Reflecting 2024's Big Get Together

On 14 September we held Curo’s annual Big Get Together. This is our annual residents’ event where colleagues get together with customers to listen, learn and share ideas.

Here’s a snapshot of this year’s event:

This year, more than 300 customers helped to come up with ideas for the event, including the venue, date, timings and what was on offer for customers. We listened to this group of customers, who told us they enjoyed last year’s concept of the Big Get Together. Customers wanted a relaxed, sociable and family-friendly event, which also provided them with the opportunity to talk to teams from across Curo, share their ideas with us and hold us to account.

Curo colleagues from all our services, from Repairs to Recruitment, had stalls at the event. Each Curo team gave customers a snapshot of the services they offer and provided information and tips. Customers could take time to talk to colleagues and get answers to their questions.

Here are the thoughts of Jane Tabor, Chair of Board at Curo:

We had a record turnout at the 2024 Big Get Together, with well over 700 customers, local stakeholders, partner agencies and colleagues joining us at The Hub at Mulberry Park, Bath.

Customers heard directly from Paul Roles, member of our Customer Oversight Group; Jane Tabor, Chair of Board; and Victor Da Cunha, Chief Executive. They talked about:

• Our new 10-year Strategy and Vision
• The challenges facing Curo
• What improvements have been made in the last 12 months
• How teams are listening to and learning from our customers
• How we’ve performed over the past year

Here are the thoughts of Victor da Cunha:




Here are the thoughts of Paul Roles:

Customer also heard directly from Victor Da Cunha; Paul Harris, Chief Customer Officer; Jane Smith, Chief People Officer; and Julie Evans, Chief Property Officer, who took part in a Q&A sessions in which they answered questions directly from the audience. If you couldn’t attend and want to find out what happened during these sessions check out this video:

We also held an interactive customer consultation on our Asset Management service. This was hosted by Matt Steele, Director of Asset Management & Procurement. If you couldn’t attend and want to find out what happened during the session check out the video below:

Curo’s teams were joined by colleagues from Share and Repair, the Mulberry Park Residents’ Association, Bath Leasehold Management and Curo’s Charity of the Year Young Lives vs Cancer, which all gave information on their services.

Overall, there were more than 20 stalls and more than the 200 customer interactions and queries were handled at the event.

• More than 50 new customers registered on VoiceBox at the event.
• More than 20 new customers told us they were interested in getting more involved with Curo through our resident engagement groups.
• The Resident Engagement team signposted more than 70 customers to the relevant teams in the event space.
• We had eight requests for Community Catch-ups in local areas, which have been added to our lists of locations for 2024-25.
• The Estates Services stall helped with more than 60 customer queries, on topics such as car parking, grass maintenance, communal cleaning, trees, bin rooms and signage.  
• The Asset Management team helped with more than 50 direct customer queries, on topics such as internal decorating, kitchen upgrades, windows and energy efficiency.

Here are some photos of the stalls: 

There were also lots of child-friendly activities to enjoy. To encourage more families to join us at the event this year, we offered fun activities such as inflatables and obstacle courses, donkey rides, face painting, bouncy castles and a petting zone with rabbits, donkeys and goats. There were also lots of games on the service stalls, inspiring young people to find out more about what we do at Curo.

Early feedback from the event showed that 91% of customers were satisfied with the event.

Thank you to the colleagues at The Hub, who helped us deliver this amazing event for our customers. Customers had the chance to enjoy all The Hub has to offer, including its event space and café, and were also treated to a tasty BBQ with free burgers, hotdogs, alongside veggie and vegan options, with hot and cold drinks. 

The event wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of colleagues and the customers who were there on the day. Thank you to everyone who took part.

We would also like to say a massive thank you to all the contractors who helped make the event special space for our customers:

• Archers Marquees: archersmarquees.co.uk
• Jolly Jumpers: jollyjumpers.co.uk
• Kellys Donkeys: co.uk
• Spirloux: co.uk
• DLB Services: facebook.com/davebradley.dlb

We couldn’t have done it without you.

We’re also very grateful for all of the fantastic customer feedback we’ve received so far – here are just a few of your comments:

“Such a brilliant event – it gets better every year. My family and I had a lovely day: good food, plenty to do and topped off by the sunshine.”

“This is the second year my daughter and I have attended. We enjoyed both times. The donkey rides were nice. The food was lovely. Everyone was so kind and helpful! Thank you.”

“The stamp collecting was great ­– we visited stalls we didn't necessarily need to and learnt a bit at each one. All the Curo colleagues were very engaging and knowledgeable about their services.”

“The event was well organised and the staff very friendly and knowledgeable. We were impressed with our time at the event.”

“I thought the lay out and organisation was very good. Very family friendly – we all enjoyed it”

“Absolutely brilliant. My grandchildren had so much fun, they didn't want to leave!”

If you couldn’t make it along to the event, here are the presentations from the day.