A publication for tenants and staff of all schemesowned or managed by Eldon Housing Association Ltda Charitable Housing Association

The LinkAUTUMN/WINTER 2011 ISSUE

A NICE DAY FOR A WALK!!We kept our fingers crossed that Wednesday 27thJuly would be a nice day for a walk and yes it wasa little sunny, a little cloudy and no rain… perfect!!

Anne Dickson, Jenny Haines, Janice Hughes,Alison Johnson (& her son Saul), David Nixon,Carol MacArthur, Hilda Matovu, Elaine Riggon,Claudette Roberts, Sandra Whalley (& herdaughter Fiona), Sakeena Wilson, Angela Woodand Marilyn Woods all left Eldon’s Head Office alittle after 9.00am with a 1 hour walk ahead toMarten House. David and Saul soon realised thatthey would be surrounded by women chatting thewhole route!!

We were warmly welcomed at Marten House withtea and cakes which set the tone for the wholeday. After resting and chatting with tenants awhile, and before we got too comfortable, we setoff for Garden Court.

Hello and welcome to what is the 17th edition of The Link. In addition to our usual reports on activitiesat our schemes we have a feature on childhood

memories plus a report on our fund raising activities for Help for Heroes.

As ever if you have any suggestionsfor our next edition, which will be published in May 2012, please donot hesitate to speak to your Scheme Manager or contact me on 020 8655 6727.

Anne Dickson – Editor

When we arrived at Garden Court we saw a patternwhich would be repeated all day – another warmwelcome and plenty of tea, coffee, cakes and juice– just what we needed. I quickly worked out myplan of action which was to eat as many cakes as I liked because I would be walking off the caloriesbetween each scheme!

CONTACT

Eldon Housing Association Ltd 7 Banstead Road, Purley, CR8 3EB 020 8668 9861 info@eldonhousing.co.uk www.eldonhousing.co.uk(a Charitable Housing Association)

A young & very happyBingo winner!

Arriving at Westdene

Having received a wonderful send off from GardenCourt we moved on to Westdene where weinterrupted a pre lunch game of Bingo – it waslovely to see not only tenants but also their friendsand family supporting us. Kim the Cook hadproduced some magnificent cakes which ensured

my calorie intake wasmaintained! SchemeManager, Hilda, didnot bother to rest andupon arrival set out adisplay of Help forHeroes products andquickly started to sellthem to tenants andguests alike.

Then the short hop to Lindsay Court where wejoined tenants for a chat in the lounge. David,Scheme Manager, had cleverly thought that we maybe getting a bit full of tea and cakes but would be inneed of a boost and supplied us all with bananasand lucozade sport drinks. What a great idea as wenow had a 45 minute walk to Fellows Court.

Having arrived at Fellows Court we entered thelounge/dining room to warm and humbling applauseand had time to talk to the tenants and Day Centreusers and thank them for their support just prior tolunch being served. Scheme Manager, Hicky, hadorganised refreshments which re-fuelled us for ourlast leg to Bardsley and Claremont Courts.

Then the short hop to Lindsay Court where wejoined tenants for a chat in the lounge. David,Scheme Manager, had cleverly thought that we maybe getting a bit full of tea and cakes but would be inneed of a boost and supplied us all with bananasand lucozade sport drinks. What a great idea as wenow had a 45 minute walk to Fellows Court.

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Chatting to tenants

Off to Bardsley Court

Well what a memorable day that came out of anidea from Alison Johnson who is House Manager at Joan Nightingale House in Hayward’s Heath – she is rightly proud of her son, Richard, who is anAerospace Engineering Technician with the RoyalNavy’s Helicopter Commandos. He has safelycompleted 2 tours of Afghanistan based inKandahar servicing helicopters, guiding them in/outof the base and volunteering to make vital drops ofsupplies to troops and outlying communities.

We have all seen the news clips and photographsfrom Wootton Bassett where young and old havepaid their respects to service men and women whohave been killed in action. What we don’t see arethe injured men and women who require thesupport of so many to enable them to recover – that is where Help for Heroes rises to that challengeand provides funding for huge projects such asRehabilitation Centres as well as individual supportwith car and home adaptations, support for relatives etc.

What was amazing about the day was not onlyraising funds for Help for Heroes but the way staffand tenants came together to have a bit of fun andfor some of the walkers it was an opportunity tovisit other schemes for the first time.

We also received support from contractors whohave long standing relationships with Eldon namely:Amalgamated Lifts Ltd, FMI Contracts Ltd,A R Garrett Ltd, Greensweep Ltd, Pyrotec Ltd,Ship Shape Products Ltd, VR Sani-Co Ltd, whotogether with Head Office staff members JennyHaines, Janice Hughes, Jacky Lloyd and Sally Trapéprovided the prizes for a jumbo raffle which aloneraised over £450.00.

The raffle together with the sale of Help for HeroesSouvenirs and the sponsorship of the walkersresulted in us raising a truly amazing £2,351.26.This combined with the £525.00 raised by GardenCourt and the £293.00 raised by Joan NightingaleHouse in April this year gives us a grand total of£3,169.26 – a fantastic sum!

On behalf of everyone involved with the fundraising and more importantly on behalf of theheroes – thank you.

Anne Dickson

At around 2.15pm we walked into the lounge atBardsley Court to be welcomed by tenants aboutto have afternoon tea. We enjoyed tea, cold drinksand an amazing buffet, provided by ClaremontCourt tenants Mr & Mrs Tilbury, which wasthoroughly enjoyed as we had certainly worked up an appetite.

The‘Walkers’!

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A BIT OF FUN!• I don’t suffer from insanity – I enjoy every minute of it.

• My husband and I divorced over religious differences – he thought hewas God and I didn’t.

• Some people are alive only because it’s illegal to kill them.

• I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.

• Don’t take life too seriously – no one gets out alive.

• Ever stop to think and forget to start again?

• I’m not a complete idiot – some parts are just missing.

• Out of my mind – Back in five minutes.

• Consciousness – that annoying time between naps.

• It’s scary when you start to make the same noises as your coffee maker.

• Being ‘over the hill’ is much better than being under it!

• Wrinkled was not one of the things I wanted to be when I grew up.

• Ever notice that the people telling you to calm down are the ones whogot you mad in the first place.

• I smile because I don’t know what the heck is going on.

• Ever get the feeling your stuff strutted off without you.

• Ham & Eggs… a day’s work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.

The contents of a fun e-mail that I received – Anne Dickson

TENANT INFORMATIONPRESENTATIONS

Presentations are currently being planned toform part of your existing Tenant Meetings andsome of the subjects under consideration are:–Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults, Health & Safety,Equality & Diversity, Fire Awareness, Nutrition & Diet, Dementia Awareness and Repairs &Maintenance.

These presentations will be ongoing andtherefore spread over future Tenant Meetingsand are likely to involve a short talk, questionsand answers session and where appropriateliterature to take away will be available.

Tenants will also be invited to contribute to these sessions by either making a presentation orsubmitting ideas for future presentations.

ACTIVITIES CO-ORDINATOR

The Association hascreated a new post ofActivities Co-Ordinator to provide support toScheme Managers and Staff.

We are delighted toconfirm that Lorna Davis

has agreed to step into this role. You may alreadyknow Lorna as she currently provides cover in avariety of roles at our schemes.

Lorna’s duties will commence in the autumn whenshe will be visiting schemes in order to get to knowthe tenants and discuss ideas for futureentertainment and activities.

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The now well established annual day out for all Schemes was very successful, due to the concerted efforts of all the Scheme Managers.

A 53-seater luxury coach and three wheelchair accessible small coaches transported 51 tenants and 15 staff / family members, on hand to help, to Eastbourne.

For some of the tenants it was their first trip to the coast this summer and they were looking forward to a temporary change of environment – they were not disappointed as the coachestook a picturesque route to our destination.

On arrival different groups were formed, for example, those who wanted to eat at theirpreferred restaurants, those who wanted to go sightseeing and others who had lunch in the Fish& Chips restaurant on the Pier, they commented on how tasty and reasonably priced.

Although it rained, it was refreshingly cool as some sat on benches facing the sea. One tenantsaid, while sitting on one of the benches, she had unwrapped a bar of chocolate ready to treatherself when a seagull snatched it off her hand – she said she did not mind as it saved her thecalories, she compensated herself with ice cream later in the day!

Mr Allen from Fellows Court had his wife and two children on the trip and he said it broughtback fond memories when he used to take his then young family to Eastbourne. He said all thechildren had their favourite machines they played on in the arcade – and surprise, surprise his two children that accompanied him were excitedly changing ten pence coins to play their favourite childhood games.

The day ended with everyone returning to the coaches loaded with souvenir sweets. Elizabeth from Westdene and her backup singers serenaded fellow travellers on the journey home.

We now have to start to think about next year’s event!

Hicky KallayScheme Manager – Fellows Court

EASTBOURNE TRIP – JULY 2011

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I WAS THERE!On the 5th May 1930,Amy Johnson set off fromCroydon Aerodrome to try to break the worldrecord of 15 days for flying from the UK to Australia.Although she did not break it (she took 19 days), shewas the first woman to fly solo to Australia.

Amy returned home by boat to Egypt from where shewas flown to Croydon Aerodrome. She was driventhrough the streets of London in an open topped car;an estimated crowd of 1 million people lined theparade route. I was one of them.

I was 10 years old and stood in Railton Road, Brixton,opposite The George public house. Everybody wasvery happy and we sang “Amy,Wonderful Amy”, wavingour hands and Amy was waving like anything. We talkedabout it at school with our Teachers. Great excitement!

Evelyn Dumphreys – Westdene

JIMMY’S FIRST DAY AT SCHOOLI started school aged 3 and at assembly we had tosing the National Anthem which I did not know andjust listened, I also remember a song which I thoughtsaid ‘for those imperial aniseeds’ which was of course‘for those in peril on the sea’!

My first lesson consisted of repeating the alphabetand numbers after the teacher and at break time beinggiven milk which was followed by sleep time whereeach child was allocated a stretched canvas bed.

The milk was delivered in crates by horse and cartand during my first playtime I was dodging playmatesand fell into a pile of horse dung. I was taken to thetoilets by two junior girls who washed me downwiping my clothes and hands and then took mehome! That’s my first day at school.

Jimmy James – Fellows Court

HOP PICKINGI did not go on the hop fields as a child, but as aSalvation Army Officer to look after the pickers’wellbeing, we had a small hut, for first aid, and heldsurgery twice a day. This was quiet dramatic at timesand on one occasion we rescued a boy from downingafter he had fallen into the river close by.

We also went on the field with a tea urn; as soon asthey saw us coming they would run to meet us withvarious cups, mugs and jars to collect their tea. Atnight we would entertain the children and on Sundaywe would hold Sunday School and a service for thepickers in the open air.

It was hard work but very enjoyable I have manywonderful memories.

Dorothy Bristow – Bardsley Court

Not quite a childhood memory but I am sure that many of the children Dorothy cared for still remember their hoppicking days – for some that was their summer holiday!

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

YOUNG LOVEDave and I met in 1958. Dave was 27 years old and I was just 16 and of course my Dad was mad about it.It was not really love at first sight for me as I was still a school girl, but he was very persistent and as they say love always finds a way.

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We got married on the 31st December 1960 and myDad did not speak to me for 15 years as he said I didnot know what I was doing because I was too young.

Anyway 50 years on 7 children, 18 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren thank God we are still goingand still very much in love.

Violet and David Simpson – Bardsley Court

After getting the herd of six (parents and kids) together and working out train times and connectionswe would end up reaching the coast in a black ragingthunder storm.

I remember this because just recently on a jaunttaking a friend’s dog for a walk we left the house witha beautiful sun shining down upon us only to reachour destination under the blackest storm cloud I haveever seen in the my entire life – we were soakedwithin seconds!!

Dee Jones – Soft Facilities Manager

OOPS!!One of my earliest memories is, aged 4, climbing tothe top of a small children’s slide and standing upwaving my hands in the air – I didn’t wave for longas I fell and ended up with a broken arm. Nothingmajor about that – children do break boneshowever I was to be a bridesmaid with my 3 yearold sister two weeks later!

I was not allowed out to play for that two weeks incase I got the plaster dirty and the sleeve of thedress had to be un-picked, as I could not get my armthrough, and was re-stitched once I was wearing it!!The outfit included little white gloves and in thephotos it looks as if I am wearing one long glove!!

Anne Dickson – Editor

If you would like to share any of your childhoodmemories with our readers please speak to yourScheme Manager or contact Anne Dickson on 020 8655 6727.

QUEEN ELIZABETH IIMy special childhood memory was the visit of QueenElizabeth II to Sierra Leone, my birth country, in 1961.

We were informed by the Principal of my secondaryschool of her visit; I was very excited at the prospectof not only seeing the Queen in person but to bepart of that historic event. My parents made thispossible when they paid for my membership of theFreetown Girl Guides Association. As a Guider I had a prominent position as together with otherschool children we had to line the route of themotorcade procession of Her Majesty, Prince Phillip,The Governor General – Sir Maurice Dorman andour Prime Minister in waiting Sir Milton Margai.

I was very excited to see the Queen in close view asbefore then I perceived her as a fairytale and not real.Up to this present day I still remember how we allspoke after of her flawless delicate complexion.

Princess Williams – Claremont Court

UNDER A DARK CLOUD!I can recall making plans as a child, waking up in theearly hours of the morning and peeping through thecurtains to see if it was raining or not and (I have to admit, very few occasions) being shined upon by a beautifully bright sun, I’d rush into my parents’bedroom shouting repeatedly “can we go to theseaside, can we go to the seaside” until they finallygave in just to shut me up.

• LINGFIELD LODGEWe have had a very pleasant spring and summerhere at Lingfield Lodge.

Some of the highlights included a trip to the home of one of our Board Members, Mrs Ingrid Sethi, forafternoon tea in her lovely garden.

Some of our residents visited Ashdown Forest LlamaPark in July for afternoon tea – a very enjoyable trip.

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August saw a visit from the ‘Abba Girls’ – they sangvarious favourite songs. Some of our tenantsactually had Abba style wigs on; they said they hadsuch a wonderful time.

As well as planning for our future events ourregular activities including coffee mornings inindividual lounges, Keep Fit, Brain Teaser Puzzlesand a whole lot more continue.

Hicky – Scheme Manager

• FELLOWS COURTMay saw a special event at Fellows Court with theColeby Day Centre & Eldon Staff Variety Show!

There were 12 acts with staff dressing up andmiming to background music these included Abba,

Buddy Holly,Beverley Sisters,Tina Turner,The Monkeys,Shirley Bassey,and a grand finale version ofMichael Jackson’sThriller.

The show lasted around an hour and all the tenantsabsolutely loved it and the staff involved enjoyedputting the show together.

A big thank you to Tracey, Day Centre Manager,who organised the event and has said there is apossibility of another show next Spring – with apossibility of visiting other Schemes – watch this space!

Our Summer Fete on Saturday 2nd July 2011 had avariety of stalls and we raised an amazing £873.00 –it was a success due to hard work of tenants, theirfamilies and staff. Thank you all, especially thosewho volunteered their time – it is appreciated. It wasa fun day.

Throughout the summer we have had a steady streamof entertainers visiting us including, musical duoChicory Tip and comedians/vocalists The Two of Us.

We also had avisit in July fromWoodside PrimarySchool; thechildren playedrecorders andwere absolutelyadorable. Thetenants sangalong to thepopular tunes.

We wrapped up July with a visit by the London FireBrigade with uniformed Firemen plus a Fire Engine!

We managed to drag the lady tenants away fromchatting to the Firemen and touring the Fire Enginelong enough to receive a talk on fire safety whichwas much appreciated.

SOCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

‘Tina Turner’ atthe Variety Show

We had a flower arranging demonstration at the end of July during which the residents made tabledecorations.

August saw a lovely 92nd birthday party for EllenIbbotson – a very happy event! Saturday 27th Augustsaw our annual Garden Party – we had theoccasional shower but it did not put us off – we hada wonderful time.

Around 60 residents, staff and guests enjoyed a buffetwith a visit from the local ice cream van to follow –very popular!! Our raffle raised £172.00 which will be used towards future events at the Lodge.

We are now making plans for entertainment andactivities for the autumn and winter. Watch this space…

Linda – Acting House Manager

Woodside Primary School

• BARDSLEY & CLAREMONT COURTSWe have had a busy few months with lots ofactivities both at the scheme and further afield. Inlate spring the tenants visited Polhill Garden Centreand had a wonderful time sightseeing and shopping.They were able to have a bite to eat and drinkbefore getting the coach home after thoroughlyenjoying the day.

The tenants went to the very popular McDermott’sRestaurant in Addington in June for delicious fishand chips which was enjoyed by all.

July saw the first of our visits to Eastbourne. Onarrival our tenants were taken to Beachy Head via asightseeing coach which showed them all the beautyEastbourne has to offer.

Moreover on the 20th July 2011 the tenants jumpedat the chance to go again in the joint trip toEastbourne with the other schemes.

• LINDSAY COURTProbably the most enjoyable activity so far this year has been the recent trip to Eastbourne wherewe’ve been to before along with other schemes’tenants, but more of that later.

In recent months we’ve had various activitiesincluding fashion and furniture sales, quizzes, DVDafternoons, shoe sales, reminiscence sessions, andthe welcome return of the very popular singer,Nick Brown.

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Eyes down!

We also had a return visit from country music singerAdrian Chapman in July.

Our Summer Fayre was held on the Saturday 6thAugust this was a well supported event where weraised £200 which goes towards the tenant’s socialfund.

Our plans for future months include quizzes, a visitfrom Ray of Rowland Brothers to talk about schooldays plus trips to Tulleys Farm in Crawley and TheGreat Comp Garden in Kent.

Grace – Scheme Manager

Present and future activities include our Fish &Chips suppers, which are always very well attended,and bingo sessions organised by Ethel Dixon, alongwith tea and cup cakes made by our cook Judith.We will be holding our Autumn Fayre on 22ndOctober when we hope to raise an enormous sum of money for our Amenity Fund.

Returning to the Eastbourne trip, several LindsayCourt tenants went including six in wheelchairs, andthey were assisted by staff and a friend of a tenant.Two of our wheelchair users were in electricwheelchairs so they had a great time whizzing upand down the pier. Although for some of the time itwas raining, this did not greatly detract from ourtenants enjoying the trip.

For Barbara it was a nice change whilst for Polly she went on the trip to celebrate her birthday, she

loved going roundthe shops and sheenjoyed her icecream cone. As forJosie, she insistedon going to the pub,and there is proofof this in photostaken. She said shehad pineapple juice but no onebelieves her!

Just to add we all felt the drivers were mostprofessional and friendly and helped make the day a great success. We certainly hope to go to the seaside again next year.

David – Lindsay Court

Is this just pineapple juice!

• JOAN NIGHTINGALE HOUSEDown in sunny (well sometimes!) Haywards Heath,we’ve been making the most of our lovely gardenover the summer, spending lazy afternoons on thepatio enjoying the warm weather and each otherscompany.

It’s been a little haven for wildlife over the last fewweeks; we’ve been visited by a baby rabbit,woodpeckers, jays and even a young deer! Ourapple tree has produced an abundance of fruit forlots of yummy homemade pies, crumbles andcakes, some of the tenants are harvesting homegrown tomatoes and new tenant, Dave Swinford ispreparing a bed to plant winter crops. We’ll haveour very own small holding before long!

In May we visited Ditchling Garden Centre lookingfor inspiration to plant our tubs for the patio. Wejust couldn’t pass up the chance of sampling theirhome made scones and jam, it would have beenrude not to!

• MARTEN HOUSEThere have been some changes to the staff atMarten House whilst our Scheme Manager, Neddah,is on Maternity Leave.

Barbara our Weekend Manager has been joined byJean working Monday, Wednesday and Friday andRetta working Tuesday and Thursday.

These changes in staff have meant that there havebeen some ‘getting to know you’ coffee morningswhere there have been some good ideas for futureactivities shared.

We have been working hard with preparations forour fund raising Cream Tea on Sunday 4th September.With a raffle, tombola, name the bear in addition tothe delicious cream teas the hard work paid off aswe raised £350.00 which we are delighted with andthanks to everyone who supported us on the day.

Plans for the autumn and winter are now being made with coffee in the lounge every morning forany tenant who wishes to come along and a Fish &Chip supper is planned.

We are already working on what will be bright andbreezy Christmas and New Year celebrations.

All in all a busy time at Marten House

Jean and Retta – Temporary Scheme Managers

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We are looking forward to the return of ourChairobics sessions and Art group after the summerbreak and have plans for a Pub Lunch and quiz inSeptember. Our fortnightly Bingo sessions continueto run amid much hilarity mostly due to Tina’sindividual style of calling the numbers!

We are planning a party for the end of September;watch this space to find out what we get up to!

Alison – House Manager

Our President, Sir Richard Kleinwort, joined us for our Friday afternoon tea in June. We had adelicious spread of strawberries and cream withscones and cakes and Sir Richard shared the historyof how and why The Little Black Bag HousingAssociation was formed and how his grandmotherspearheaded the fundraising to enable the buildingof Joan Nightingale House for the retired nurses ofSussex. It was an interesting and pleasant afternoon.

We visited Barnsgate Manor, near Uckfield, for ourannual lunch outing at the beginning of August. Itwas a gloriously warm day, tenants and committeemembers enjoyed the drive through the countrysideto the restaurant where we tucked into a fabulousmeal. We were then served coffee on the terraceoverlooking a stunning view of the South Downs; itdoesn’t get any better than that!

• WESTDENEHere at Westdene we are busy as usual with ourweekly activities, entertainment and evening teaand music in the lounge.

We are looking forward the coming months withlots of indoor and outdoor activities including,bingo session, draughts, word games, videoevenings, flower arranging, card making and ourpoplar in-house Fish & Chip suppers.

July was busy with tenants and staff having a dayout at Eastbourne where they had an exciting dayby the sea side and enjoyed Fish & Chips – they allsaid they have a lovely time.

Tenants and staff supported the fundraising day for Help for Heroes. At Westdene we had coffeemorning and bingo session and sold merchandiseon the day to tenants and staff who were all happyto support this worthy cause.

• GARDEN COURTSaturday 11th June saw our Summer Fayre whichraised £355.18 a big thank you to everyone whoparticipated for their help and support.

We have had a trip to the Windsor Castle pub inBrighton Road for a Ploughman’s lunch and wecelebrated a tenant’s birthday with Fish & Chips.We are also looking at hosting an Irish Stew lunchonce again as this has proved popular.

Some of the tenants went on the annual trip toEastbourne in July – a great time was had by all.Meeting up with other tenants was also the order of the day when some of our tenants visitedLindsay Court in August to play Bingo.

We continue the year by having our monthlymusical entertainment, we recently had AdrianChapman visit who is well known for his colourfulcowboy hats and the tenants enjoy his music very much.

Hilda – Scheme Manager

Our Cream Tea

Bingo at Lindsay Court

We have just held our special cream tea withstrawberries which was planed for outdoors butunfortunately due to bad weather we had to moveinside - but it all went well and all the tenants hadgood time.

Connie Crookes, our oldest tenant, was 100 yearsyoung on the 4th September. She celebrated thisspecial day with her friends and tenants joined herfor a celebratory lunchtime drink the following day.

Plans are already inplace for our SummerFete on Saturday 24th September –fingers crossed for asuccessful day.

On the InternationalDay of Older Personson the 1st October we will be having aspecial evening ofentertainment for the tenants.

We also had a visit from Katie's clothes in earlyAugust which proved very popular and she will bereturning in November.

We have already started to plan our autumn andwinter activities.

We plan to visit Polhill Garden Centre twice morebefore the end of the year and will hopefully stockup on some Christmas gifts.

With Christmas in mind our Winter Fayre will takeplace on the Saturday 5th November between2.00pm – 4.00pm

The date for our tenants Christmas lunch is alreadyin the diary – Tuesday 13th December.

Sandra – Scheme Manager

Connie Crookes

E L D O NH O U S I N G A S S O C I AT I O N LT D