<<< work in progress! – – – questions/suggestions/comments tara@redbricks.org >>>
The estate office is open to all Bentley House estate residents to use for non-commercial activities such as community workshops or group meetings. Those who attend your event do not have to be resident on the estate.
<insert image <inside the office> >
In the long run, we would like a system where residents can do the booking by themselves.
Until such time, you can book by emailing tara@redbricks.org; we prefer two weeks notice, please, as someone will have to open and close the office for you.
If there is less time you might not get a response quick enough by email if people are busy so better try and speak to someone in person. We do not operate a phone.
Better still, come to one of our meetings every first Thursday evening of every month, and book then.
Check for availability in the Office Use Calendar.
<<< work in progress! – – – questions/suggestions/comments tara@redbricks.org >>>
<==draft== to be refined …>
For first time users we provide an introduction to the office.
The first few times, someone will open and close the place for you. Once you are familiar with its usage, you will have to collect and leave the keys at one or two prearranged places (very near to the office) as we usually do not provide copies of keys for people or groups to keep.
The office has neighbours, and the walls are thin; you will need to keep the noise down, definitely no parties.
There should be two people in the opened office at all times for safety and security reasons.
The office must never be left unattended, not even briefly – there are too many thieves passing the area.
Access to the office is at ground level via a wheelchair friendly ramp. *** ??? ramp / door wide enough for wheelchair ??? ***
The office has one unisex toilet, suitable for disabled persons use; please keep it clean. Bring your own toilet paper.
Opening times for use are from 10:00 to 21:00 weekdays, shorter at weekends, but you can arrive earlier to open up and stay later to tidy if you are quiet.
There is a small sink, water, hot drink making facilities, cups, few bits of cutlery, some plates but nothing for heating food. You will have to clean all dishes, please.
We have two central tables which fit around 14 chairs round it. There are two tables under the window with 4 computer workstations (for general use). There is one further desk, currently with a computer too. At a guess, 14 people will fill the office nicely, more and you will need to start squeezing.
Please leave the office clean and tidy … even if you have not found it that way (please inform us if that has been the case).
Office usage is recorded into a calendar (managed by TARA) which allows all residents to see when the office is available for use.
What do we need from you?
We need to record who requests the office use and their address (on the estate), who is responsible for the event (most of the time this is the same person), contact phone number(s) (for before and during the event), date and time of use (including time to open, and to clean (!) and close afterwards), type of event (but not necessarily the name), and if public or private; optionally, we can include a link to our Events Calendar or an external page.
<… to be refined ==draft==>
Below are notes for editors and administrators of this website – they are not meant for users but feel free to browse.
Recording the Use of the Estate Office Into the Correct Calendar – Editor and
Administrator Notes
Confusingly, both calendars appear under the label “Events” on the WordPress editor and administrator page menu (the “Dashboard”) – as can be seen in the screen-shots below (from mid 2016).
Fortunately, the two use different icons, and one of them appears twice on the page. This can be used to keep the two of them apart.
The one who’s icon appears twice is the Events Calendar for public events.
Here are screenshots for guidance – the two icons close up:
Tick = Office Use
Folder = Events
Below, notice two “Events” in dashboard (left), another one at top in the horizontal menu (this is an admin page so there may be more items on the dash board than usual) – same screenshot twice, second one annotated:
Be careful not to accidentally publish a private event (when wanting to book the office) onto the publicly advertised calendar.
Background:
We use two calendars – Office Use Calendar, Events Calendar – on the redbricks website: one is the calendar used to advertise public events and functions of all manner, the other is for when someone wants to book the office.
Events Calendar
For publicly advertised events or functions.
Accessible under “Events” on the main menu on the web page.
Any event recorded here is automatically posted onto the “Home” page’s news feed.
If the event takes place in the office, or the office space is used as part of the event, then the office will have to be booked separately in the other, Office Use Calendar.
If your event is not public (be that residents or the wider public) then it should probably not be advertised on the website – if this is the case, do not put it into the Events Calendar.
Office Use Calendar
When the office is booked for an event or function then this is recorded here.
No advertising is permitted as this is an administrative tool for booking the office, not a public noticeboard – use the Events Calendar for that.
Accessible from the right-hand-side panel menu, under “Pages”, under “TARA”, as “Office Use Calendar” – deliberately tucked away as an administrative tool.
Include some time before and after your event for setting up and tidying!
Questions / suggestions / comments to tara@redbricks.org
(Made in 2016)
