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CITY NEWS
CITYNEWS
TIME TO GET WED
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Small marriages and civil partnerships can now take place for up to 30 people, where this can be safely accommodated with social distancing in a Covid-19 secure venue. Government guidelines stipulate that post-wedding ceremony celebrations sh ould only take place in groups of up to two households indoors, or up to six people from different households outdoors.
With these restrictions in place and many restaurants remaining closed, couples are struggling to find a way to
LEISURE AT LUCKNAM THATCHERS
Thatchers – the family run cidermaker based in Sandford, Somerset – has been making cider for four generations. Their latest offering, Thatchers Cloudy Lemon Cider, is a naturally cloudy Somerset cider balanced with the zing of lemon. The 4% lightly sparkling cider uses sweet dessert apples including Braeburn, Gala and Red Spur, giving it a crisp, sweet taste that’s finished with a refreshing zing from the ju ice of real lemons. Jonagold apples help give Thatchers Cloudy Lemon its natural cloudiness.
Cidermaker Martin Thatcher says, “We’re looking to be bold and different with Thatchers Cloudy Lemon and bring some zest into cider. We know cider drinkers are always looking for celebrate following their ceremony. Heritage Park Weddings are offering couples a post-wedding picnic in a private area within Parade Gardens, The Botanical Gardens or Royal Vict oria Park, so couples can celebrate with a glass of prosecco with a small group following the guidance above and with outdoor space to social distance.
Fiona and Mike recently got married in the Guildhall and then enjoyed a picnic in Parade Gardens on the bandstand with one other household and enjoyed scones, cake and sandwiches.
heritageparkweddings.co.uk
Lucknam Park has announced a programme of imaginative experiences for families to reconnect. The country house hotel is surrounded by 500 glorious acres of beautiful gardens and unspoilt parkland, perfect for creating treasured memories.
With space in abundance, parents can enjoy quality time with their children away from phones and computer screens and join a range of interactive games and sports. Kids ca n blow off steam with aerobics and musical statues on the lawn, before taking part in a fun run down the tree-lined drive or an outdoor musical obstacle course. Others can test their navigation skills with orienteering, discover creepy crawlies on a nature trail or run wild with den making or hunting for fairies in the woods.
Guests can also take their pick from countryside cycling, woodland walks, falconry , archery, croquet, five-a-side football and cricket, before relaxing in the grounds with a picnic hamper filled with
seasonal gourmet fare. lucknampark.co.uk
something new and exciting.” It has a recommended retail price of £5.50 for four cans and is available in Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons, Tesco and Coop. thatcherscider.co.uk
Photo by Freya Steele Photography
FIELD DOCTOR
Recently launched exclusively in Bristol and Bath, field doctor.™ brings you the UK’s firstever range of nutritionally supercharged meals that deliver a range of health benefits including supporting your immunity and gut health. With r ecipes created by registered d ietitian Sasha Watkins and chef Matt Williamson, field doctor.™ offers science-led meals that future proof long-term wellness and taste amazing.
Pioneering a new approach to food, field doctor.™ follows the latest nutritional science, with ingredients selected for their nutritional properties and health benefits, and then turned into delicious meals designed to improve health. The field doctor. ™ range includes 11 meat, fish, vegetarian and vegan dishes. You can select three health benefits on the website – such as brain, heart or immunity – and will then see the recommended dishes that will support them. The dishes are quickly heated in a conventional oven or microwave. Meals are delivered direct to customers’ doors, priced from £6.75 for a single portion and £9.95 for a meal for t wo.
T he Bath Magazine readers can take advantage of a special 20% discount. Use discount code fdlife20 when purchasing from the field doctor.™ site. fielddoctor.co.uk
TWO NEW LAW FACES
South-west based law firm Mogers Drewett have made two new appointments across its Corporate Commercial and Private Client teams in Bath.
Dominic Shard joins the Corporate Commercial team from London based firm, BDB Pitmans, where he specialised in insolvency and distressed M&A. He brings a wealth of experience advising company directors and insolvency practitioners on the sale and purc hase of businesses in financial difficulty. D ominic’s appointment marks a move to provide commercial clients with specialised support during a challenging period of change.
The Private Client team has also welcomed solicitor Hannah Welbourn who joins from law Dominic Shard firm, Royds Withy King. Hannah’s expertise includes trust formation and management, tax planning and estate administration. Her role strengthens t he team’s offering as it supports its clients throughout the pandemic and beyond. mogersdrewett.com
FABRIC REFITS
Anna Fraenkel of Anna Design specialises in soft furnishings and her expertise in fabrics and understanding of how they work in the interior is unparalleled. Her latest venture has been to experiment with upcycling fabrics, giving them a new lease of life. Products include denim jackets with embroidered toile de jouy, an embroidered waistcoat made from a black daisy print cotton cardigan, a brocade jacket made f rom curtains, and an upcycled woollen jumper. annadesign.uk
HOME CLEARING CLUB
GET AN INTERIOR REFRESH
Interior designer Has living in lockdown made you want to
thegirlwhosimplified.com Catriona Archer believes that interior design should be accessible to all and needn’t cost the earth. Working with a broad range of budgets she is able to reimagine and reinvigorate your interior space and furnishings. Her design services include half-day consultations, one-day makeovers to complete home renovations –creating interiors that reflect your style and the way you w ant to live.
She is now offering remote interior design consultations as well as face-to-face meetings following social distancing and safeguarding measures. catrionaarcher.com
THE PRIORY’S BACK
The Bath Priory is offering a range of alfresco activities for trail and treasure hunt and garden games including croquet and boules, will keep all ages entertained and picnic hampers, full of delicious goodies, allow family and friends to come t ogether and dine alfresco.
The Priory’s new executive head chef, Jauca Catalin, is a familiar face because he started his career with The Bath Priory over 10 years ago and he is relishing being back in the kitchen. His most recent position was as executive head chef at sister hotel, ABode Canterbury.
Special offers include Champagne gift sets for overnight summer stays and overnight packages for the family, in cluding guided tours of Bath. thebathpriory.co.uk
have a serious spring clean? Somerset mum Tanya Slater works with people to help them declutter their homes so they can thrive elsewhere in their lives. Her business, The Girl Who Simplified, is a result of Tanya clearing all the excess in her life after which she felt able to tune into her body and reclaim her identity. She then applied this proces s to the life coaching tool, The Wheel o f Life with eye-opening results. Tanya’s work is usually carried out face-to face where she guides her clients through their house decluttering. During lockdown she came up with the idea of an eight-week online course to declutter, clear and gain clarity. Within 24 hours, Tanya’s Home Clearing Club was full, and she had a waiting list. Clients have found that they are able to reclaim their identities, grow in confidence and set b oundaries in work, family life and relationships.
The next Home Clearing Club is on 3 August, an eight-week online programme for women who run their own businesses, at a cost of £250. those staying overnight or visiting for the day. The nature
HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE?
Would you like to deepen your connection with your partner, intensify your feelings and let your two hearts become one? Then try one of the delightful rituals at Two Hearts Intimacy. These luxury boxes –Loving Intimacy and Sensory Intimacy – contain items which form
part of the rituals and three golden envelopes detailing the step-by-step rituals that will bring you and your partner clo ser together.
Dr Andy Quinn, the owner of Two Hearts Intimacy – who was married for 35 years until his wife Jacqui was taken by pancreatic cancer in 2018 –explains that there are four main types of intimacy: physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. He says that we need to nourish each of the four intimacy types equally, otherwise our character and relationships will be unbalanced, and the boxes will help couples to do this and guide them on their learning journey. twoheartsintimacy.com
Spotting the true value for money in broadband
With providers continually vying for attention with record speeds, latest deals and the prolific misuse of the term ‘fibre’, cities such as Bath are bombarded by broadband. An industry largely dominated by who can shout the loudest, what’s best for the consumer in terms of actual value for money, is often lost in translation.
From packages to providers, making sense of the bits and bytes of broadband can seem like an impossible task. But equipped with the right knowledge, it’s easy to spot what delivers the best service and value for money when it comes to broadband.
Understanding the small print
With a plethora of ‘latest broadband deals’ continually up for grabs, it’s easy to take them at face value. Tempted with fast speeds or low-cost options, these services are often over sold but under deliver.
Opting for the fastest speeds or lowest prices might seem the most obvious options, but they’re not always the smartest. Paying for a 500Mbps package isn’t a good move if you only get close to those speeds at 3am when no one else is online. And at the other end of the price spectrum, a £20 a month deal isn’t such great value when the connection continually cuts out and causes constant frustration.
Don’t be fooled into going for the most obvious option. Ask your provider if they can deliver the advertised 500Mbps speeds around the clock, or if they only provide average speeds. Without checking, you could end up paying for a top notch for speeds you don’t actually receive.
Bandwidth or speed?
Everyone talks about broadband speeds. Of course, they’re an important measure for broadband. But at peak times, with everyone on their devices, speed alone won’t get you very far: bandwidth will.
Think of bandwidth as the road or motorway: at rush hour, when there is a lot of traffic congestion, the number of lanes available will impact how fast the cars – in this case your broadband network users – can drive. Having enough bandwidth is like having the fast lane all to yourself – you can speed along happily without all those frustrating stop/starts. By contrast, if you have insufficient bandwidth to cope with all the other users on the digital highway, you will get shunted into the slow lane.
So a broadband provider might claim to offer 500Mbps speeds, but if your network doesn’t have this bandwidth capacity available, then it simply won’t be able to reach those speeds.
Beware fake fibre
What many people don’t know, is that there are two types of ‘fibre’ broadband, which although advertised using the same term, deliver very different results.
Full fibre, also known as fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) or fibre-to-theproperty (FTTP), gives every property its own dedicated connection. Providing the property with the same, guaranteed speeds around the clock.
Part fibre, also known as fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) has a fibre cable running to the cabinet, and is then split to service multiple properties. Because the fibre has been split between lots of properties it creates fluctuating speeds particularly at peak times when everyone is trying to use the service. Commonly, it’s advertised using it fastest potential speeds, but is based on ‘average’ or ‘up to’ speeds which fluctuate hugely.
Truespeed’s a full fibre promise
At Truespeed we only provide full fibre, no property ever has to share its connection and is why we can guarantee our speeds. With your own dedicated connection right to your door, you get the bandwidth you need 24/7.
Our network is future-proofed and will last for generations, as our service is equipped to offer speeds up to 10Gbps. Once our infrastructure is built, that’s it: we can remotely increase speeds at any time. This means, unlike other providers, we won’t need to dig up roads in years to come and will easily handle all your online needs no matter what the future holds.
Value for money today and tomorrow
While you can certainly find cheaper inferior broadband services elsewhere, more and more people are realising just how important guaranteed speeds and ultra-reliability are to their daily lives. And how full fibre offers value for money and stops you wasting valuable time on spinning wheels and dropouts.
Knowing your online needs are taken care of for years to come, is the best piece of mind and value for money you can possibly get. And the great news is, Truespeed is rolling out its network in Bath. So, to secure your place in the digital fast lane, simply visit
www.truespeed.com
ocl A C C O U N TA N C Y
141 Englishcombe Lane, Bath BA2 2EL Tel: 01225 445507 www.oclaccountancy.com
Selling your business in the most tax efficient way
When a limited company’s business is being sold, usually the buyer will prefer to purchase its assets rather than the company’s shares. The main reason is that in buying the company’s shares, the buyer is taking on the history and potential liabilities - the skeletons in the cupboard - as well as its assets. This could include old tax liabilities arising from errors in filing, even if innocent. It’s possible to get guarantees and indemnities from the selling shareholders and directors, but these can be hard & costly to negotiate and to recover against.
The problem is that if only the assets are bought, the selling shareholders are in effect taxed twice on the sale proceeds; the company will be taxed on the profit it makes from selling the assets (and these can include the name, goodwill, contracts and client base) – and then shareholders will be taxed on the funds when taken from the company.
If alternatively the buyer can be persuaded to buy the shares, the shareholders will only be taxed once on receipt of those funds – and this can be at a special rate of 10%.
The tax position should be factored into the price negotiated for a business but rarely does a buyer fully compensate the seller for the effect of this double taxation. However, depending on their plans, a seller can mitigate this tax hit.
Instead of taking the proceeds from the sale of the business in one hit, the shareholders could take dividends from it over more than one tax year – and possibly pay income tax at a rate lower than the 10% special Capital Gains Tax rate achievable from the ‘one hit’ solution. If the shareholder’s overall income remains below the higher rate threshold they would pay a maximum of 7.5% tax on the dividend income.
Also, if the shareholders are involved in the business, they could use some of the proceeds to pay pension contributions for themselves & these would reduce Corporation Tax otherwise payable.
For tax saving tips contact us – call Marie Sheldrake, Tom Hulett or Mike Wilcox on 01225 445507
Call Marie Sheldrake, Tom Hulett or Mike Wilcox on 01225 445507 to arrange a no-obligation meeting
HOW TO MARKET YOUR SERVICES MORE EFFECTIVELY
Marketing your own services takes more an avatar, a website, or a good slogan. Many self-employed professionals struggle to get results, because they only work on odd pieces of the puzzle. There are 3 areas to master in creating a comprehensive marketing approach. They are: YOU, your CLIENTS and your MARKETING.
First, let’s help you master your own psychology. YOU are at the centre of your business, and if don’t have an empowering belief system, an engaging purpose, or a clear uniqueness, then it’s hard to optimise results. That is the first area I work on with my clients to help them operate with ease and flow.
The second area is to clearly identify your CLIENTS and build empathy. Who is the smallest viable niche you want to serve? It's hard to come up with a sharp campaign, if you're hitting multiple audiences with multiple services. Next, empathise with them, understand their emotional needs, and make your intangible service tangible. Clients must grasp what exactly you do and how you help them. So get clear on the process & the actual transformation they will get when working with you.
The third area is YOUR MARKETING. Your strategies must suit your personality. If you are not comfortable executing them, you’ll procrastinate. Remember, the best marketing strategy is the one you will do consistently & effectively! In building a top-ranked firm marketing 6 coaches, I've learned that everyone's got their own genius, their own style, and their own appeal. Find yours and you'll have more fun marketing yourself. Try to copy others and you'll be lost in self-doubt.
These 3 areas will create a holistic marketing approach. Working on YOU will solidify the way you represent your brand.
Empathising with your CLIENT will help you create an engaging brand story. And selecting MARKETING strategies that suit your personality will make marketing fun for you.
If you want a fresh perspective about your marketing approach, let’s have a talk. I’d love to connect with you.
I help dedicated selfemployed professionals create a comprehensive marketing approach in only 3 sessions, so they can reach their dream life without wasting time and money.
Find out more about The Brave Zone at www.thebravezone.com or book an Initial Discovery Session to get fresh perspectives for your business.
Email her at cynthia@thebravezone.com
Cllr Dr Yukteshwar Kumar
Senior Lecturer, Politics, Languages & International Studies, University of Bath and Liberal Democrat Councillor for Bathwick
The scale and impact of Covid-19 on our societies and communities will have far-reaching consequences – more prolonged and profound than the 2008 financial crisis.
Even affluent Bath, generally protected from the severity of past economic downturns, is being hit. Yet Bath remains more resilient than most cities and is ready to rise to the challenge.
B&NES Council has recognised that Covid-19 related costs, combined with a fall in tourist income, left an unpredicted £53 million hole in this year’s budget. Central gove rnment has n ot been able to provide the level of support needed for the council to continue to provide usual services. The council administration are making seriously hard choices, but I am proud that the residents I speak to support this administration in putting the needs of our most vulnerable residents, particularly the elderly, as a top priority.
To-date all redundancies have been voluntary both in the council and the university, and I’m relieved at the offer both organisations have been able to make staff wanting to exit.
Nearly one in four universities in England were in deficit before Covid-19. While this included the University of Bath (an income of £309.8 million in 2018–19, with an expenditure of £354.2 million), the university benefits from substantial growth and has made investments based on r obust, sustainable financial plans.
Like many British universities, Bath relies heavily on tuition fees. Unlike others, Bath is not planning to have all lectures online next term, and its admission rate remains high. I’m optimistic that a hybrid of live classes and online sessions can help balance some of the tensions between residents and our student population.
The University of Bath contributes o ver £350 million to the l ocal economy each year. This money is needed to keep our shops open and our city thriving. Yet the disruption to residents from the increase in students has led to some resentment. So I welcome the innovations made in online learning giving a chance to mitigate against future disruptions.
Summer is upon us, and the skies have become bluer. Hopefully, we will build on lessons lea rned during the crisis t o permanently reduce traffic and air pollution, with more people working from home instead of driving to an office.
I am so grateful for the responsible and supportive attitude of the vast majority of B&NES residents. This has meant that Covid-19 related casualties have been significantly lower here than other counties. My ward of Bathwick has been incredibly fortunate, having no Covid-19 deaths. I believe a vaccine will be forthcoming; tourists will return to Bath, and our streets will be clean again, but we need to continue with the inspirational work I’ve witnessed in communities coming together to support each other. I urge us all to stay positive, combat this challenge collectively, and take care of each other. n
James Freeman
Managing Director of First West of England
In the 46 years that I have worked in the bus industry, I never thought I would see the day that we had to tell our customers not to travel by bus! Yet the buses have continued to run, providing essential links for people.
As the lockdown starts to ease, particularly with the reopening of pubs, cafés and r estaurants, we have started to see people wanting to travel again. Thanks to the government support scheme for bus operators across England, our buses are ready.
I don’t know anybody for whom the lockdown has not meant enormous adjustments. For bus operators it has been no different. We had to respond at very short notice to the massive drop in passenger numbers, down (in just three weeks) to j ust e ight per cent of our pre-Covid patronage.
Almost overnight we established a core service to ensure bus travel was there for key workers across the region and transformed our fleet of buses to follow social distancing. The repeated re-writing of schedules and timetables has been a huge undertaking – we have had seven full-scale network changes in just over three months.
Through it all, our bus servi ces have kept delivering, a lthough our customers must now wear face coverings and the normal 75-seat double-decker has been reduced to just 20 spaces. We are seeing signs that capacity on buses will soon be increased back to 50 per cent of normal passenger numbers, a great improvement for routes that use single deck buses.
It is only in challenging times like these that you learn what you can achi eve. Thanks to our drivers and support staff we h ave been able to keep our buses running for those who need them. People have come together and adapted, super-quickly, to new ways of working.
For bus travel, these moments of innovation are quickly becoming a catalyst for change. It’s hard to imagine that public transport will return to how it was pre-Covid for both passengers and operators. In the last few weeks we have i ntroduced state-of-the-art technology so that with the First Bus mobile app, passengers can track the location of the next bus and see the number of seats and wheelchair spaces available. This supports social distancing and signals a major step forward in how customers plan their journeys.
Here in Bath, with support from the West of England Combined Authority, we are getting ready to pioneer the UK’s f irst trial of an uber-style booking system. It is one of the ways we are looking to give more autonomy to the customer and make buses one of the smartest ways to move around Bath.
There are challenges ahead. As we come out of this crisis, our task is to reassure people that public transport remains a safe and viable option. One of the most striking (and enjoyable) aspects of lockdown was the absence of traffic on our roads. A s we approach the introduction of Clean Air Zones in Bath and Bristol, our buses need to be front and centre of mobility in the region, if we are to achieve these sustainable transport goals. And here at First West of England, we are ready. n • firstgroup.com
Janet Dabbs
CEO Age UK, Bath and North East Somerset
If you’d asked me four months ago if our staff team could have shipped out of our office in Kingsmead Square and our clubs in Bath, Keynsham and Midsomer Norton and decamped to their kitchen tables, bedrooms and still managed to support thousands of older people I would have said it was impossible.
...But it’s been done and I’m immensely proud of them, they have been so flexible and committed to make life a little more bearable for older people.
It’s been a very challenging time for older people – not only in B&NES but all over the UK – and as a staff team it’s been hard listening to stories of people being acutely lonely, bereaved, depressed and scared, but we’ve managed to deliver almost daily support over the telephone, delivered hot meals, conti nued offering information and advice, including benefit c hecks, and in a number of cases still go into homes where older people need extra support.
One of the highlights was the VE Day Singing Bus which took out Spangle who sang to as many people as she could, along with delivering positivity packs which included puzzles, scrumptious cupcakes, games and bubbles to improve lung capacity. We started our Ga rden Chats in June, which have b een a lifesaver to so many and we are planning to take these through the summer and into the early autumn.
Our youngest volunteer, six-year-old Scarlett initiated the pen pals project, and we now have a number of young people who’ve joined in writing to older people. We’ve over 100 brand new volunteers on top of our original 200 which means we can support even more older people.
N ext week we will start to deliver our on-line dementia club, which wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our Click Café volunteers who have been connecting people to wifi and explaining how to use equipment, which is not always easy over the telephone. People are desperate to get back to ‘normal’ and we’ll be opening our clubs as soon as we can. Supporting older people to use technology was a lways in our plans, but it has never been so vital and our main focus is to give older people the skills and equipment they need to be connected with the things that are important to them. n • ageuk.org.uk
“Supporting older p eople to use technology ha s never been so vital and our main focus is to give older people the skills and equipment they need” Jo Dolby
Hub Leader at Oasis, Bath
When lockdown first hit, things got weird pretty quickly. I remember hearing a few people comment that it was like being in the middle of one of those apocalyptic movies, minus the Zombies and Aliens!
When we think of the word ‘apocalypse’ we think of the end of the world, but in the Christian tradition it means something very different to this. Apocalypse comes from two Greek words, apo, which means off, or a way from, and kalyptein, which means cover or conceal. So a better meaning of the word apocalypse is to uncover or reveal something, particularly something that was there all along but just hidden.
I think Covid-19 has revealed lots to us all, things that perhaps we had forgotten or been unable to see. To me, Covid-19 has revealed the resilience and strength in our church community, and our ability to ada pt. We went almost instantly from meeting every week in our building to not being allowed to meet at all. Since then we have provided practical help to each other through WhatsApp groups and met weekly with the wider Oasis network for a short online church service called the Global Gathering.
Covid-19 has also revealed the inequality in our society. We may have all been in the same storm but we certain ly h aven’t been in the same boat. Experiencing lockdown in a high-rise tower block flat is very different compared to experiencing it in a detached house with a big garden. Along with some other great charities in the city, we’ve been able to support those struggling to afford food and working in partnership with others to start a food parcel project, which has been providing a weekly food parcel to around 5 0 families.
For us, we’re still thinking through what this ‘new normal’ might look like and we’ll need to maintain a more substantial online presence, even without restrictions. We’ll keep doing all we can to support those in poverty. That’s why we’re opening a food pantry project in September for families on low incomes, which will provide great quality food for a fraction of the normal cost. I hope we’ll walk more, shop local and i ndependent, value our friends and family in a deeper way, know our neighbours and keep working together to help those in need.
It wasn’t the end of the world, but let’s hope it’s the start of a much better one! n • oasisbath.org
Professor Ian White
Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Bath
Universities have been profoundly affected by Covid-19. It has dispersed our student community so that online learning has become paramount, closed research laboratories, forced us to suspend extracurricular activities and caused many staff to work remotely.
Some students have not been able to return home and a smaller campus community has been created, causing us to think again about the nature of our learning environment. While the campus has been opening up over the past month, the impact on the university will last for some years.
The move to online teaching may prove to be one of the most memorable aspects of Covid-19, because of the rapid c hange that took place. Within 48 hours of lockdown, in excess of 5,000 hours of online teaching and learning had been viewed by our students. Just weeks later, almost 30,000 pieces of assessed work had been submitted online, with student engagement at comparable levels to previous years. Their commitment and fortitude has been so impressive.
This did not mean that there was no individual cont act. P ersonal teaching continued. The transition did show how online delivery is clearly feasible in a flexible and interactive manner, and how universities need to ensure the right combination of timetabled and flexible teaching to give students the best possible learning environment and choices.
We are preparing to welcome new and continuing students back in the autumn. Our programmes will be availabl e in b lended delivery – a mixture of in-person sessions in Bath, live online sessions, and pre-recorded online material. This new form of teaching could mean that incoming students need new digital skills and support and we have been acutely aware of the challenges disadvantaged students face in terms of accessing the relevant technology.
Some of our academics are using their public health expertise in a dvising government at senior levels. Others have c ontinued to work on important research related to Covid-19. Physicist Dr Jim Stone from our Centre for Photonics and Photonic Materials is working with a team on a rapidresponse project to find treatments for Covid-19 by building innovative optical devices that can access the deepest chambers of the lungs.
I have been pleased that the university has be en able to offer its facilities and expertise in support of local people and organisations. Our staff and students have produced more than 100,000 pieces of Personal Protective Equipment, such as face and eye shields, for the RUH. We have also been providing free accommodation for NHS workers. Finally I have joined the new Economic Renewal Partnership, led by B&NES Council, which aims to build confidence in our area as a safe, sustainable and green place to visit, study and work. I t is vital that we pull together at this time, given the scale of the challenge that is ahead. I am delighted that we have already begun to play our part in this future. n • bath.ac.uk
Sue Rigby
Vice Chancellor of Bath Spa University
When everything changes, organisations change too – they do it fast and look back amazed at the transformation and the confidence that this has brought. This is what happened at Bath Spa University when we locked down in March.
Within a week, we took all of our teaching, from conservation bio logy to stage c ombat, online. We worked with our students, our academics and our professional staff to make every module possible when we couldn’t meet faceto-face. Our library staff shipped books all over the country while our IT team delivered laptops and other kit to students and staff locked down in the region. In early July we held our exam boards – our profile of graduating success is exactly where it s hould be.
N ow we are looking forward to welcoming our new and existing students back to Bath in the autumn. We are keeping some online teaching that worked better delivered that way than face-to-face, but bringing back things we missed, like seminars and the use of our specialist facilities.
Our library will still be a knowledge hub and we will make sure every student has what they need, but we will als o start m aking things again, doing fieldwork and allowing our students to socialise and learn together. It isn’t easy – many of our students didn’t want to go home (and a few probably didn’t enjoy having to stay on campus). We have lost months of our lives to Zoom meetings and wrangling over how to produce online end-of-year degree shows. We probably ate and drank too much to keep us going, but we know w e can d eal with whatever is thrown at us, with agility and good humour.
We are passionate about the need to move forward from the pandemic, and not try to return to the old way of doing things. Our staff and students want a greener, more sustainable future and one that is inclusive and supportive to all. We were making progress on these ambitions before lockdown, but now they are at the top of our agend as.
We are working with Bath College to help people in Bath and North East Somerset to reskill if they lose employment, and to support businesses to change their focus and upskill their staff. This Restart programme will be run for free, because it is necessary, and we are supported by a brilliant group of employers and charities who are guiding our delivery. The council have promised us the use of empt y retail s paces, and we are using the College Community Hubs too.
The Bath that emerges from lockdown is going to need all of us to pull together, to deliver the future we want and to rebuild our economy. I know that Bath Spa University will be on point to support the region and to enter the autumn as a highly effective community of learners and makers. Though maybe some of us will be going cold-turkey o n chocolate. n • bathspa.ac.uk
EDUCATION NEWS
KINGSWOOD JOINS MASS EFFORT
Kingswood School have joined with other local independent schools in a mass effort to make more protective visors and distribute them around Bath to GPs, care centres and the RUH. Volunteer pupils and staff helped assemble visors, which went to both the ICU in Bath and to nursing and elderly care centres.
A group of teachers also made washbags and scrubs for NHS staff and Emma Brown, Head of English, helped sew washbags for the NHS o ne of the school’s parents enlisted her company to donate 200 surgical face masks to a large NHS practice in Bristol. In memory of the first doctor to die from Covid-19, a Year 13 student edited two videos of an original song Dare We?. The project has already raised nearly £2,500 for the NHS. One of the school’s houses also organised a sponsored 1,000 mile challenge to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE day during lockdown. The school community raised nearly £2,500 for Help for Heroes and Shine Bright Support. kingswood.bath.sch.uk
KES RUNS FOR NHS HEROES
In June 175 students from KES set out to complete the #KESruns4NHSheroes challenge, an event which included running, walking or cycling 10km to raise money for the NHS. The event was organised by pupil members of KES MedSoc (Medical Society). The team, which started with only 10 participants, grew into an un-matched team; from the youngest member, Ettie in Year 1, to the headmast er Mr Boden, along with numerous other pupils, teachers, families and alumni. The school smashed their target of £1,000 and to date have raised £6,047 for the Covid-19 Urgent Appeal. kesbath.com
HAYESFIELD RANKS TOP SCHOOL
Hayesfield Girls’ School has been named as the best state-funded secondary school in Bath and North East Somerset by the Real Schools Guide for the second year running.
The guide is published nationally each year and aims to give a more comprehensive picture of a school’s performance than traditional league tables. It takes into account 51 different data points, including GCSE results, attainment 8 scores, P rogress 8 (the progress a pupil makes from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school), pupil-teacher
ratios and absence rates.
Headteacher Emma Yates said: “Having an impressive set of examination results opens the door to a future full of exciting possibilities and we are exceptionally proud of our young women’s achievements.” hayesfield.com n
