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Welcome


NEW! FOR 2024 – our Friday Club at the Cottonmill Centre


Sopwell Residents Association (SRA) is a lively active group and represents around 7,000 people in 3,000 households in the Sopwell Ward of St Albans.

We deliver our 4-page SRA Newsletter ‘Community News’ to all households in spring and Autumn. Download your copy here.

NEWS UPDATES: You can also sign up here to our occasional news update by email for reminders of local events.

We share news and events on our social media pages. We represent Sopwell ward on the council’s City Neighbourhood Committee, along with other ‘city centre’ wards. SRA meets regularly often with reps from local police, local councillors, faith groups, community groups… Our two sub-groups organise events and work with local community groups: the Cottonmill and Sopwell Hub group (CaSH) and Sopwell eco-stars.

PAST EVENTS

LITTER PICKS November 2023 + March 2024

LItter Pics

REPAIR FAIRS – from Sopwell eco-stars


Broken toaster, kettle, bike, quilt cover, more? Don’t chuck it! Refreshments while you wait and Knife-sharpening demonstration. Organised by Sopwell eco-stars to encourage us all to keep the stuff we’ve got – to reduce, repair and re-use!


Cottonmill Gathering 2023 – Save the DATE for this year! Sun 14th July 2024

Autumn Festival October 2022

We held this in October 2022 at the Cottonmill Centre and it attracted 200+ people to enjoy the craft and food competitions; live music, pumpkin soup, stalls and crafts activities.

It was a partnership event with SRA, Cottonmill and Nunnery Allotment Association, Grow Community-Sopwell, and the St Albans Community Pantry. Look out for more events – Have you signed up to our occasional email newsletter yet?


Larks in the Parks Sopwell 22

Larks in the Parks July 2022 was a great success – in the grounds of the new Cottonmill Centre! Thank you to 1300+ people who came to enjoy the day – with music, great food, kids activities including popular donkey rides, gift stalls, and local groups. And it was also the first ever eco-friendly Larks in the district – with vegetarian food, and single-use #plasticfree.


Thanks to the volunteers (some pictured here) who worked so hard to make the day such a success – including the council’s Larks’ team!

Image L-R: Janet Charles; Elaine Rainsford; Jo Cooney; Kate Swindells


Thanks to @BeePhotographyStAlbans, Jo Cooney, Janet Charles, Elaine Rainsford, Kate Swindells and Gail Jackson for these Larks photos!

See some of the local stalls that came along! Charities, gifts, good causes!

AGM 2022

Thanks to everyone who came to our AGM on Tuesday 24th May and heard about what we’ve been up to and our plans going forward. If you didn’t manage to make it, have a read of our AGM minutes. This year we aim to become a registered charity, and our volunteers will be raising money for a number of local projects. You can also find out more by signing up to our newsletter at the bottom of the page.

For any queries contact us here.

The Cottonmill Community and Cycling Centre is now open! The centre is owned by the Council and run by Everyone Active. You can find out more about the facilities and opening times here.

Sopwell Residents Association Meetings

We have a lively committee which meets regularly talking about all things relevant to local people – from helping with Larks in the Parks community festival to hearing from our local councillors, and local Community Police. We include local people from the Cottonmill and Sopwell Hub campaign, who have helped to build the new Cottonmill Community and Cycling Centre (open in June 22), and have plans to create a new playground on that site.

Newsletter

Our volunteers put together, and deliver a newsletter with local news and information to ALL residents twice a year – in Spring, and Autumn. If you can help with delivering to your local streets we’d love to hear from you – please get in touch here.

Sopwell Memories

Sandy Norman, an SRA committee member for many years, now looks after the extraordinary Sopwell Memories website and wrote a wonderful book – all about the history of Sopwell. You can see more – and buy the book -on the Sopwell Memories website.


Representation at the Council

We represent Sopwell at the Council City Neighbourhoods Committee (CNC) which oversees Parks and Open Spaces, Playgrounds, Allotments, Car Parks, Public Conveniences, War Memorials, and Bus Shelters in the unparished wards which are: Ashley, Batchwood, Clarence, Cunningham, Marshalswick South, Sopwell, St Peters and Verulam wards.

Cottonmill Centre Forum

The Forum is chaired by Cllr. Emma Matanle. Members include:

Forum meetings are usually held monthly where we can raise and discuss issues concerning the centre. We’d be glad to hear from you if you have any feedback. Perhaps there’s something you’d like to be able to do at the centre? Maybe you’d like to provide a service? Do you have a suggestion or maybe an issue you’d like addressed? If so, please contact us at om or info@sopwell.org.uk

Want to get our latest news and activities straight into your inbox? Sign up for the Sopwell Residents Association newsletter.

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Want to help support our activities? Make a contribution here


Photo credit for featured image at top of page: Andy Collin. Photo credits where otherwise not mentioned: Sopwell Residents Association