An evening reception was held at the Scottish Parliament this week to celebrate Cloch Housing Association’s 50 years as a social housing landlord in Inverclyde.

The celebration, sponsored by Greenock and Inverclyde MSP, Stuart McMillan, included a mixture of speeches, awards and creative works. Cloch guests included staff, Board members, tenants, other Inverclyde associations and the Provost of Inverclyde Council.

Housing minister Kevin Stewart MSP also attended and said a few words to mark the many achievements and the impact on Inverclyde of the Association over the last 50 years.

The evening was opened by the local MSP who was delighted that Cloch and its visitors were able to come along to the Parliament. He acknowledged the great work that Cloch has achieved in improving the lives of so many in the Inverclyde community.

Mr McMillan said: “In Cloch’s 50 years in business it has changed and grown with the times, but has still kept its commitment to providing suitable and affordable social housing at the heart of all it does. I was delighted to host this event in Parliament and wish the Association all the best in their future endeavours.”

Kevin Stewart also emphasised the achievement of the housing association reaching its 50th year and congratulated Cloch on the work it has put in to the film and book and looked forward to the outcome of Cloch’s new development in 2019.

Julianne Scarlett, chair of Cloch, presented the event and said: “It is an outstanding achievement and as an organisation, Cloch has grown through the years to 2018 where we are an energetic, vibrant housing association looking to continue to improve and develop better and additional services for our tenants and customers.”

As part of the event, David Bookbinder, director of Glasgow and West of Scotland Housing Forum, presented staff from Cloch with two awards which had been achieved in 2018, the Customer Service Excellence Award and the Award for Healthy Working Lives.

On accepting the awards, Paul McVey, Cloch’s director, said: “These awards are a recognition of the hard work which has gone into our Customer Facing Project over the last couple of years. Our service delivery model has been enhanced and our customers are really noticing the difference.

“We will continue to refine this and look for new and innovative ways to improve. Our Healthy Working Lives Award is also a great accolade for the staff in the Association who have worked tirelessly to increase awareness and introduce healthy approaches and initiatives to our working day and beyond. To receive the awards at the Parliament on our 50th Anniversary is the icing on the cake.”

The guests had the opportunity to see a new short film about Cloch, which has been produced in conjunction with TIS, and is available to view on Cloch’s website. A short presentation was also given by Liz Bowden, Cloch’s corporate services manager, on a new Cloch heritage book. ‘The Cloch Book 2018: Souvenir Edition’ has taken stories from staff and tenants and turned them in to comic strips and mini histories of Cloch and Greenock over the past 50 years. The book was fully funded by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and put together by Inverclyde company Magic Torch.