Bishopston Voice February 2023

street

CHANDOS Road is the latest street to be considered for a ban on traffic to open up more space for traders and encourage walking and cycling .

Following the pedestrianisation of Princess Victoria Street in Clifton, Bristol City Council has secured funding to make permanent the traffic ban in Cotham Hill introduced last year and is considering a similar project for Chandos Road.

Councillor Don Alexander, cabinet member for transport, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I very much hope and expect the success of Cotham Hill pedestrianisation can be replicated with Chandos Road. The Chandos Road Festival shows the street thrives when it’s closed to cars. I hope that by doing this, we can bring the same benefits the festival does all year round. As well as opening up more space for the street’s traders, this will also free up the road for pedestrians and cyclists and create a new active travel route through Redland.”

Full story: Pages 6 & 7

from traffic

How neighbour inspired author

Bestselling author Emily Koch has revealed that her Bishopston neighbour gave her the idea for the central character in her third novel, What July Knew, which is published this month. PAGE 8

Cyclists face route diversion

Headteacher outlines vision

Lucy

Cyclists face diversion while station is built

CONSTRUCTION work is set to get under way this spring on Ashley Down rail station.

Funding was due to be approved by the West of England Combined Authority in late January and the intention is for the station to open to passengers next year, 60 years after Ashley Hill station closed.

The entrance to the station will be off the Concorde Way

walking and cycling route, where it meets Station Road.

Work will include temporarily closing part of Concorde Way and putting a diversion in place along Boiling Wells Lane. This will allow construction of the new station to take place, along with creating pedestrian and cycle access, new covered cycle parking, enhanced planting, and the installation of two accessible

parking bays.

When complete, Ashley Down Station will initially be served by trains operating between Bristol Temple Meads and Filton Abbey Wood. Other new stations planned for north Bristol include Henbury and North Filton.

Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, said: “It’s fantastic that work is set to get under way on our second new railway station for Bristol – with our city’s first new station in almost a century now almost finished at Portway Park and Ride.

“This will be the first time in almost 60 years that residents in the Ashley Down area will be able to catch trains locally, helping to better connect people to employment, education and leisure opportunities, while tackling congestion and pollution, and reducing social and economic isolation.

“Our investment into improving the rail network, and working with partners to

achieve this, is an important part of our long-term strategy to boost sustainable transport and increase connectivity across Bristol and the wider region – as we work towards the mass transit system which Bristolians need and deserve.”

Ashley Down Station is part of the second phase of MetroWest, the West of England Combined Authority’s plans to significantly increase travel by rail and improve air quality in the region.

The new station is being built by contractors BAM Nutall for Bristol City Council, the West of England Combined Authority, Network Rail, and Great Western Railway.

It is being funded by the West of England Combined Authority, working with Bristol City Council, South Gloucestershire Council, and Bath & North-East Somerset Council, as part of a wider programme of railway improvements.

bishopstonvoice

Bishopstonvoice contacts

Emma Cooper Publisher 0117 908 2121 / 07715 770448 emma@bishopstonvoice.co.uk

Erica Benson Advertising Sales

0117 908 2121 sales@bishopstonvoice.co.uk

March deadline

Follow us on Twitter @bishopstonvoice

Find us on Facebook www.facebook.com/ Bishopstonvoice

Useful numbers

Bristol City Council 0117 922 2000 Citizens Advice Bureau 0844 499 4718 Police www.avonandsomersetpolice.uk General enquiries: 101 Emergency: 999 Fire www.avonfire.gov.uk General enquiries: 0117 926 2061

Complaints

Emergency: 999 NHS Health Call 111

Well Aware (health and social care information) www.wellaware.org.uk Freephone: 0808 808 5252 We are Bristol helpline Freephone 0800 694 0184

Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm Weekends 10am-2pm

Despite our best efforts, we sometimes get things wrong. We always try to resolve issues informally at first but we also have a formal complaints procedure. If you have a complaint about anything in the Bishopston Voice, contact the publisher using the details below. We aspire to follow the Code of Conduct of the NUJ (National Union of Journalists), which holds journalists to a high standard of behaviour. Further details of the complaints process can be found on the Voice website here, or can be obtained by contacting the Publisher.

A member of the

Our March deadline is February 15. To ensure your news or letter is included, please contact us by this date. Advertisers are also asked to contact us by the same date.

Your views

Bishopston

Centre, Ashmead

Keynsham, BS31 1SX. The editor reserves the right to edit your letter.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Bishopston Voice is independent. We cannot take responsibility for content or accuracy of adverts, and it is advertisers’ responsibility to conform to all relevant legislation. We cannot vouch for any services offered. Opinions are not necessarily those of the editor. Bishopston Voice is distributed each month to Bishopston residents. If for some reason you do not get a copy, please collect one from local pick-up points. Feedback is always welcomed, contact Emma Cooper on 0117 908 2121 or emma@bishopstonvoice.co.uk. This month 10,700 copies copies will be distributed around Bishopston, Redland and St Andrews.

‘Don’t

CAMPAIGNERS have urged cash-strapped Bristol City Council not to make swingeing cuts to its parks budget.

Bristol Parks Forum says draft proposals show that the council wants to reduce spending on parks by £1.5 million a year –20-25 per cent.

Volunteers and users of the city’s parks and open spaces responded to the council’s budget consultation opposing the cuts and as the Voice went to print were waiting to find out whether their voices had been heard.

The budget recommendations were about to be published and were due to go before the cabinet on January 24, with the full council making a final decision on February 21.

The council has to make difficult decisions to bridge a £31 million shortfall for 202324. It concedes that use of parks has risen since lockdown - but says this has put added pressure on staff and budgets and that new solutions have to be found.

Bristol Parks Forum said: “Reduced staff costs mean reduced staff numbers.

“This will mean less work will be done, less grass cutting, less bin-emptying, less repairs, fewer people to answer queries, fewer people to support park groups and other volunteers, fewer people to assess the likely impact of events or activities planned in

parks & green spaces by other organisations.

“There is a suggestion that volunteers can take up some of the slack and do more, however, volunteers are likely to lose heart if basic maintenance isn’t done and, in any case, will in most cases, not have the time, skills, training or equipment to take on maintenance activities.

“They will not want to be in a position of taking on work previously done by staff who have been made redundant.”

Linda Wilson, chair of the Friends of Badock's Wood, said: "The council suggestion that parks can be managed and maintained by volunteers is simply wrong. Our group has been going for nearly 25 years. We turned an unloved area from a tip to a treasure. But however hard our volunteers have worked over the years we could not have done that without the bedrock of the Council Parks Department's resources. Volunteers cannot replace Parks staff. We cannot, should not and will not do their work. We are very concerned that Parks will very quickly deteriorate if these budget proposals go ahead and staff are cut, we will enter a spiral of decline."

Jo Corke, of the Friends of St Andrew’s Park, said: “It is important that we keep all our parks under council management and

that we don’t lose any of our green open spaces. Habitats need to be sufficiently close for many species to be able move from one to another. Loss of any green space is a loss for the whole city and beyond. Animals and plants don’t know about ward and county boundaries.”

The River Trym in Badock’s Wood

Photo: Frances Robertson/FOBW

Library plans scrapped

CONTROVERSIAL plans to move Bristol’s Central Library from its historic home have been scrapped after a public outcry.

Bristol City Council’s ruling Labour party said the plans would be dropped after speaking to residents in the ward where the library is located, which is facing a by-election next month.

Plans to relocate the Library from its Grade-I listed home on College Green were revealed in November by the council as part of proposed cuts. The council is facing a giant hole in its budget due to inflation and a lack of funding from the central government.

But the plans met opposition from across the political spectrum, and appear to now have been dropped from next year’s budget. Liberal Democrats and Greens claimed the move was due to the upcoming by-election in Hotwells and Harbourside, on February 2.

Councillor Ellie King, cabinet member for communities and public health, and Eileen Means, Labour candidate in the byelection, blamed the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats for austerity and “forcing councils to shut” hundreds of libraries.

They said it was "only right and responsible" to consider every option but now their intention was to keep the library where it was.

Stephen Williams, former Lib Dem MP and candidate in the by-election, tweeted: “How marvellously cynical. The Labour mayor ‘saves’ the Central Library from his own closure plans, in the middle of an election, just to save the Labour candidate from electoral humiliation.”

Ed Fraser, a local Green party officer, added: “Shock horror, another stitch up. For the second by-election in a row Bristol Labour has cooked up a threat to a service in the ward so they can then claim they’ve saved it. No wonder they’re stuck in third place.”

By Alex Seabrook, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Chandos Road:

PEOPLE living and working around Chandos Road in Redland will this year be given the chance to shape a new street layout to make it more pedestrian friendly.

But it is not yet clear whether cars would be completely banned – or if less drastic traffic calming could be considered instead.

Bristol City Council announced it wants to close the road to traffic, following a decision to make permanent car bans on nearby Cotham Hill, Redland, and Princess Victoria Street, in Clifton Village.

That’s led to claims that some traders are concerned about the impact on their businesses.

But Chandos Neighbourhood Association says it has been talking to the council since 2020 about ideas such as traffic calming and tree planters, street art and bike racks.

Member Jane Valentine said these proposals have

been supported by traders and residents in surveys and open days.

She said: “We’re delighted the council has approached the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) for funding to support improvements to the area and we will be encouraging residents and traders alike to share their views throughout the consultation process so that together we can design a positive solution for the whole community.”

However Bristol City Cabinet Member for Transport, Councillor Don Alexander said the council wants to ban all cars from Chandos Road.

In a statement he said: “Closing the road to traffic will create more space for high street traders, which will particularly benefit cafes, pubs, and restaurants who can apply for permission to install outdoor seating.

“In addition to this, the

Time to go for a continental vibe?

a safe, welcoming, lucrative environment.”

Monica Worsley, co-owner of Picaro tapas bar, said banning cars would introduce a continental feel.

She said: “It would be fantastic if the Council granted Chandos Road what they have to Cotham Hill. It has made such a difference to the small restaurants in the street.

they need to do it. Sometimes you don’t see anyone passing the door, not even on a Saturday.”

She said the council should consider ways to provide extra parking, or consider a night time only pedestrianisation when restaurants are busier.

closure of the road to traffic will create an active travel route by freeing up space for cyclists and pedestrians.”

He said it would allow cafes, pubs, and restaurants to apply for permission to install outdoor seating.

The proposal is due to go out to public consultation early this year, once it has been signed off by WECA.

The Voice approached more than a dozen traders in Chandos Road for their reaction.

Emma Wreyford of Chandos

Atelier art project said she was in favour of at least partial pedestrianisation.

She said: “As a ‘destination street’ I think we could make much more of the spaceseating, bike racks, trees, markets even - plus attract foot and bike traffic to the street, customers who have been proven to stay and spend.

“The 40 people who park their car here during a day could leave space for 400 (or more as our annual street party shows) to spend time and money, enjoying

Loft Boarding & Insulation

“Picaro would have at least 15/20 extra sitting outside on the pavement. Our premises are small and that would give us much needed extra revenue. Last September when we had the street party we put tables and parasols outside and the street look so lovely with no cars.”

But Faye, who works in Clifton Flowers was concerned that banning vehicles could affect deliveries to businesses, and deliveries going out.

She said: “The street is so quiet anyway so I don’t see why

“It would be nice for the restaurants to expand out onto the street in the summer but we need access in the daytime because all the streets off Chandos Road are so narrow and it’s already difficult to park around here.

One business owner, who asked not to be named, said while they could see some benefits, they felt it could damage trade by discouraging people from travelling to the area by car.

Whatever their views, residents and traders are being urged to take part in the consultation when it formally opens.

Details of the council's plans to get rid of cars from Chandos Road are due to be revealed soon

THE latest novel by bestselling Bristol author Emily Koch was inspired by her next door neighbour.

What July Knew, which hits the shelves this month, is a moving family mystery set in the 90s about a girl trying to solve the mystery of her mother’s death. Ten-year-old July Hooper knows 18 facts about her mum – but not the truth of what has happened to her. Now, in the summer of 1995, that’s about to change.

But the idea for the book didn’t begin with July, its loveable central character. It started with Emily’s former next door neighbour, Nikki, in Bishopston.

Emily, who still lives in Bishopston, said: “One day, several years ago, I heard a heavily pregnant Nikki cry out through the party wall. I thought I was going to have to deliver her baby! It later became clear

that I had overreacted, but it got me thinking, what if…? I can’t say too much more about that without spoilers!”

That idea began to intertwine with a news story Emily had

covered back in 2013, when she worked as a journalist at the Bristol Post, about the horrific murder of Bijan Ebrahimi.

Emily said: “Bijan was killed by a vigilante mob of neighbours who wrongly believed he was a paedophile. I’ve thought of him often and about what happens when communities get the wrong idea about one of their own. What happens when neighbours turn on each other? What is the fallout of vigilante justice?”

The decision to set the book in the 90s came as a reaction to the pandemic – Emily started writing What July Knew during the first lockdown.

She said: “I ran away from the present and escaped to the 90s, when I grew up. It worked for the book and it worked for me personally – it was comforting

to spend those hours each day living in a world of lava lamps, Judy Blume novels, Flumps, and The Body Shop White Musk perfume.”

Emily is an award-winning author of two previous novels, If I Die Before I Wake and Keep Him Close. Her books have made the shortlist for the Crime Writers’ Association Steel Dagger award, won a French crime fiction award, been longlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award, and been selected as a Waterstones Thriller of the Month. Waterstones said her second novel ‘cements Koch’s place as one of the most exciting new crime writers of our day.’

What July Knew will be released in hardback, e-book and audio formats on 9 February, 2023. A limited number of signed and personalised copies are available for pre-order from Henleaze bookshop Max Minerva’s.

Emily Koch at home in Bishopston Picture: Barbara Evripidou

Probate applications and delays

SOPHIE Bridgen of AMD Solicitors discusses the latest news about delays and probate applications.

July, 2014 E: news@bishopstonvoice.co.uk

bishopston bishopstonvoice voice

Advertising Feature

of applications, which has resulted in a backlog of Probate applications. Timescales for the issuing of a Grant of Probate have increased substantially.

Often when a loved one passes away, a Grant of Probate is needed to deal with their assets. A Grant of Probate is legal document, which provides Executors appointed under a Will the authority to deal with a person’s estate, collect in assets and distribute them as guided by the Will. Once an Executor has collected in details of assets and labilities, the next step is to apply for the Grant of Probate. This includes the preparation of Inheritance Tax forms (if tax is payable), which need to be sent to HMRC, and a Probate application to the Probate Registry who will then issue a Grant of Probate.

By Shelley Faulkner, solicitor with AMD Solicitors

The minimum quoted time is 8 weeks but in certain cases a period of months has not been unusual, especially if the deceased died without a will.

The gift that pays for itself

will be. However a Will can be worded to provide that a gift of 10 % of the value of your estate at that time is given to a charity or charities of your choice. The effect of this will be that the rate of Inheritance Tax payable on the whole estate is reduced from 40 % to 36 %.

Where Inheritance Tax needs to be paid, the Probate Registry demand that the Probate application is submitted to them 20 working days after the submission of Inheritance Tax forms to HMRC, which means the overall timescale is further extended. It is not possible for an application to be submitted sooner.

In same circumstances, it has been calculated that this reduction in the tax bill can serve to leave the estate, even after payment of the gift to charity, with a value as high as if the gift had not been made. Thus the gift can in some cases quite literally pay for itself.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the average time for a Grant of Probate to be issued was two to three weeks. However, over the past few years, the Probate Registry has been reorganised and been impacted by the pandemic by way of staff shortages and increased numbers

WHILE most of us support number of charities in our lifetime, it is perhaps not surprising that a smaller number choose to remember a charity in their Will. Clearly the priority for most is to provide for a surviving spouse or children, or to ensure that the family wealth can be passed on to benefit the next generation.

However, government policy is clearly to encourage giving to charity, and a recent development in the law is intended to promote gifts to charity being made by Will. This change may also, on occasion, serve to save Inheritance Tax, or even to create a gift which literally pays for itself.

Reduced rate of Inheritance Tax

Where somebody dies after 6 April 2012 the rate of Inheritance Tax applied to the estate can be reduced from 40 % to 36 % (in other words by 10 %), provided that at least 10 % of the estate passes to charity.

Clearly it is not possible to determine in advance exactly what value the assets you leave by Will will have on your death for Inheritance Tax purposes, or what 10 % of the total value

Even where a Will has not been prepared in these terms, it may be possible to take advantage of this tax break. If the beneficiaries of the estate agree, it is possible to effectively amend the terms of a Will within two years of the date of death. A ‘Deed of Variation’ can be drawn up which sets out the family members’ agreed arrangements

for the distribution of the estate, and the estate can then be divided as if the Will had been made in these terms. A Deed of Variation could therefore provide that 10 % of the estate is to pass to a chosen charity or charities, making the estate as a whole eligible for the reduced rate of Inheritance Tax.

If any inheritance tax is due this generally needs to be paid prior to the probate application being submitted (it is not always the full bill that needs to be paid upfront but generally a substantial part is due before probate).

We understand that HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) have been taking and continue

This change in the law is clearly very good news both for charities, and potentially for some estates as well. However the detail of the application can be complex. For example, the estate is divided into different ‘components’ depending on how the property will pass to the beneficiaries, in order to calculate whether the 10 % test has been met. Taking specialist advice on the implications for your particular circumstances is therefore essential.

to take steps to reduce delays and get back to their pre-Covid workload by taking on more staff and making improvements to the online system.

of attorney and all private client issues, contact Shelley Faulkner, Florence Pearce and the other members of the team on 0117 9621205, email probate@ amdsolicitors.com or call in at 15 The Mall Clifton, or 100 Henleaze Road Henleaze.

Our Probate team understand that dealing with the affairs of a loved one after death can be incredibly overwhelming and stressful, particularly where delays occur. We will do our

AMD’s team of experienced private client solicitors and practitioners includes full

very best to help and guide you through the process as efficiently as possible

Our team are based in our Henleaze and Shirehampton branches. If you would like to get in touch, please telephone our Henleaze Road office on 0117 9621205 or email info@ amdsolicitors.com.

AMD Solicitors takes pride in sponsoring local, Bristol based charities and this year is very pleased to be supporting the Bristol branch of the Alzheimer’s Society, the local branch of this national charity which works to improve the quality of life of people affected by dementia in Great Britain. For full details of our fundraising activities visit our website www.amdsolicitors.com.

Copyright AMD Solicitors

Bristol honours bus boycott heroes

SIX leaders of the 1963 Bristol bus boycott have been awarded Freedom of the City.

Guy Reid-Bailey OBE and Barbara Dettering received the honour, and a formal thank-you, at a full meeting of Bristol City Council. Roy Hackett MBE, Owen Henry, Prince Brown and Audley Evans were also given the honour posthumously.

The group led a four-month boycott of buses 60 years ago in protest against the council-owned Bristol Omnibus Company’s racist policies of not employing black drivers.

Barbara Deterring said: “It’s an honour. I am very privileged, thankful and happy to finally say: we’ve done it. It was a hard struggle, it was a daily struggle. Many times I skipped work, luckily I wasn’t sacked, to be at a meeting of some sort where we were planning the next move — and thankfully it paid off.”

In a statement read out by his son, Guy Reid-Bailey said: “I would like to thank those who have worked hard over the years to make this day possible. I came to this country in 1961 as a 16-year-old, hoping to be educated, to work and achieve maybe more than I could have done back in Jamaica.

“I was naive to racism and horrified with what I found when I arrived in England. From the end of the bus boycott, I worked

John Wills House

Barbara Dettering and Guy Reid-Bailey

hard fighting through the ugly faces of racism, but looking back I’m very proud I was able to help and be part of the first Race Relations Act. I believe there’s still a long way to go in the fight against racism.”

The boycott led to historic changes in the law, the two Race Relations Acts in 1965 and 1968, which later led to the Equalities Act, outlawing public discrimination. Before the boycott, it was legal for companies to discriminate based on race and not to recruit drivers from the black community.

Lord Mayor Paula O’Rourke has sent a written apology to Mr Bailey. She said: “Freedom of the city is the highest honour

we can give to citizens in our city, who have made exceptional contributions to the city. They certainly deserve this honour for the actions they took back in the bus boycott.

“The Bristol Omnibus Company’s racist policies are a dark stain on Bristol’s past but the collective action taken by the boycott leaders and the wider community, who came together to end this injustice, will widely be remembered as one of the city’s proudest and most consequential moments. It undoubtedly changed Bristol and the UK for better.”

Amirah Cole, Labour Councillor for Ashley Ward, said the award was a fitting tribute to the bus boycott heroes.

“I would also like to acknowledge that while the leaders of the boycott rightly receive plaudits for their campaign, the boycott would not have achieved its aim without the full support of the community. A personal example being my dad, who walked from Avonmouth to Montpelier every day as he refused to break the boycott by getting the bus. The boycott was a shining example of solidarity and what people can achieve when they stick together to campaign against injustice. I hope that awarding the boycott leaders this status will bring attention to their acts and inspire others to stand against prejudice.

Outstanding care in Westbury-on-Trym

Nursing l Dementia l Short term l Respite

Saddle up for Tour de Bristol cycle challenge

HUNDREDS of cyclists are expected to take to the roads for Bristol’s biggest bike ride, the Tour de Bristol on Saturday 15 April. The event challenges riders to use their pedal power to raise vital funds for local charity, St Peter’s Hospice, helping to provide medical care, advice, support and comfort to patients and their families during the most difficult of times.

Join in to ride in memory of a loved one, for fun and fresh air, or to smash a personal goal. Cyclists of all abilities are catered for with routes covering distances of 40k, 65k and 100k.

Denise Davies from Westbury-on-Trym has signed up to ride the 40k distance this year, along with a team of more than 16 family and friends. They are all riding in memory of Denise’s husband Marc, who received care from the Hospice when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Denise said: “Before he became ill Marc had raised money for the Hospice when running full and half marathons. This is the year that Marc would have turned sixty and it will also be five years since he died, so I want to do something special in memory of him. I sent out the invite to Tour de Bristol to friends from school, university and locally,

as well as family and the uptake has been fantastic. Some of my team are seeing it as a fitness challenge, a couple are keen cyclists but most of us will be dollying along trying to make sure that no one does anything silly.”

Marc was 54 when, completely out of the blue, he diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma tumour. He attended the Day Hospice at Brentry where he had access to clinical therapies and spent time with other people of the same age in a similar situation to him. Towards the end of Marc’s life Hospice at Home nurses played a supportive role in his care.

St Peter’s Hospice provides counselling after a family member has died, something which was vital to help Denise through difficult days. Denise said: “A year after Marc died I realised that I was struggling and was able to have counselling through the Hospice. It was brilliant because I didn’t know that was what I needed at the time, but it was a great help.”

To register and take part in Tour de Bristol see: www.tourdebristol.co.uk

If you’d like to support Denise and her team riding in memory of Marc, see: www. justgiving.com/fundraising/formarc

Dirty boots – and a British Empire Medal!

COMMUNITY worker Lucy Mitchell says she will accept her New Year’s Honour – as a tribute to the volunteers who work with her.

Lucy, who runs Golden Hill Community Garden in Horfield, was awarded a British Empire Medal – despite being an anti-royalist.

The project worker says at first she wasn’t sure whether to accept it. She said: “To start with when they rang I said I’d think about it. I think the honours system is ridiculous and didn’t like the sound of a British Empire Medal. I’m an anti-monarchist.”

“I’m paid to do this – it’s my job, so it seemed strange to pick out one paid person when there are so many volunteers. But when I thought about it and talked to people, I realised it’s a nice way for the Garden to be recognised. I was really flattered for the Garden to get this, and decided it’s a fun thing.”

The Community Garden started when members of Horfield and District Allotment Association decided they wanted to make better use of a derelict area of the existing allotments in Monk Road.

They decided to create a community allotment which anyone could visit, including people with physical or mental ill health or learning difficulties. It was also for people who didn’t want their own allotment, or needed help learning to grow fruit and veg.

After four years of fund raising, they got a grant from the Big Lottery Fund and Green Capital, and in 2011 work started clearing the site.

Lucy was taken on as a community project worker and oversaw turning the plot the size of 12 allotments into workable gardens.

The Community Garden is now open to the public every Wednesday – and part of Lucy’s job is organising regular groups of up to 30 volunteers to look after the garden, and carry out maintenance work.

She also runs sessions for toddlers, after school clubs, young people with special educational needs, adults with learning difficulties and community groups.

Lucy says the honour is a tribute to all of them and their hard work.

“I always imagined these things were something rich people and celebs get but it seems someone with dirty boots can get one too,” she said.

“I think it’s a fun thing we can all talk about – and it would be great to wear a medal while working here, cleaning out the compost toilets!”

But it won’t be a visit to Buckingham Palace for Lucy. She says when she told officials that would be a step too far, they said she wasn’t invited anyway, as the honour will be presented by Bristol Lord Lieutenant Peaches Golding.

If you want to know more about The Golden Hill Community Garden, or get involved you can find all the details on their website: https://thegoldenhillcommunitygarden.com/ Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/TheGoldenHillComm unityGarden/?ref=page_internal

We're hiring!

We’re looking for caring Support Workers to join our Home Support service. Experience of working with older people or in the care sector is not essential, it's more important that you are reliable and enjoy working with people. Our staff support people to be as independent as possible; they are kind and take proactive steps to enrich lives.

This role supports people over 50 to remain independent at home for longer. Tasks could include companionship, either for those living alone or for when a family member or carer goes out. The role could also include light household work such as cleaning and/or cooking together, and prompting medication. This role does not involve providing personal care.

If you’d like to find out more about working with us, please visit our website www.ageukbristol.org.uk or email homesupport@ageukbristol.org.uk or ring 0117 987 8399 for an informal chat.

n EDUCATION

D-day on St Barnabas school closure plan

THE future of St Barnabas school in Montpelier is set to be decided this month.

Bristol City Council wants to shut the Church of England voluntary controlled primary in July.

It held a consultation late last year and a decision is due to be taken by the ruling cabinet on February 1.

The number of primary aged children in Bristol has fallen sharply in recent years and is forecast to continue declining. Several schools have reduced their admission numbers already and at the time the council made its announcement in November St Barnabas, which has space for 210 children aged four to 11, had only 70 pupils.

Parents and others in the neighbourhood are fighting to save the school in Albany Road, which they say has been at the heart of the community of Montpelier and St Paul’s for 150 years and offers a nurturing and supportive environment for children and families. Other neighbouring schools opened in the 2010s at a time when there was a big rise in demand.

Nearly 1,700 people have signed a petition opposing the closure of St Barnabas. It states: “Generations of local families have attended the school. It is a hidden oasis in the heart of the city centre, with its fields, woodland, vegetable gardens

and playgrounds. It is truly a community school, and everyone who spends time there describes it as a unique and very special place.”

The petition calls the proposal short-sighted and concludes: “Our children deserve the chance to carry on learning with their friends and teachers, in a loving school where their needs are met by amazing staff who do not deserve to lose their jobs.

`'And the school deserves the chance to grow, succeed, and keep serving the community it has served for so long.”

One parent who signed commented: “St Barnabas is a magical school and provides incredible support to children with special educational needs and disability as well as lots of families on the poverty line. It is a haven of green space in inner city Bristol and is a huge part of the community despite its dwindling numbers.”

The council’s consultation document acknowledged that staff and governors worked hard to provide the best possible education but said it was difficult to deliver a full and balanced curriculum on a limited budget.

If the cabinet votes to shut the school, the council has pledged to work with families to provide places for children at their preferred alternative schools.

n EDUCATION

How have your first two terms as head at RGS been?

As with starting any new job, it has been hard work but I have really enjoyed it. The students and staff at Redland are incredibly friendly and welcoming which has allowed me to settle into my role quickly. I have also enjoyed meeting parents and other members of the community connected with the school at various events.

This isn’t your first time working at RGS is it?

No, I first worked at RGS from 2007-2013 as curriculum lead for humanities and then assistant headteacher for post16. I was part of the first group of staff to teach at the RGS site and I loved working in a new school and having the opportunity to shape its ethos. When the headship came up I jumped at the chance return - RGS is very much part of my DNA!

What has impressed you most about RGS?

First and foremost it’s the attitude of our students. They are a great group of young people who are polite, respectful and willing to learn. I am also very lucky to have a dedicated and talented staff body who are prepared to go the extra mile to ensure that students at RGS get the very best they can out of being at this school.

Are you going to be making lots of changes?

No! My first two terms have been about listening to as many views of the school as I can but there are things I think we need to look at in the future which form part of our school priorities.

What are these?

Teaching at RGS is really good, but we can always improve. It’s important to me that all pupils have an equal chance of success at school and one of the best ways to achieve this is to ensure that we provide the best possible teaching. We ensure our teachers receive training into the most effective methods to help all students learn, drawing on expertise within the school but also from the multi academy trust that we are part of. We are also focused on developing our approach to equalities, diversity and inclusion.

What does that involve?

It is important that as a school

community we acknowledge the diversity of our intake and that we learn to celebrate differences. This means that we have a responsibility to educate students on matters of diversity and inclusion and we are constantly looking at ways to make our curriculum representative of the different cultures and backgrounds that make up our city. We are also an anti-racist school and want to equip our students with the confidence to call out and challenge discrimination in any form.

What support do you get as a school?

We are very lucky to be part of the Gatehouse Green multi academy trust who support and encourage us to further improve. Additionally, the school governors are committed to ensuring that we have the challenge and support needed to improve.

The Gatehouse Green Learning Trust you are part of is merging with another multi academy trust. Will that change anything? We are merging with Excalibur Academies Trust, which will enable us to work with a larger number of schools and a wider range of professionals. This can only benefit RGS. I am really excited at the prospect of working with Excalibur and think that it will ultimately help RGS to bigger and better things.

Students at RGS achieve excellent examgrades - is this all that matters?

Absolutely not! RGS is built upon our core values of Respect - Ambition – Responsibility, which we believe ensure that our students are able to play a valuable role in society. But for me it is so important that school is fun and provides students with lifelong memories and experiences they can draw upon later on in life. Providing

opportunities for enrichment is a key for us and at RGS we pride ourselves on having a full programme of co-curricular activities that all students can involve themselves in and enjoy to develop new skills and interests. We also believe that it is essential to provide first class pastoral care for all our students; our tutors, mentors, year heads and well being leads provide outstanding care in this area.

What would you say are the biggest challenges for schools at the moment? Without a doubt funding is a huge issue and there is often much uncertainty around how much schools will receive in a

financial year as well as decisions taken which put enormous pressures on budgets. An example of this is the recent teacher pay increase which has not been funded by central government but which has had to be found from existing budgets. Schools are having to play an increasingly demanding role in dealing with mental health and social care issues as health care providers feel the strain post pandemic. But I am an eternal optimist - as a school we are here to serve our local community and we will do our best regardless of the conditions which are out of our control

Being a headteacher is a big job. How do you switch off from the pressures?

My wife and I have a whippet called Eddie and one of my favourite things is taking him for a walk along the coast path in Portishead where I live. I also have three teenage children who keep me grounded. I describe myself as a runner and cyclist, although probably best at the moment to say that I have lapsed in these two areas - perhaps a new year's resolution is needed!

Redland Green School has a new headteacher this year - Ben Houghton. He shares his plans for RGS's future with Voice readers

ASHLEY Down Primary School is taking steps to improve safety, reduce congestion and improve air quality outside its gates by proposing to join Bristol City Council’s School Streets programme.

The scheme, which restricts car use at the beginning and end of the school day, aims to make it easier and safer to walk or cycle to school.

Traffic in Olveston Road will be curbed for 40 minutes in the morning and 40 minutes in the afternoon, with only emergency vehicles, Blue Badge holders and residents with permits allowed access.

The road will become a walking, cycling, wheeling, and scooting-only zone between 8.30am and 9.10am and between 2.50pm and 3.30pm.

The council is consulting parents, staff and neighbours about the proposal. The deadline for comments is 5pm on February 17. If approved, the scheme will be introduced later this year.

Amy Sood, headteacher of Ashley Down Primary School, said: “We continue to encourage

Ashley Down bids to join School Streets scheme

into the routine of walking, cycling and scooting from a young age will help embed this with our next generation.”

Permanent School Streets schemes are in place at: Wansdyke Primary School in Whitchurch; St Peter’s CofE Primary School in Bishopsworth; Minerva Primary Academy in Hillfields; Whitehall Primary School in Easton; Redfield

Educate Together Academy in Redfield; and Victoria Park Primary School in Windmill Hill.

active travel to Ashley Down and can see the benefits this has to children and families in promoting exercise and reducing traffic congestion around school. The School Streets programme offers an opportunity to limit road usage around the school site and create safer pavements for our families to walk on.”

Councillor Don Alexander,

cabinet member for transport, said: “We are really ramping up our School Streets programme. School Streets help to reduce parking, traffic congestion, and air quality issues at the school gates, while improving road safety for children and their families.

“Our aim is to also encourage active travel, and getting people

Two other primary schools, St Bernadette’s in Whitchurch and Fairfurlong in Withywood are hoping to set up School Streets this year.

Cathedral Primary School and Bristol Cathedral Choir School in the city centre held a consultation late last year on setting up a School Street. A trial scheme is under way at Chester Park Primary in Fishponds.

Original Ashley Down Primary School proposed School Street

Foster carers urgently needed in Bristol

We have a shortage of foster carers and need more people in Bristol to come forward. Please help us keep local children close to their schools and communities.

Get in touch with us to find out what support, training and benefits we offer our amazing foster carers.

Foster with Bristol City Council and make a difference.

Safety first as volunteer Maggie is honoured

MAGGIE Partington has been given an award for her efforts in helping more than 400 children to learn about safety.

Maggie, from Bishopston, is a volunteer at Lifeskills Safety Education Centre at the Create Centre in Smeaton Road. Since joining Lifeskills as a volunteer in 2018, Maggie has completed over 100 safety tours for Year 6 pupils.

Lifeskills has been designed to replicate a village setting and is a unique attraction. In small groups, the children, who are aged ten and 11, take a guided, interactive tour of the village (set indoors) visiting different realistic scenes which include homes, Green Cross Road, a dark alley way, and a beach.

During the tour, children get to experience lots of common hazards and are taught how to handle risky day-to-day situations in a safe environment. They also practise making emergency 999 calls, discover and react to a house fire, carry

out first aid, and learn about the consequences of trespassing on a railway line – all made realistic with the use of props and special effects.

Upon receiving her reward, Maggie said: “I love volunteering at Lifeskills - it’s always a

highlight of my week. Working with the children and the other volunteers is so rewarding. It’s really energising to see the children get involved, learning so much that they will remember for years to come.”

Gemma Graville, centre

ADVERTISEMENT

manager, said: “Teaching children at this age and in such a practical way alerts them to the risks and consequences of everyday life. It’s a valuable element to their education, which means that school visits are always in high demand.”

“We know what we do makes a difference and saves lives; one child helped his family escape a house fire, another prevented a gas explosion, and a boy knew how to make a 999 call to help his mother. None of this would be possible with volunteers like Maggie.”

Lifeskills needs more help and is running hour-long taster sessions for anyone interested in exploring volunteering with children. Open during term-time only, Lifeskills offers flexible volunteering, pays volunteer expenses, and provides full training and support. To find out more, contact Amy WestonParkes on 0117 922 4511 or email volunteer@lifeskills-bristol.org. uk

I work therefore I am . . . adjusting to retirement

The major change Retirement is a major life change, a phase that can last as long as 2030 years, yet we spend more time planning for a wedding!

Around one third of retirees have difficulty adjusting to retirement. Planning for this time of life is based on financial needs, but not on the needs that make for better personal outcomes, such as how to,

• identify a new purpose and identity

• make use of time meaningfully

• keep connected and relevant

• maintain physical and mental fitness

The experience The positive buzz around retirement and expectation is so great, it can be hard to admit you’re apprehensive or unhappy. Just 5% of retirees experience positive changes in well-being on retirement. It is normal to feel anxiety, grief, emotional turmoil; this may not appear straight away.

25% of retirees have difficulties resulting in poorer well-being and mental health ( loneliness, stress, anxiety etc).

These are some common feelings from speaking to local people approaching, or in, retirement:

• ‘not sure who I am now and how to

describe myself’

• ‘my work is me’

• ‘what will I do without any hobbies’

• ‘no structure makes me feel I’m free falling ’

The good news It doesn’t have to be like this! Planning for the personal side of retirement has been found to improve wellbeing, contributing to a more positive and happy retirement experience. Non-financial retirement planning takes account of newly acquired time, supporting you to decide how you use it: experiences, relationships, conversations, making a difference.

Time is the most valuable asset of retirement; there are potentially many years ahead in this phase of life and creating a sustainable plan can be challenging but is an essential foundation for one of the biggest transitions in life.

If you have concerns about retirement, whether you've retired or are approaching retirement, contact me, Sian Jones, for a free 30 minute consultation. I'm a certified coach, specialising in nonfinancial retirement. Sian.Reclaim@gmail. com www.ReclaimLife.co.uk

Maggie Partington with Gemma Graville at the Lifeskills centre

Pet loyalty schemes

WITH the current ‘cost of living crisis’ we are all budgeting and being more aware of our spending. At the same time pet ownership, particularly dogs, has increased dramatically since the Covid pandemic. Sadly there are already reports of animal rescue centres having lockdown pups handed in as owners are no longer able to afford to keep them.

The cost of keeping a family pet is significant. In 2020 a report by the PDSA estimated the cost of owning a dog throughout its lifetime to be from £4,600 to £25,000 for a small dog ad for a large dog that increases to a range of £5,700 to £30,000. These costs included the cost of veterinary pet insurance but not the cost of vet fees should the dog become ill and in need of treatment.

Regular monthly costs for a small dog were estimated at £50 rising to £80 for a large dog to include food, vaccination, flea and worm treatments and insurance. This did not include unexpected veterinary fees, boarding fees, doggy day

care or walkers and groomers. No wonder we are now seeing lockdown pets being unaffordable. However help is now at hand with many veterinary practices offering loyalty schemes to help owners to spread the cost of routine care and to save money on their services. Schemes vary but essentially they are designed so that an owner signs up to pay a regular monthly fee which allows them to budget for the routine care of vaccination and parasite treatments.

At Animal Health Centre we now have our ‘Healthy Pet Club’ available to all existing clients to join for their cat, dog or rabbit and any new clients to the practice. The monthly cost depends on the type and size of the pet and ranges from £15.99 for cats and small dogs up to £20.99 for extra large dogs. In return for the monthly fee the pet is entitled to free annual vaccinations, free worming and flea treatments as recommended by the vet, a free 6 month health check, fixed cost dentistry, free nail

clips, 10% off all veterinary fees and services and 20% discount off neutering and a range of lifetime medications. If you move home, the scheme can move with you to another participating practice.

A pet health scheme is different from a pet insurance policy which covers unexpected veterinary fees for accident or illness. The health schemes help owners to budget for known costs and can even save them a great deal of money over the course of a year. We still recommend pet insurance for unexpected fees and the 2 systems dovetail together and complement each other well.

So do ask your veterinary practice if they have a scheme to help spread the cost of pet ownership, take a look at the benefits and calculate how much you may save, you could be pleasantly surprised!

Nicky Bromhall MRCVS Head Vet Animal Health Centre

Gloucester Road’s Independent Veterinary Practice

358 Gloucester Road, Horfield, Bristol BS7 8TP 0117 9247832

www.animalhealthcentre.org

n ADVERTISING FEATURE

We all know that nurses and carers worked valiantly to support our communities through the Covid pandemic, but are now facing huge financial challenges from the cost of living crisis. This has led to the first nurses’ strike in living memory in response to a low NHS pay offer. Many NHS nurses have recently come forward talking about how they can’t save money, pay into their pensions, and even have to use food banks.

Bristol Care Homes conducted a staff survey which showed the main worries of the team to be pay and the cost of living. The company has therefore decided to bring its annual pay award due in April 2023 forward to 1 January, awarding a 14% increase in base rates of pay across all staff roles.

‘We have brought forward our inflationary rise from April to December and made it significant enough that we will remain ahead of the national minimum wage by April 2023, with the vast majority of our team members paid at or above the real living wage’, says Richard Crocker, CEO of Bristol Care Homes.

Bristol Care Homes is

Bristol Care Homes brings forward pay award to support staff with cost of living crisis

well paid career, and will avoid staff shortages or excessive use of agency staff.

Other staff benefits included in the pay scheme are

- Up to £250 welcome bonus

- Up to £250 refer a friend bonus

- 10% enhancement salary rate on hours worked on weekends

- Time and a half at Bank Holidays

- Profit share bonus scheme

- Excellent induction programme

- Excellent training and development opportunities

- Career progression and development opportunities

- A wide range of holiday, retail and leisure discounts

- Employee assistance programme

- Cycle to work scheme

- Free meal when working +8 hours shifts.

committed to providing excellent lifetime care to residents. Two of its homes have CQC ‘Outstanding’ rating, whilst its resident fees

remain extremely competitive and good value. This staff pay award therefore ensures that working with the company is an attractive

Bristol Care Homes welcomes applicants to join its nursing and carer teams.

www.bristolcarehomes.co.uk

We are now enabling close contact visits in the home, every resident is able to have an essential care giver, and there is no isolation required for new residents from the community. We still have a varied activity schedule which keeps life interesting and happy.

at hand

• Safe face-to-face visits where possible

Bristol Central Library to stay in its present location

I was happy to learn that plans to move Bristol’s Central Library have been scrapped.

Many of you had written to me voicing opposition to this move. In my responses, I wrote about how much I love the Central Library. I use it regularly and I’m proud it is in my constituency, serving the people of Bristol.

The council is facing a giant hole in its budget. Plans to move the library were one of many ideas on the table to make cuts, but I am happy to see this specific recommendation has now been shelved.

We are lucky to have such fantastic libraries in Bristol, Central Library and smaller local branches such as Bishopston. If you've not been lately, do pay them a visit.

Anti-strike laws: a distraction from fixing underlying labour conditions

I was disappointed to see the government pushing ahead with anti-strike laws. This is an astonishing, desperate measure

by the government. They have undermined our public services over thirteen years, leading to chronic labour shortages. This means that there isn’t an adequate level of service on many non-strike days – and it is one of the reasons why our key workers feel pushed to take industrial action, because they are working in intolerable and often unsafe or inadequate conditions.

I will always support people’s right to organise, withdraw labour and take other industrial action for better pay and conditions.

The childcare sector needs serious attention and not sticking plaster politics

Several people in Bristol tell me they cannot find a childcare place or are being asked to reduce their child’s hours.

I was pleased to hear the government commit to treat childcare as essential infrastructure for planning purposes. But it is not just childcare for new developments which needs attention. There is already a shortage of childcare

provision in Bristol. I regularly visit local nurseries and I’ve heard first-hand how some are finding it extremely difficult to recruit and retain staff.

In December I wrote to the Children’s Minister asking what she will do to fix these problems which make life harder for working parents and entrench gender inequality. I’ll keep up the pressure.

Government mismanagement pushing our NHS to the brink

Over the last couple of years I have repeatedly sounded the alarm to government about long ambulance wait times and heard horror stories from constituents alongside tributes to the dedicated staff, struggling with a problem not of their making.

Whilst raising concerns with the local Ambulance Trust recently, senior managers informed me that “[the] whole health and social care system has been under sustained pressure for many months” and the “levels of delays are by far the highest levels seen in the Trust history”.

Years of governments ignoring these signs has led to a crisis now contributing to death and serious harm each week.

Clearly this needs a change of government – my Labour colleagues and I will agree a plan with the NHS to bring down waiting times and we will begin work on this straight away.

Thangam Debbonaire writes for the

Tackling the housing and cost of living crisis

A new year brings the same challenges for renters in Bristol. If you are one of the 130,000 plus people who rent their home in our city, you will know just how expensive it has become. In Bristol, renters typically spend over a third of their take-home pay on rent. Accompanied with sky-rocketing energy bills, extortionate childcare costs, and real-terms pay cuts, thousands of people here are struggling to make ends meet. This clearly needs to change. Our administration is working to tackle all aspects of the national cost of living crisis, from introducing Welcoming Spaces where people can access support and keep warm during winter to pushing the Government for a sustainable childcare plan, and working to make Bristol a place where everyone earns at least the real Living Wage. For more information visit bristol.gov.uk/ costofliving

Addressing Bristol’s housing crisis, including the cost of renting, remains one of our top priorities. Unaffordable rents are in part driven by a chronic shortage of housing – it’s one of the reasons why I was proud to announce that 2,563 homes were built in Bristol last year, far surpassing our ambitious target of 2,000 new homes, and with 90% built on previously developed land. Of these 2,563 new homes, 474 new affordable homes were built: the most in any of the twelve years since Labour was last in government.

This January, we’ve built on our work by asking councillors to commit to implement the findings of the One City Living Rent Commission. We set this commission up last year to look at how we could make renting in Bristol more affordable. Should it recommend a form of rent control (which would give us the ability

to cap how much rent is allowed to rise by each year), we will put our full weight behind making that a reality. Nationally, I have also been working with former Prime Minister Gordon Brown on proposals, recently announced by the Labour Party, to devolve much more power to councils and communities.

Councillor Tom Renhard, my cabinet housing lead, has brought a motion to council with provisions for the more immediate term. It will allow us to extend our crackdown on rogue landlords and letting agents by fining ones handing out illegal fees, have council officers look at ways to end the practice of ‘bidding wars’ between prospective tenants which price out the poorest, and commit the council to opposing the planned expansion of Right to Buy to include even more social housing.

If the commission

The Mayor’s View

recommends a form of rent control, our Labour administration will take it forward as another potential tool to help fix the broken private rental market in Bristol. We will continue to make the case for new powers, while building enough homes to ensure everyone can have a good-quality roof over their head.

Each month Bristol mayor Marvin Rees shares his views with Bishopston Voice

CHRONIC PAIN MANAGEMENT

James Scrimshaw of CUR A CLINIC AL explains how new technologies

are providing ef fec tive answers to people’s

CHRONIC PAIN MANAGEMENT

pain and suf fering

MBST : Hip & knee arthritis

MBST Cell regeneration: What is MBST?

James Scrimshaw of CUR A CLINIC AL explains how new technologies are providing ef fec tive answers to people’s pain and suf fering

Construction of MRI and MBST devices

death and cell reproduction.

- Optimising cell oxygen levels

- Improving Cell energy production

The results we’re seeing now in patients with varying injuries and conditions is really remarkable.

Susan came to me 8 months ago with severe hip pain which was diagnosed with Osteoarthritis 12 years ago! Pain was on sitting, walking, getting in/out of the car and turning in bed was very sore. She is keen to postpone/avoid surgery so we treated her with a hip cartilage regeneration course of MBST. The above photo was at discharge with a happy patient.

I’ve also just discharged Kate 5 months following treatment for her arthritic knees (she’d already had a half knee replaced). She’s now pain free… I anticipate these results will last a number of years.

She’s now pain free…

I anticipate these results will last a number of years.

- Optimising intercellular signalling pathways

- Reducing inflammatory mediators

MBST uses the same method of electromagnetic energy transfer as MRI scanning which is how it was discovered in Germany 20 years ago.

This translates to you and I as a healing process in the tissue the energy is applied to which leads to a reduction in pain and an increase in the natural mobility and lifestyle of the patient without any need of invasive

- Readjusting cell circadian clock-leading to less cell death and cell reproduction.

Since then it has been adapted, updated and improved to achieve remarkable results for patients with varying conditions such as: Osteoarthritis, muscle tears, Tendon /ligament damage and Bone injury in all areas of the body.

This translates to you and I as a healing process in the tissue the energy is applied to which leads to a reduction in pain and an increase in the natural mobility and lifestyle of the patient without any need of invasive therapy.

Obviously there are limitations of the effects relating to a number of factors such as severity and complexity of a patient’s case, however the technology is constantly being improved and we’re getting better at selecting the right patients and conditions in order to get higher success rates and better overall results.

It’s growing in popularity in the UK as a safe non invasive and natural way of tangibly healing our bodies and as more and more people are seeing that the results are actually for real it’s acceptance within the medical profession is also increasing significantly.

Obviously there are limitations of the effects relating to a number of factors such as severity and complexity of a patient’s case, however the technology is constantly being improved and we’re getting better at selecting the right patients and conditions in order to get higher success rates and better overall results.

Another fine response to MBST. I discharged Valerie 5 months after doing a course of cartilage regeneration for her knee arthritis. She’s gone from a 9/10 pain in the mornings to 95% improvement. Thank you for the testimony Val.

The results we’re seeing

Rob (above) is a great example of how MBST heals cartilage in a moderate to severe arthritic knee. 15 months after his MBST therapy he now runs, plays racket ball and golf without any pain and that’s without his braces. He’s recently done a course on his severe arthritic neck and has significantly less neck pain and improved mobility. Over the next 6 months I expect his condition to reach over 90% improvement.

without his braces. He’s recently done a course on his severe arthritic neck and after 3-4 months has significantly less neck pain and improved mobility. Over the next 6 months I expect his condition to reach over 90% improvement.

Knees were where I mostly started using MBST and I’m still seeing great results in 90% of the patients who are appropriate candidates for the therapy. I now also see a lot of spinal arthritis, shoulders, hands hips and ankles, really helping patients for whom there were few other options.

Jonathan Webb has seen great benefit from MBST for his patients

n BARBARA'S VOICE

I NEED help. I really do. I caught myself winking at strange men in a north Bristol supermarket on New Year’s Day. Winking and smiling at strangers as I eased a trolley from its shiny manacle. I was wearing lipstick and a dress at the time, which is very, very unusual for me; having spent the last 40 years scowling militantly in trousers and leggings.

I only winked at men who appeared to be alone and appeared to be between 60-80 years old. I do have standards and would only wish to be ageappropriate. No one actually winked back but I did get some small smiles, perhaps they were feeling sorry for this afflicted person.

So let’s spool back a day or two. New Year’s Eve is, without doubt, the worst day of any year, the day of looking back in anguish. Especially this New Year’s Eve, which featured horizontal rain and fifty shades of gravy for the whole of Bristol. While taking an extremely gloomy, solitary walk around the Clifton Observatory, my umbrella collapsed down over my head and face like a dying octopus making a last grab for life; its sticky-wet, yellow tentacles plastering hair down and smearing the lipstick.

Pulling the last suckers off my head led to the following cheerful thoughts: I’m 70 next year. What is the point of me? Why am I such a failure? What am I doing with my life? I’ll be dead soon. What is the meaning of meaning?

Barbara needs help this month. She is in 'goblin mode'

Went to bed at 9.30pm with a bah humbug and growled at the midnight fireworks.

The next day, woke up to a blue-skied New Year’s Day with the following thoughts: Hey, perhaps I do have another book in me!? This is the year to pump out that fantastic screenplay wot I wrote! I’m going to wink and smile at people to cheer them up! I’m full of energy for revolutionary change! Hooray, I have ‘re-found my juicy’.

The thing about goblin mode, which was picked as Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year as representing the ‘post’ pandemic zeitgeist, is that it is: “unapologetically and wildly self-

indulgent”. For some, goblin mode is the antithesis of social media’s curated perfection: it’s crackers and melted cheese scraped off the kitchen floor and eaten at 3am. It’s 24/7 joggers you pick the stains off with your fingers. It’s slobbing out and giving up.

Not for this superannuated goblin! Mine is creeping around the neighbourhood at night, picking up found treasures from the pavement while making strange, chuckling goblin noises, demonstrating magic tricks in the street, trying to be helpful, and doing all with an air of mischief. Smiling and winking is community-spirited goblin mode. It’s trying to bring back the fun

and hope to the dreggiest time of year.

Just to be serious for a moment, we know that the world’s issues are weighing heavily on us all, and I do believe that goblin mode can be, and has become, a 21st century version of collective sticking our heads in sand, along the lines of : “I can’t do anything so I’ll just give up and drink beer.”

I hope my motivations are different. I may be in goblin mode but I’m completely harmless and want to help people get active and engaged. So if you catch me smiling and winking over the cabbages on Henleaze Road or Gloucester Road, please do wink back and join our event below which I believe will help to raise your juicy energy and your community spirits!

• Barbara and Bishopston Voice

Editor Roger Livingston are running an online event called 'Find Your Juicy' on February 12 - short readings and a little creative writing to support and cheer you. We bring inspiring words - moving, funny, romantic and challenging - and invite you to find your juicy talents for 2023. Previous writing experience is not necessary. This is a `pay what you can’ event hosted by Lapidus International, one of the world’s biggest therapeutic writing communities.

Sign up here today: https://lapidus. org.uk/events-news/find-your-juicy

Clinic’s waste is turned into art

STAFF at a fertility clinic are offering waste and surplus items to Bristol Children’s Scrapstore.

The initiative at the Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine (BCRM) in Aztec West reflects the team’s desire to reduce some of the negative impacts that the healthcare sector has on the planet.

Karla Turner, who is spearheading the green campaign, said: “The whole team is reviewing day-to-day processes to see where it’s possible to prevent, reduce or reuse items.

“Although we are obliged to dispose of most of the clinic’s scrap items as clinical waste, we have identified several areas where we can reduce our contribution to landfill.

“We started off by collecting 10 days’ worth of non-recyclable items that would all have ended up in landfill - polystyrene delivery boxes and cold packs, pipette tip boxes, laboratory needle packaging and the metal rods that form part of the devices used

to freeze embryos – and were astonished by how much there was.

“So a very important move has been to forge links with the amazing team at Bristol Children’s Scrapstore who have said they can find a good creative use for the items we are discarding.”

Two of Karla’s colleagues, Jen Nisbett and Corrina Gibbons, have taken the project a stage further by creating a piece of craft-work entitled ‘Blastocyst’, featuring rubber bungs and the tubes in which needles for laboratory work are delivered.

BCRM helps people from throughout the South West and Wales with fertility treatment for both private and NHS patients.

Scrapstore, in St Sevier Street, is a reuse charity dedicated to helping businesses divert reusable waste away from landfill/ energy recovery to help improve art and play opportunities for children, young people and adults.

FROM YOUR COUNCILLORS

In Redland this month...

Budget

We reported on the council’s desperate budget situation last month. This year delays and uncertainties in government announcements have made the process even more fraught. Week by week the scale of the funding shortfall has fluctuated as numbers and allowances were issued late to councils by the government. It’s got a little better from earlier worst case estimates but our situation remains dire. After over a decade of austerity along with rising costs and escalating social service demands there’s huge pressure to make savings across all our council services. We are also legally obliged to set a balanced budget.

This affects everything from social care to parks and libraries, planning to potholes. The scale of cuts will inevitably be harsh.

By the time you read this column, however, the administration’s budget documents will be published. The draft will go to the Cabinet on February 7. A few days later the Mayor’s final budget proposals are published; that goes to the Full Council budget setting meeting on February 21 where the whole council makes the formal decision. In each case public statements can be tabled.

Urgent fostering appeal

Like many councillors we were glad to sign seasonal thank-you cards to send to foster carers in the city. There are over 750 children in care in Bristol but only 353 households

that foster. If you have space in your homes and in your lives for a child who desperately needs you, please get in touch. Call the fostering team for a chat on 0117 353 4200 or visit www.bristol.gov. uk/foster to find out more.

Cranbrook Road crossing

We know how impatient residents are at the slow progress delivering this project. We are frustrated that a further delay has emerged. The traffic island, to help children cross safely from Cairns Road on the way to school, has been held up. The consultation early last year led to a preferred design and this was being taken forward, albeit slowly. We understand that the design went for sign off but is now being simplified and we are trying to find out why things were queried at this late stage. We are doing everything we can to get the crossing implemented.

Promise of action on access

We regularly get reports of refuse and recycling services being unable to get down streets where corner parking obstructs access. Martin put this recurring problem to the Mayor recently and asked what can be done to improve access and road safety. We did previously have a promise to look at 'corner protection' [double yellow lines] to ensure access, safe crossing on dropped kerbs, and room to turn. After pressing on the issue that there should be better records the Mayor accepted that there needs to be better

In Bishopston this month...

It’s been an eventful start to 2023 but we have hit the ground running. January saw issues across Bristol with widespread groundwater flooding and sadly Bishopston and Ashley Down has not been exempt, with us calling in help for flooding on Downend Road and Muller. Emma continues to work with WECA and First Buses in finding solutions to the ongoing bus problems in Bristol, and has also been supporting parents through the process of applying for school places. But there has also been some good news as well…

School Street for Ashley Down

As we returned after New Year we got the best news: that Ashley Down School has been confirmed for a School Street! The community consultation opened on the 9th January and we hope it won’t

be too long before the street is implemented. We want to offer congratulations to the school and the teachers and parents that helped make this happen. We know that pupil safety is a priority and this scheme should go a long way to making the school gates safer at drop off and pick up times. You can learn more by visiting: Bristol School Streets - Travelwest

Trees for Horfield Common

The consultation for tree planting on Horfield common has now been completed, and we should be hearing about the next phase and planting dates soon, we want to thank Bristol City Council tree officers for all their hard work in moving this forward.

Local Plan Consultation

The Local Plan Consultation is now

information from Bristol Waste and there should be streets identified which can be prioritised for action. We hope that eventually this will mean essential and emergency services have better access when needed and bins are not missed week after week.

Village street cleaning teams

We reported how last year the street sweeping teams managed by Bristol Waste Company were being restructured into ‘village’ or area teams. These are meant to support teams that are familiar with looking after their patch and the problems that can be recognised when they come up again and again. We’re looking into how well this is working. Do let us know if you’ve any commentso.

Award for Community Garden

Congratulations to Lucy Mitchell for her New Year honour of a medal for work in our local community garden! Over a decade ago a muddy patch of allotment land was set to be transformed and it's become a thriving oasis of community allotments off Monk Road in our ward. Our former Neighbourhood Partnership gave a grant in the early days along with Lottery, Green Capital and other funds. Lucy has helped develop a whole range of activities for children, people with learning difficulties and local food growers. Thanks to hers and all the efforts of supporters, the Friends group, volunteers and a host of users - we're lucky to have

this in our neighbourhood. www. thegoldenhillcommunitygarden.com Help with cost of living crisis

We know that the cost of living crisis has hit many families hard, and want to help. A partnership with Family Fund and Children in Need to offer help with essential items and services for our family has been formed. They are working with Bristol Parent Carers to deliver this service, which you can find more about here: https:// www.familyfundservices.co.uk/ emergency-essentials/ Emergency

Winter Fuel Fund

Bristol Emergency Winter Fuel Fund is a dedicated pot of money distributed through an established referral system and trusted community partners, GPs and others, specifically to help people with their energy bills this winter. Ambition Lawrence Weston is serving as the holder of the Fund and groups in Lockleaze and other areas are taking referrals. A JustGiving page is open until April 1 for those who can contribute to the fund., Thanks to external support 100% of donations will be distributed. You can donate or find out more via: https:// bristolenergynetwork.org/

Contacts: Cllr.fi.hance@bristol.gov.uk. Cllr.martin.fodor@bristol.gov.uk Fi: 0117 3534720. Martin 0788 4736101 Facebook.com/cllrmartin.fodor or /cllrfi.hance

live and we would love for residents to add their comments to it. We had a really useful talk about it at the recent Bishopston, Redland and Cotham community partnership meeting and how vital public engagement is. There are at least two sites in Bishopston and Ashley Down earmarked for development through the local plan so we do urge residents to go and take a look and add any comments. You can see the online consultation version to be filled in at : https://www.ask. bristol.gov.uk/bristol-local-plan-2022

Silver Motion on strategic transport and design teams

In January Emma was delighted to second the Green Party motion on preserving the Strategic City Transport and Design team, after plans were revealed to move the team to WECA as part of the

budget savings. Moving the team would make it much harder for the council to deliver transport and highway projects and there was concern for what this would mean for the future. The motion passed and we hope this means that a lot more consideration will be given in future to protecting inhouse design teams to deliver the transport projects Bristol needs.

We are still holding our surgery at The Ardargh Garden Room on the First Friday of every month. However until March we are reducing hours to 4pm-5pm. We will review this change in March.

Contacts: Cllr.EmmaEdwards@bristol.gov.uk Cllr.LilyFitzgibbon@bristol.gov.uk

Facebook: @ EmmaEdwardsLilyFitzGibbon

Light up your life with Chandos trail

CHANDOS WINDOW WANDERLAND

January 28 & 29

IF you’re looking for things to do to alleviate the winter evening gloom, look no further - Chandos Window Wanderland returns for its eighth year on January 28 and 29.

It’s a family- friendly free event, where residents are invited to light and decorate their windows, gardens, cars, vans ... During light-up times (6-9pm), everyone is invited to wrap up warmly and enjoy a wander round the streets in the Chandos Road BS6 area, to hunt out and admire the varied, fun and inspiring displays.

The locations are marked on our Chandos event Window Wanderland map, available online at https://www.windowwanderland.com/ event/chandos-bristol-2023

This year’s theme is animals but even that is optional. Displays can be wildly creative or very simple. Strings of lights, pictures in the windows, garden displays, favourite toys or books on the window shelf, even a home disco, karaoke session or live theatre - anything goes, as long as its family friendly , and of course, the more participants, the merrier. We’d love to have whole streets lit up with fairy lights!

The idea for Window Wanderland started in Bishopston over nine years ago, and has now

Window Wanderland

Taking part is free but we encourage those who are putting up displays to sign-up on the Window Wanderland site so that their location gets on the map and their efforts can be seen. And there’s no charge for wandering round, though you might like to keep a bit of change handy for refreshments at a local store or hostelry.

cascaded out round the country and indeed, round the world. During the wander, it’s fun to share your favourite window sightings with fellow wanderers, and bump into neighbourhood friends.

This year, Chandos Neighbourhood Association has an online giving page in memory of our local landlord, Mark Farrell, who passed away this autumn. Mark opened his micropub Chums in Chandos Road in 2016 with the aim of creating a welcoming friendly space for a drink and chat with friends, excellent music sessions and quiz nights. Mark more than succeeded in his aim - Chums became a much loved community hub and its closure has left a huge gap in our neighbourhood. Mark was always generous with his time & skills to help with all our local community events including Window Wanderland, and we all miss him greatly. If you’ve enjoyed our Window Wanderland and wish to donate, please go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ chandosna All donations will go to the RNLI, Mark’s chosen charity.

Fiona McVey

“Beware of Earworms” warning from Bristol Operatic Society

This March brings a chance to see an “Ultra-poetical, superaesthetical” Gilbert and Sullivan musical.

This Spring, the Bristol Gilbert & Sullivan Operatic Society (BGSOS) is following up its 2022 success with HMS Pinafore by staging Patience: “The best Gilbert & Sullivan opera you’ve never heard of”.

The Gilbert & Sullivan operettas are an ancestor of the musical, and of all the G&S collaborations, Patience is the show where this is most clear. Composed directly after Pirates of Penzance and before Iolanthe, but a little less overtly “operatic” than either, Sullivan was at the very top of his comic-opera game and Patience is packed with whistle-worthy tunes. “You’ll go home humming something from the show, ” said BGSOS Chair Hannah Long, “be warned that Patience contains a lot of high-class earworms”.

WS Gilbert’s storyline mocks the nineteenth century Aesthetic Movement – it is sometimes claimed that the character of pretentious poet, Reginald Bunthorne, was based on Oscar Wilde. It sets a chorus of aesthetic maidens, smitten with a pair of rival poets, against a military chorus of cavalrymen, highly indignant at being abandoned.

But the wider theme is about the surface appearance that we all present to the world. The poets are only in it for the adoration, the maidens change their romantic allegiance at the drop of a hat, the blunt soldiers are well aware how sexy their uniforms look. Even the down-to-earth heroine, Patience herself, is persuaded to fall in love in the socially-approved manner. This theme – social image versus sincerity – is one that goes beyond its Victorian origin and resonates in any age.

“Today, Bunthorne would be a social media influencer and the regiment would feature in a Gareth Malone TV series” suggests Long “Our production doesn’t bring it quite that up-to-date but sets it in the 1920’s –which apart from anything else gives us a great sequins-opportunity!”

Patience will be showing at the Redgrave Theatre, Clifton, from 30 March to 1 April 2023 (7.30pm Thursday, Friday; Saturday 2.00pm matinee and 6:30 evening). Tickets are available from www.bristolgsos.co.uk or directly through the Redgrave Theatre.

WINTER is a great time to clear out and tidy the sheds and to get everything ready for the next growing season. We always put this job off off but it’s quite a therapeutic process once we finally get going. Around the base of the hedgerows there are already signs of spring plant growth which is lovely to see.

As well as having a good sort out, we’ve been continuing the never ending task of mulching but have also been raising the fruiting wires to ensure that next year's grapes will hang a bit higher up than before. We’re doing this because we want the grapes to have good air circulation around them and our new management technique allows for longer grass which means that sometimes the two can get a bit close for comfort.

Pruning is a good job to do on dry wintry days. We’ve got a real mix of ages amongst our vines at the moment so every section is treated differently. Older vines are pruned to maximise fruit production and younger vines are pruned to help them develop good roots so

that they’re ready for fruit production in the future. In the vineyard we’re always thinking of several years ahead!

For those of you that remember the still white wine we made using some bacchus grapes from Hereford. Our friends at Little Pomona Cider have just released a perry made using the same crop of grapes mixed with some Herefordshire pears. It’s called ‘To Boldy Go’ and has an amazingly soft and fruity flavour. Our friend James from Nania’s wines have made an orange wine in a can using this same batch of bacchus grapes as well. It’s really fun collaborating and working with other drinks producers to experiment in this way. Do go and try them!

hello@dunleavyvineyards.co.uk www.dunleavyvineyards.co.uk @DYvineyards (twitter) dunleavy vineyards Facebook & Instagram)

BRISTOL Women’s Voice, and a very dedicated team of volunteers, are shaking off the January blues and working together on the programme for this flagship event.

Not many free events in Bristol attract as many volunteers to support the programme, or as diverse a range of participants. This year’s International Women’s Day event will bring hundreds of women from different communities across Bristol together, to connect, learn and celebrate. More than 100 contributors and partners will be running workshops, performances, exhibitions, activities and talks in and around City Hall. Activity strands include health, nurture, poetry, music, film and photography, dance and visual arts. There is something for everyone, and we can provide support to help you get there via free public transport, a creche and translation services.

This year, the day-long event will also include an evening

International Women’s Day 'bigger and better than ever'

and other allies across the city to renew and strengthen their call for change. In supporting part of the Council’s answer to the cost-of-living crisis, they hope to mobilise a team of volunteers to run women-only time slots within the 70 city-wide welcoming spaces. The charity is also putting together a directory of all the services for women across Bristol into one place.

programme of entertainment, as well as a march through the centre of the city, so that women can show their support for one another and make their voices heard.

There’s a lot people don’t know about this small charity that packs well above its weight. Bristol Women’s Voice is run on a very tight budget by a staff team of five, all part-timers. In building their vision of equality

for women in Bristol, the work they do includes working with transport companies and the council to lobby for urgently-needed improvements in women’s safety on public transport in Bristol.

Bristol Women’s Voice holds the police to account and acts as a critical friend via the Women’s Independent Advisory Group. They support and work with women’s organisations, members

If you’d like to find out more or become a member, visit: bristolwomensvoice.org.uk

If you’d like to volunteer your services and help put on the International Women’s Day event, email: VTcoordinator@ bristolwomensvoice.org.uk

It’s women like you who make these things happen.

Bristol Women’s Voice

Photo: Mireya Gonzalez

Happening

by Annie Ernaux

Review by Bob Deacon of Bishopston Library

At the age of 82, Annie Ernaux, is one of France’s greatest living writers, having being awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1963, Annie was 23, unattached and pregnant. Born into a family of labourers and shopkeepers , she is the first in the family to attend higher education, being spared the normal fate of factory or retail work. She knows that the pregnancy will brand her and her family with the stigma of social failure and realizes that she cannot keep the child. In 1963, abortion was illegal in France, it was a crime until 1975 when it was legalized. Based on her journals and her memories, Happening is the chronicle of her abortion, a trauma which she was only able to write about, some forty years later. The author, confesses to only having a vague idea about abortion methods, gleaned from novels and local gossip. These included

the insertion of knitting needles, the eating of parsley stalks and partaking violent horse rides. She decides to find a local doctor to perform the abortion, but soon discovers their reluctance to perform a procedure, which could send them to prison and close down their practice forever. She decides to take the matter into her own hands, unsuccessfully inserting her mother’s knitting needle into her womb. In a state of despondency and helplessness, she visits a backstreet

abortionist, and five days later, painfully gives birth, in a university halls of residence bathroom, to a three month old foetus, with a university friend, acting as an improvised midwife. She suffers a haemorrhage, and ends up in a hospital emergency ward where she almost dies. This is a harrowing, powerful chronicle, illustrating the brutal, harsh and painful reality of a backstreet abortion. You can find a copy of this book in Bishopston Library. If you are not already a member, please come and visit your local library and sign up for a library card. You will then have access to over two million books, via the librarieswest website.

Opening Hours

Monday (1pm-7pm) Tuesday (closed) Wednesday (11am-5pm) Thursday (11am-5pm) Friday (11am-5pm) Saturday (11am-5pm) Sunday (closed)

01934 830 111 info@clevedonsalerooms.com www.clevedonsalerooms.com

February 11

n EVENING OF MEDIUMSHIP with respected psychic medium, David Bruton Saturday February 11th at 7pm Westbury Park Spiritualist Church, Cairns Road BS6 7TH Tickets £8 Tickets on sale at the church or contact Marian Bishop on 0117 977 1629 marianbishop@talktalk.net

14 February

n THE ARTS SOCIETY BRISTOL lecture on "Maritime Art and its use in war" is at 8pm at Redmaids' High BS9 3AW on 14 February. We welcome new members and guests. For more information on our lectures, given by specialists in their own field, see our website www.theartssociety-bristol.org.uk

18 February

n WESTBURY PARK QUILTERS Exhibition in St Peter’s Church Hall, The Drive, Henleaze BS9 4LD 10am-4pm. Special guest, international quilter Jan Hassard. Admission £4, children free, disabled access. Traditional and modern quilts, drop-in demos, tombola and charity raffle of WPQ-made ‘Rainbow’ quilt. ‘Pop-up’ café. westburyparkquilters.co.uk

REGULAR EVENTS

Monday

n REDLAND WIND BAND has vacancies for some woodwind, brass and percussion players. This friendly group meets 7.30-9.30pm at Redland Church Hall, Redland Green. Contact via email on redlandwindband@gmail.com

n TAI CHI & QI GONG. Weekly beginners / improvers classes with Tai Chi Body and Mind. These classes are for your physical and mental health and wellbeing –there is no fighting. In Person: Mondays, Fairfield High School, Alfoxton Rd. 7.30 – 8.30pm. Online: Tuesdays 6.30 – 7.30pm. Contact: Claire - Claire@taichibodyandmind. co.uk (07769 857672).

n DICKENS SOCIETY. 7pm, at Leonard Hall, Henleaze URC, Waterford Rd, Bristol BS9 4BT. Talks, costumed readings, book club and social events. New members welcome. See www.dickenssociety.org.uk or phone Roma on 0117 9279875 for further details.

n PLAY BOWLS at Canford Park in a friendly, social atmosphere.

Qualified coaches and equipment provided. Contact: Les on 07305695579

n WESTBURY AND CLIFTON AREA DISCUSSION GROUP are a merry band of retired people who meet at Westbury on Trym Baptist Church every Monday morning (0945) and like to challenge ourselves with topical debate on what’s happening in the worldnear and far. If you would like to join us and help to solve some of today's challenging issues whilst enjoying good company, tea, and chocolate biscuits - please contact James Ball 01454 415165 or Ian Viney 0117 9501628. We would very much like to hear from you.

n BRISTOL COMMUNITY GAMELAN play the music of Java at Cotham School from 6.30-8.30. We play by numbers – only 1-6, without the 4 ! So no auditions, no need to read music. If you fancy a different musical experience, contact us via email on keithripley27@gmail.com

Tuesday

n THE ARTS SOCIETY BRISTOL LECTURE welcomes new members. Our lectures, given by specialists in their own field, take place on the second Tuesday of the month from September to May at 8pm at Redmaids' High BS9 3AW and by internet. For more information on our lectures and other activities visit our website www.theartssociety-bristol.org.uk

n BRISTOL HARMONY WEST GALLERY CHOIR AND BAND are now rehearsing regularly again. We are looking for new members SATB as well as string, reed and wind instrumentalists. We sing and play lively church and village music from the 18th century. We meet at St Edyth’s Church Hall in Sea Mills on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month. No auditions but ability to read music is helpful. Ring Fritjof on 0117 924 3440 or see www. bristolharmony.wordpress.com. Please contact before attending so we can have music ready.

n POETRY UNLIMITED – poetry circle meet on the First Tuesday of every month between 11am - 12 midday. Room 1, Horfield Baptist Church, 279 Gloucester Rd, Bishopston, Bristol, BS7 8NY. Entrance is at the back of the church on Brynland Ave (opposite no.39). Please enter down the right hand alley way through the side door; the room is the first on the right. £2.00 donation towards the cost of the room. Bring a couple of poems to share, other poets or your own. Contact Dee: wetwo@ gentlyblown.co.uk Web: www. poetryunlimitedbristol.weebly.com

n COMPANION VOICES BRISTOL is recruiting new members We are a 'threshold choir' actively looking for new people to join us. We meet in Easton on the 3rd Tuesday of the month from 7 to 9 pm to learn soothing and uplifting songs by ear and build skills in sensitivity/compassion/ loving presence to sing at the bedsides of people nearing the end of life. To join or support us in this work, contact Valerie on bristol@companionvoices. org. Visit www.facebook.com/ CompanionVoicesBristol and www. companionvoices.org.

Wednesday

n BRISTOL SCRABBLE CLUB meets every Wednesday evening at 7pm until 10pm at Filton Community Centre, Elm Park, Filton BS34 7PS. New members welcome- first visit free so come along and give us a try. For further information contact Sheila on 01179570792 or 07435316458 or email shinett@blueyonder.co.uk

n HEALING SESSIONS run by accredited healers take place 2 til 3.30pm at Westbury Park Spiritualist Church, Cairns Road BS6 7TH. Just turn up, or for info contact Marian Bishop 0117 9771629 or visit www. westburyparkspiritualistchurch.org

n BRISTOL VOICES COMMUNITY CHOIR welcomes new members at any time. We meet at 7.30pm in St Werburghs Primary School during term time. See www.bristolvoices. org.uk for details.

Thursday

n HEALING FOR WELLBEING Feel more relaxed, peaceful, calmer. Drop-in 3.00 - 4.15 pm at Redland Meeting House, 126 Hampton Road, BS6 6JE. Donation basis. Supported by members of The Healing Trust. Contact: Selina 0117 9466434 or selinanewton@yahoo. co.uk.

n BISHOPSTON COMMUNITY CHOIR Meet on Thursday evenings, 7.30pm to 9.00pm at St Michael's and All Angels Church on Gloucester Road. Everyone welcome, no audition necessary. Contact us via email on bishoproadchoir@gmail.com

n HENLEAZE LADIES’ CHOIR Come and join us as we fill St Peter’s Church Hall in Henleaze with a diverse selection of music. We are a friendly choir and meet on Thursday afternoons in term time from 1.45 to 3.45. There are no auditions, and the ability to read music is not necessary. For more information contact Jean on 01179 624466 or Jane on 07752 332278

Send details of your events and activities in the following format:

in no more than 40 words: email us at: news@bishopstonvoice. co.uk

n LOCAL CHOIR ACTIVELY RECRUITING NEW MEMBERS. We meet at Stoke Bishop CE Primary School, BS9 1BW on Thursday, 7.45 - 9.15pm. We are a well-established mixed choir performing both sacred and secular music. See our website www.henburysingers. org or contact the secretary at secretary@henburysingers.org.

n HIGHBURY BADMINTON

CLUB: Pete Stables 0117 950 1524 or www.pete4458.wixsite.com/ highburybadminton Thurs 7:30pm mid September to End April, Westbury-on-Trym Village Hall

n OPEN DEVELOPMENT CIRCLE

For those interested in developing their spiritual awareness and mediumistic ability. 7.15 for 7.30pm start at Westbury Park Spiritualist Church, Cairns Road BS6 7TH. Just turn up, or for info contact Marian Bishop 0117 9771629 or visit www. westburyparkspiritualistchurch.org

n BRISTOL MALE VOICE

CHOIR are recruiting new members. 7pm - 9.15pm, St Andrew's Methodist Church, Elm Park, Filton, BS34 7PS. A varied repertoire, no audition. No need to read music - our regular practices will get you in shape to sing at our regular concerts and enjoy the social vibe. www.bristolmvc. org.uk email secretary@ bristolmvc.org.uk Telephone 07764447699.

n ENJOY SCOTTISH DANCING at St. Monica’s Oatley Hall, Cote Lane, BS9 3UN on Thursdays 7.30 – 10.00 p.m. £6.00 per session. Have fun, make friends, keep fit. Phone Trish 0788 052 8925/www. rscdsbristol.info

Friday

n CALLIGRAPHERS wanted to join us at St Edyth’s Church Hall, Sea Mills, on Fridays 1000-1200. We are a long established self-led group who would welcome new members. Come and meet us on Friday or call Peter at 0117 329 4516.

We would love to publicise your event

WHAT IT IS WHERE IT IS WHEN IT IS

With Dawn Lawrence

LAST month we visited the Avon Gorge to admire its handsome goats, its stunning scenery and its unparalleled variety of plantlife: it supports over 500 species, at least two whitebeams are unique in the world (Bristol and Wilmott’s) and two more plants occur nowhere else in Britain (Bristol onion and Bristol rock-cress). We are faced with the intriguing question of why it is so special; so let’s go!

The Gorge is carved by the River Avon through Carboniferous limestone. This rock produces an alkaline soil which suits a very wide variety of plants compared to, say, a sandstone with acidic soils which very few plants prefer. Also, the soil is not very fertile, and rather droughty. Although plants obviously benefit from fertilisers, intense competition arises and in richer soils tough grasses easily oust the more delicate plants such as rockrose and pyramidal orchid. The addition of artificial fertilisers will convert almost any soil type into a nitrogen green “playing field” sward dominated by perennial ryegrass. This is why so many of the plants that survive in the Gorge are now scarce. The rich plant tapestry of calcareous grasslands – kept in balance by low nutrient status - was once

to be found in almost every field on limey soil in our region. Now perennial ryegrass is dominant in grasslands everywhere. This is one of the saddest facets of our naturedepleted country – the severe loss of grassland diversity.

The Gorge has, of course, escaped the barrage of fertiliser (though most of the Downs has not) but its physical features also favour plant diversity. There are slopes facing in almost all directions, and features range from minute cracks through wide ledges to long slopes of shallow soil and rocky scree supporting everything from the tiniest annuals

to large ash trees. There is saltmarsh along the tidal river and a great expanse of ancient woodland on the shadier and deeper soils of the Somerset side.

But the Gorge has a combination of rarities unique in the world so why that extra star quality? This is the most exciting bit! We must picture the shivering end of the last Ice Age when plantlife began to creep north again as the ice retreated. A series of limestone outcrops facilitated the spread of our characteristic lime-loving flora into the southwest of England. These pioneers found in our Gorge the warmest, sunniest slopes enabling some species to reach their northern world limit here (eg Bristol onion and Bristol rockcress). As the climate warmed trees and shrubs followed, largely shading out those grassland plants which had not found rocky slopes to inhabit. At that point the whitebeams moved in and made themselves very much at home, creating an extraordinarily diverse population in our Gorge (and needing a whole article to themselves!). But, despite the lack of grazing, the human disturbance and the shading of large areas, our unique range of grassland and rock-loving species of the Avon Gorge cling on. I hope you get a chance to visit them soon.

Scan to get an instant valuation for your property.

the place for you…

5 Mervyn Road, BS7 9EL - £750,000

A HANDSOME Victorian semi-detached property, found along a sought-after road in Bishopston. Its location is made popular by its relatively quiet position. Popular local primary and secondary schools again are close by..

The property itself is beautifully presented throughout and benefits from off street parking, side access and a sunny but small south facing garden.

Internally the layout works well too and in brief is as follows; a useful porch gives access through to the rear garden and into the entrance hall which provides a generous and welcome first impression, running the width of the property. This central hall creates an efficient layout to the ground floor and gives the opportunity of a full width front reception. This impressive room is made even more so by the large bay window and tall ceiling heights. Also featured here is the wood burning stove and original character in the form of ornate ceiling cornice, a panelled door and sensitively built in storage.

A second principal reception is found the other side of the entrance hall, again a good size and accesses the side return section of the rear garden via a set of French doors. A corridor adjacent to the party wall leads to a useful WC and the kitchen /dining room which measures an impressive 23'10 in length giving plenty of space for a range of units and dining table - a perfect entertaining/family space. The upstairs layout reflects downstairs. Two bedrooms lead off the landing (illuminated by the original stained-glass window, restored and inserted in double glazed units). The master

making up the full width to the front of the property width built in wardrobes. The third double bedroom and a well-appointed family bathroom with a modern white suite are reached by a corridor adjacent to the second bedroom. A final flight of stairs leads to a fourth bedroom and access to loft space currently used for storage. The latter has a Velux window, installed when the roof was completely renewed about 7 years ago.

201 Gloucester Road Bishopston Bristol BS7 8BG Sales: 0117 942 5855

CREWS from Southmead Fire Station donated more than 750 toys to local families before Christmas.

Firefighters collected new or nearly new toys, making sure the gifts were clean and in good condition before wrapping and labelling.

The presents were delivered to charities for distribution: the Rainbow Trust, a charity that supports families with a child aged 0-18 years with a life-threatening or terminal illness; and Greenway Centre and The Ranch, which provides accessible community spaces for north Bristol residents. Toys were also given to disadvantaged families and children in care in Hartcliffe.

Staff at Southmead Fire Station said: “We were astounded by the response to our Christmas toy collection. Despite facing a difficult year, our local community in Southmead, including a local supermarket, were extremely generous and donated a huge number of toys in support of those who need them most.

“It was our pleasure to donate the gifts to The Rainbow Trust, Greenway Centre and The Ranch and disadvantaged families in Hartcliffe – we hope they’re well enjoyed by all those who received them. I’d also like to thank all those at Southmead station that have been involved in this collection – this tremendous effort couldn’t have been achieved without them.”

Stoke Lodge ramblers

WOULD you like to get some fresh air and exercise and meet new people? if so, why not come along and walk with Stoke Lodge Ramblers?

It is a small friendly group based in Stoke Bishop that arrange walks on Thursdays and weekends and caters for all walking abilities of the club members. Social and non walking activities are also on offer.

Two recent members who moved from Wales and joined the club said: “ We wanted to join a local walking group which would give us the opportunity to explore the area and to make friends. After being members for 15 months we have achieved both of our aims. We highly recommend this group for any potential walkers who enjoy walking in small groups."

Chair, Andy Renshaw, said: “ The club has been been in existence since 1983 and we pride ourselves on having established a strong, friendly walking club. New members are always welcome and are invited to come along undertake some walks with us with no commitment at all."

Visit the group’s website stokelodgeramblers.com for further information or contact Andy on 0117 950 0934 or Clive on 07775 905042.

You might be lucky and have a Song Thrush visiting your garden; they are less common these days. They are brown with arrow-head shaped spots on their breast. Their song is lovely and can be recognised by the groups of three or four repeated notes. Blackbird song is a continuous, undulating melody. Their larger cousin, the Mistle Thrush, is more likely in surrounding woodlands. It has a spotted breast too but the spots are more rounded. Their song can be heard from a considerable distance and is quite mournful hence its old name of Stormcock – a harbinger of bad weather.

In Winter, our resident thrushes are joined by Redwing and the larger Fieldfare from Iceland and Finland. You are more likely to see these in the fields, woodlands and larger parks around Bristol but a cold snap will bring them into the city looking for food; berries and

fallen apples being a favourite. Redwing and Fieldfare will form quite large flocks, sometimes mixed together unlike our native thrushes that tend to be more solitary. Check out their calls on the RSPB website.

Avonbirding.blogspot.com

Alastair Fraser Bristol Ornithological Club

Redwing (Keith Williams)

Fieldflare (Keith Williams)