Many happy returns (and singles)

AS your Metro Mayor, there are three things that are constantly on my mind.

The first is the cost-of-living crisis, which is frightening to many of the one million people I proudly represent.

The second is the climate emergency, with the latest research suggesting things are far worse than feared.

The third is, how do we encourage people to voluntarily change their behaviour on an ongoing basis to meet the huge challenges of the modern world?

With these three things in mind, I’m delighted to tell you about a special birthday initiative I’m introducing as your regional mayor.

Starting soon, you’ll be able to ride the buses of the West of England completely free throughout the month of your birthday. This will help your pocket, the planet, and, I hope, see positive change in the way we all travel in future to reduce congestion, pollution and delays.

This innovative offer - which applies to the vast majority of buses running in the West of England, as well as the region’s WESTlink bookable minibuses - begins for lo- cals with a July birthday and runs 12 months until every resident has had the chance to benefit from their free Birthday Month Bus Pass.

If you’re not a regular bus user, this birthday month of free bus travel is particularly aimed at you. Give it a go - you’ve literally got nothing to lose.

If you are a car user, think how many times you could avoid filling up at a petrol station during the month of your birthday? I hope, with a whole birthday month to try the bus for free, we come to like (even love) bus travel to continue to use it into the future.

Other places in the UK have tried free bus travel for a day, or a weekend, but this is very different. It’s about encouraging lasting behaviour change. Try a whole month - maybe you won’t look back!

This offer is also for you if you’re already a bus user. I hope this birthday bonanza is a boon to you too. A free month to help during the cost-of-living crisis. Plus, you can use it for extra days out too - perhaps to enjoy the amazing attractions and beauty of our fantastic region. You could be better off by one twelfth of the bus costs you shell

Mayor

out annually. It’s super easy to claim your free Birthday Month Bus Pass – simply go to www.birthdaybus.co.uk. We’ll send you your pass in the post, and you’re away!

People tell me buses are important. That affordable transport is critical. That behaviour change of an ongoing kind is key to overcoming the climate emergency.

This initiative to give free bus travel in the month of your birthday is a UK first. It is innovative and new. It allows our brilliant region to show the rest of the country how to take on the big challenges of our time.

I wish you many happy returns - and singles!

Are you a passionate, empathetic, hardworking person, who likes to make a difference in children’s lives, if so, we have exciting opportunities to work at our rapidly expanding Special School in a variety of roles.

Briarwood is a Bristol Special School, based in Fishponds and Barton Hill, committed to providing a high quality of education, care and life skills for children and young people with severe learning difficulties and complex needs including autism and sensory impairment from 3-19 years.

Are you looking for a way to get involved with your local community? Have you considered being a School Governor? If you are interested please contact Deborah Smith for more information, chairbriarwoodsp@bristol-schools.uk

Please visit our careers page on www.eteach.com/schools/briarwood-school-25106 or contact us via emal on HR.briarwoodsp@bristol-schools.uk

n LOCAL HISTORY

Mike Jempson discovers what life was like for workers in the early days of the National Health Service

AS we live through a worsening crisis in the NHS, with the government choosing to ignore the pleas of hospital workers for decent wages and conditions, it is revealing to see how such issues were dealt with 75 years ago.

Reading through the 1948-49 management committee minutes for the Bristol Mental Hospital at the Glenside Museum offers a stark reminder that things were handled differently back then.

The unions that represented the various trades needed for the hospital to function efficiently were recognised and respected.

In July 1948, at the request of the National Union of Furniture Trade Operatives (NUFTO), the basic hourly rate for the hospital's upholsterers was increased to include a 4d (1.5p) an hour cost-of-living bonus.

NUFTO had been formed the previous year by a merger of two other unions, and there would be other mergers until 1971, when it became the Furniture, Timber and Allied Trades Union (FTAT) with six different trade groups. Nowadays it is part of the GMB, itself an amalgamation of more than 50 smaller unions with a history stretching back almost 100 years.

Meanwhile the hospital's shoe repairer had left, leaving the Male Occupational Therapy department overwhelmed.

The hospital secretary was authorised to employ a replacement under conditions approved by the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives.

NUBSO had begun life as the National Union of Boot and Shoe Riveters and Finishers in 1873, changing its name in 1897.

With at least 38 footwear companies in Kingswood alone, there were plenty of members locally.

In the 1910 General Election NUBSO sponsored Frank Sheppard, the unsuccessful Labour candidate for Bristol East. NUBSO was subsumed into the general union Community in 2004.

Negotiations with the Bakers Wages Council reduced the working week for hospital caterers from 48 to 46 hours and increased their hourly rate by five farthings.

As two of the three bakery staff were about to retire, the committee agreed to hire two members of the Amalgamated Union of Operative Bakers (AUOB) as baker-confectioners, so the hospital would no longer have to buy in confectionery.

The union owed its origins to a Manchester Friendly Society in 1847, which grew to encompass bakers in numerous towns and cities. In 1913 it opened membership to women and unskilled workers. In the 1960s it would become the Bakers Union before settling as the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) of today.

Hall Porter Mr. L Brown did well out of the improved wages and conditions established by the National Joint Council for Staffs of Hospitals and Allied Institutions. He was upgraded to