenon â€˜human warmingâ€™. If you want to get involved in any way check out www.thebiglunch.com

Cheers

Sam, Ryan and Nic

Community makes you richer (part 1)

At the Streetbank party we challenged you to tell us your best stories about community. We loved the story of a neighbour who rescued three young ladies from a mouse. We thought this was quite noble though it didnâ€™t seem such a hardship to us. We loved Annâ€™s story about putting up posters for a lost kitten. We loved Johnâ€™s story about rescuing a neighbour on Christmas day from an unwelcome (and rather drunk) visitor.

In the end, though, the prize of a Higgidy Pie Pack goes to Sarah from Fulham. Sarah had lived in her flat for years and didnâ€™t know her neighbours until the her boiler broke. Rather than getting smelly she visited her neighbours on all sides of her for showers and when the landlord finally fixed it a year later she had four new friends. Now they take turns in looking after the cats, feeding the fish, talking across the fence and they recently even rescued Sarah when she trapped her hand in the freezer.

Keep telling us your stories and thanks for another week of bumper growth!

Sam, Ryan and Nic

Big Week!

Itâ€™s been a Big Week what with an erupting volcano and the second leadership debate. It has also been a Big Week at Streetbank. You have got a whole load busier â€“ weâ€™ve seen sandpits, table tennis tables and laptops going up and being collected. Â It seems like loads of you have been telling your friends. We grew by 130 households last week â€“ twice as many as our next biggest week!
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So thanks a million for getting the word out â€“ it all makes for more new things and new talents (and you are a talented lot â€“ we liked help with sociology A level best of all). The press are cottoning on too â€“ we had coverage in the Hammersmith and Fulham News and The Church Times. In fact, if you know of anyone at your local newspaper and you want to give them a friendly prod about Streetbank, please donâ€™t hold back!
Â
Big thanks
Â
Sam, Ryan and Nic

Streetbank Party - Pies, Cakes and Tomato Plants

Thanks so much to those of you who were able to join in with the Streetbank Launch Party last Thursday. Over 150 of you participated in an evening of Higgidy Pie eating, skill swapping, unicycling, giving and receiving, tie colouring and little cupcakes.

Items that were brought included baby tomato plants, childrens toys, lots of clothes, CDs, DVDs, books, and an actual unicycle. Sam took home an ironing board cover. “It was just what I wanted” he was later heard to remark.

The winners of the tie colouring competition will be announced shortly. In the mean time, if you’d like to tell your nearby friends about Streetbank (and we’d love you to) weâ€™ve copied some blurb below that you could use.

Thanks for everything

Sam, Ryan and Nic

â€œHi,

Iâ€™ve just joined a website called www.streetbank.com and would love you to join it too. It shows you what your neighbours will give away or lend. It gives you access to a whole load of stuff, it’s good for the environment, saves you money and builds community all in one go. It is totally free to join though to become a member you have to show that you are a little bit community spirited by offering one thing you would be willing to lend or give away. This can be a really low value item like a DVD or a guidebook, or it can be higher value like an old TV you want to get rid of.

Iâ€™ve joined and it would be great if you could too! If you like it, feel free to tell other people about it….â€

The Streetbank Party (and you're all invited)

Streetbank is having a PARTY! Come and celebrate the launch of Streetbank and meet some of the local Streetbank community at St Paul’s Church, Hammersmith on Thurs 15th April from 6.15 - 9pm. All are welcome.

Higgidy Pies have generously agreed to provide some pies and weâ€™re going to provide some drinks, so all you need to do is turn up! Turn up and if you want to join in with â€œStreetbank Liveâ€ bring something that you are willing to give away. This can be anything that you think might find a better home with someone else â€“ a DVD or a book or a piece of clothing that doesnâ€™t quite work for you but might look marvelous on someone else. (A word of warning â€“ if no one takes what you bring we will be asking you to take it home).

If you would like to come, send us a one liner to party@streetbank.com or look up Streetbank on Facebook and click attending. We look forward to seeing you there!

Sam, Ryan and Nic

P.S. Streetbank has been blogging. Log in to see our new homepage design!

A month in which we add the "requests" feature, crown our streetbee of the month and have a BIG PARTY...

Hello!

A lot has been happening. Streetbank has really taken off in East Dulwich, Hello East Dulwich! We launched the REQUESTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS feature and lots of you have tried it out â€“ amongst loads of others weâ€™ve seen a request for a pottery kiln, a request for a buggy board (a what?!) and a recommendation for a tireless Lithuanian painter called Jonas!

Streetbee of the Month

But Streetbee of the Month goes to Marianne from SW6. Marianne is organising a bicycle ride for her and three of her friends from Brussels to London (thatâ€™s 250 miles) in aid of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.Â She was one bike short of a bicycle ride though but through Streetbank she got in touch with Charley who has leant her her bike and sponsored the cost of a service. But Marianne didnâ€™t stop there â€“ she put out a request for a bike rack (thanks David) and then when she was browsing skills she came across Stuart who has agreed to give all four of them a lesson on how to change a tyre. Marianne is aiming to raise Â£4,000 for Muscular Dystrophy, so if you would like to chip in you can find details at: http://www.justgiving.com/theheelsonwheels

Let us know your recommendations for Streetbee of the month next month by sending an email to streetbees@streetbank.com

Streetbank Launch Party

Finally, weâ€™re having a STREETBANK LAUNCH PARTY on Thursday 15th April from 6.15 to 9pm at St Paulâ€™s Hammersmith. We would love you to come.Â For more details please look up â€œStreetbank Partyâ€ on Facebook and sign in or drop us a line at party@streetbank.com and we will send you more details.

Cheers
Sam, Ryan and Nic

Streetbank Newsletter

We want to say thanks! Thanks for joining us in this little initiative to make our community a better place. Getting on board at the start, we think, makes you a community pioneer!

Charlie and his new coffee maker

Thanks also for all that you are sharing. It is leading to some great stories. In the last few weeks pecan pies have been created, Marc Jacob perfume (bit nice) has been donated, flared trousers have been sported. And none of this would have happened without you (or at least you and your fellow Streetbees*). To take another example Fi and Charlie were moving out of their flat in Fulham, so decided to give away a PlayStation 3. Donâ€™t turn Charlie into a hero though. He was quick enough off the mark to pick up this rather nice coffee maker for his new flat.

Requests etc

Finally we would love it if you could check out the new â€œRequests etcâ€ tab. It allows you to send a message to everyone in your area. So itâ€™s not all just give, give, give. Now you can make requests too â€“ for things, help or information or you can use it to publicise an event or salute a local business or tradesman. We know it is not very British, all of this requesting or saluting, but we think that this is trumped by that other great British tradition â€“ getting to know your neighbours.

Cheers

Sam, Ryan and Nic

*A streetbee is what we call members of streetbank. Thatâ€™s right, bees not bankers. We like bankers but bees are famous for cooperation so we settled on bees.