BIG Get Together 2023

Last year Curo hosted its very first BIG Get Together event. More than 430 customers and stakeholders joined Curo colleagues at The Hub, Mulberry Park, Bath, on Saturday 16 September for this year’s event – which was even bigger and better.

You can watch a video of highlights below:

Every year, Curo holds a residents’ event where colleagues get together with customers to listen, learn from each other and share ideas. Customers are at the forefront of designing this event. This year, after feedback from more than 320 customers, we made some changes to our event space.

• Customers requested we keep the Saturday slot, so that more customers and their families could come along to meet our teams and directors face to face.

• We extended each session by 30 minutes to provide customers with more time in the event space.

• The event was held entirely on the ground floor and in the local school grounds, allowing customers to have easy, level access to all our teams.

• Our customers wanted more family-friendly activities, so this year we upped the fun factor and activities were supplied by Bristol and Weston Super Bounce and Kelly’s Donkeys.

• Customers were keen to have access to food and drink at the event. As a result, they could enjoy a free hot drink on arrival, a tasty BBQ with free burgers, hotdogs, plus vegetarian and vegan options, alongside hot and cold drinks through the day. These were all supplied by The Hub’s friendly team.

Here’s what some of the customers at the event told us.

“I just wanted to say thank you for yesterday. We had such an amazing time – it was a fantastic day! It was absolutely perfect for my boys. They spent hours on the helter skelter and other bouncy castles, had three donkey rides and watched the Punch and Judy show twice!”

“Thank you so much for your hospitality on Saturday. Your team made me feel very special.”

At the event, customer Sue Hicks sat down with Victor da Cunha, Curo’s Chief Executive, to ask him about the purpose of the BIG Get Together and what he hoped residents would get out of it. Watch a video of the interview below:

Curo colleagues from all our services, from Repairs to Recruitment, had stalls at the events. Each Curo team gave customers a snapshot of the services they offer, providing handouts with useful tips. Customers could take time to talk to them and get answers to their questions.

Curo’s teams were joined by colleagues from Avon and Somerset Police, Avon Fire and Rescue Service, Share and Repair, the Mulberry Park Residents Association and St Peter’s Hospice (our charity of the year), who shared information on their services. Overall, there were more than 20 stalls at the event.

Customers had tickets for either a morning session, running from 10am-1pm, or an afternoon session, from 1.30pm-4.30pm.

To encourage more families to join us at the event this year, we introduced exciting activities such as inflatable rides and obstacle courses, face painting, bouncy castles and a petting zone with rabbits 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.

Customers told us:

“Thank you so much for Saturday, we had a great time.”

“To those involved with Saturday's event, thank you very much as it was an excellent event.”

As well as the activities, customers heard directly from Daisy Gaunt, Chair of the Customer Oversight Group; Jane Tabor, Chair of the Board; and Victor da Cunha. They talked about:

• 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.

• What the future holds for Curo.

Customers also heard directly from Paul Harris, Executive Director of Customer Service; Andrew Snee, Director of Tenancy Compliance & Management; and Lesley Hodges, Director of Customer Contact, who took part in Q&A sessions where they answered questions from the live audience.

Curo’s BIG Get Together 2023 was our biggest and most successful annual residents’ event to date. It 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’re also grateful for the fantastic customer feedback we’ve received so far:

“This was a really nice event. I’m glad I attended.”

“A lovely event – my daughter and I really enjoyed it.”

“I loved the event so much. Clearly a lot of effort, time and planning went into it. It was brilliant and my children had the best time. I love that every age group was catered for. Thank you very much.”

“Fantastic event and staff went out of their way to support dietary requirements.”

“It was awesome! A high-end layout and I loved that you had canopies over the team stations, where residents could get questions answered, without getting wet or feeling cold – just healthy fresh air and a relaxed atmosphere.”

“Overall, a brilliant team effort. Thank you to everyone I spoke to. All my questions were answered!”

“A lovely warm ambience, with very good interaction with Curo colleagues. The staff were friendly and helpful. It was lovely to see activities for children who came with their parents.”