South Bristol Voice

South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhoods: new traffic reduction measures 🚦

Drivers will be stopped from taking shortcuts through many residential streets in South Bristol as part of a new Liveable Neighbourhood project. Bollards and planters will be installed in certain parts of Bedminster, Southville and Windmill Hill, to reduce traffic next to where people live.

Transport bosses at Bristol City Council say the changes would “create a better balance” between how streets are used, making them safer, quieter and less polluted. The project is the second one in the city, with a similar scheme planned for Barton Hill, Redfield and St George.

A new public consultation will give locals the opportunity to have their say about what changes should be made to the roads across an area stretching from Ashton Vale to Totterdown. Close to the city centre, this part of Bristol has a high demand for better walking and cycling routes.

To read the full article go to page 3 of our August issue please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

Fancy a banging night out - grab your mates and head on down to St Aldhelms with a bottle for a good old sing song, to bring back all those school assembly days.
With delicious food from Salt and Malt

Raising funds for Foodbank so please bring a tin!
- School uniform optional

st.aldhems Salt and Malt

News from your local councillors 🧑‍💼

To read the full article go to page 9 of our South Bristol Voice August issue, please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

https://southbristolvoice.co.uk/2024/08/17/meet-the-heelers/

Meet the Heelers - South Bristol Voice “Bluey’s Big Play,” currently showing at the Bristol Hippodrome, brings the beloved characters from the Emmy Award-winning children’s TV show to life with an original storyline and new music. While the show successfully captures the charm and energy of “Bluey,” reactions have been mixed,...

Volunteers needed!

Are you a parent or grandparent? Local charity Home-Start Bristol & South Gloucestershire is looking for new volunteers who have parenting skills.

The charity supports families with under-5s across Bristol and South Glos who are going through tough times.

Volunteers are needed for home-visiting or to help at parent groups, for two to three hours a week.

The next volunteer training course starts on Thursday 26th September in Southmead.

To find out more, visit www.homestartbsg.org.uk, email [email protected] or call 0117 950 1170.

Secret Gardens event raises £4K 🧑‍🌾

The 2024 Bedminster’s Secret Gardens event in June was the 11th open garden weekend Blooming Bedminster has organised since 2009, and this year was the most successful event to date.

Over the weekend, a fantastic £4,000 was raised, which the organisers are offering to local gardening and environmental projects in the form of small grants.

If you are part of a group that wants to do something to make your community greener and more sustainable, you can apply for a grant of up to £300 to help. Perhaps you want to improve a green space near you, do something to increase biodiversity or organise a workshop with your neighbours?

To read the full article go to page 15 of our August issue please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

Welcome to our brand new Local Sports page!

This page highlights all sporting achievements, events and tournaments in South Bristol!

To read the full article go to page 19 of our August issue please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

Advice from a pharmacist with Ade Williams 🧑‍⚕️

Top tips for relaxation and refuelling this summer!

Life can be fast-paced and stressful, with tight deadlines, caring responsibilities, managing finances, and continual personal uncertainty. This can cause stress levels to rise, leaving you continually drained of energy.

Stress overload can cause physical symptoms like headaches, tension in the neck and shoulders, dizziness, fatigue and poor sleep. It also impacts mental well-being by causing increased irritability, low self-esteem, aggressive or defensive behaviour, poor concentration, difficulty in decision-making, and uncontrollable thoughts.

To read the full article go to page 14 of our August issue please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

They’ll only eat snacks!

"With the summer holidays upon us, I imagine you’ll be hearing a lot of, “I’m hungry, can I have a snack please?” Children will eat snacks all day long if we let them, but that isn’t going to help them to eat better or eat a meal when served.

It’s important to have a meal and snack routine in place. A routine will ensure that there is a supply of food throughout the day with enough time for the food to be digested before more food is offered but also to prevent a child from getting too hungry."

To read the full article from Sarah from Kitchen Titbits go to page 13 of our August issue please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

7-year-old sets up gardening business 🌷

Seven-year-old Zuko has set up a flourishing gardening business, enlisting his mum to post the ad he wrote on the local community page.

After offering to water gardens for £2, Zuko and his mum were surprised to find that many people reached out, asking for some help.

Zuko and his sister Cece (aged 10) have been enjoying travelling around the area and helping lots of people, with a variety of customers including the elderly or those less able to do manual labour and those simply too busy to tend to their gardens.

Could Zuko potentially be Bristol’s youngest entrepreneur?

To read the full article go to page 10 of our August issue please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

News from Bristol South MP Karin Smyth 👩‍💼

"This is my first time writing this column since people in Bristol South re-elected me to Parliament at the recent general election.

I want to start by thanking those who put their trust in me. It is both a privilege and a huge responsibility to represent Bristol South, and I am aware of that every day.

Whether you voted for me or not, I will continue to give everybody here a voice in Parliament.

This is undoubtedly a huge moment in our country’s history. I’m delighted that we now have a Labour government that better represents the values of people locally – a government that can deliver the change we need, and take action on the issues I have campaigned on as an MP."

To read the full article go to page 10 of our August issue please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

Ashton Vale Primary put on a show 🎭

Following weeks of hard work, Ashton Vale Primary School’s Year 6 leavers performed their own unique and excellent version of The Greatest Showman, with great confidence and pride in front of a hall full of parents and carers.

Set in the early 1800s, Ashton Vale reenacted this popular story of P. T. Barnum’s determination and limitless imagination as he rose from nothing to create the Barnum & Bailey Circus.

To read the full article go to page 8 of our August issue please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

Making creative waves 🎨

Catherine and Solomon, Creative Waves co-founders, met in 2022 while on a mentoring programme called GAP (Grassroots Activators Programme) ran by Grassroot Communities. As part of the programme, they were tasked with creating a small social action project from scratch.

They decided to host a free creative community event in Dean Lane Skatepark which, said Catherine, “was such a hit we were approached by Bedminster’s community development officer and invited to apply for funding to host more”. This is when Creative Waves was born.

To read the full article go to page 7 of our August issue please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

Bluey is coming! - South Bristol Voice Need something to do with your littlest people between 15th and 18th August? Why not take them to the Bristol Hippodrome and meet everyone’s favourite canine family when Bluey’s Big Play comes to town Bluey’s Big Play is a brand-new theatrical adaptation of the Emmy® award-winning children’...

https://southbristolvoice.co.uk/2024/08/09/bluey-is-coming/

Bluey is coming! - South Bristol Voice Need something to do with your littlest people between 15th and 18th August? Why not take them to the Bristol Hippodrome and meet everyone’s favourite canine family when Bluey’s Big Play comes to town Bluey’s Big Play is a brand-new theatrical adaptation of the Emmy® award-winning children’...

It is key that MPs recognise the needs of older adults.

On 2nd July, two days before the nation went to the polls, Age UK Bristol hosted an event with future MPs in the city to campaign for the rights of older adults in the city.

The ‘Tea with your next MP’ event at M Shed saw prospective parliamentary candidates Kerry McCarthy (Labour Bristol East), Carla Denyer (Green Bristol Central), Samuel Williams (Conservative Bristol Central), Representative for Dan Smart (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bristol North East), Ben Smith (Social Democrat Bristol North West), and Robert Clarke (Reform Bristol Central) meet with
local older people.

As our nation’s average age is predicted to skyrocket as a result of lower birth-rates and longer life expectancies, it is key that MPs listen to, and recognise the needs of, older adults.

To read the full article go to page 6 of our August issue please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

Every window box counts 🌻

2023 saw the publication of the State of Nature report on UK wildlife. It makes grim reading with one in six native animals, plants and fungi at risk of extinction. A good response is to make your garden more wildlife-friendly.

Back, front and community gardens cover 10-15% of Bristol. They are often the most productive with a wide range of trees, bushes, ponds and hiding places. Making them more biodiverse is a mixture of some key tasks and stopping certain activities. A key stoppage is the use of
chemical killers.

To read the full article by Ben Barker (BS3 Wildlife Grop) go to page 16 of our August issue please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/o9PErbVYpK6tr8fs/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Hundreds of specially trained public order officers will be in Bristol tonight to manage planned demonstrations in the eastern part of the city.

We’re aware people are planning to gather on West Street, Old Market from 7pm and while we will facilitate peaceful protest, we will not tolerate criminality of any kind.

Bristol Commander Superintendent Mark Runacres said: “There is a lot of speculation on social media about what is going to happen tonight and this has caused a lot of concern among our communities.

“To be clear, at this time we are only aware of plans to gather on West Street.

“We don’t have any intelligence to corroborate rumours that people are coming from outside of the city to demonstrate and we don’t have any intelligence to corroborate rumours anyone is going to march up Stapleton Road. It is vitally important people do not trust everything they read on social media.

“We saw a post saying we had issued a warning to the community but this is not true. We have not issued any warning.

“We recognise people are concerned and we have put a lot of work into keeping community and business leaders in the city informed and to dispel disinformation and misinformation online.

“We have hundreds of highly trained officers available tonight who are experienced in managing large scale events and incidents of disorder, some of these are being provided by other police forces.

“These officers will be supported by specialist resources from our mounted, dog and drone units.

“Like on Saturday, enhanced stop and search powers will be in place under Section 60 and Section 60AA of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. These will be in place in the area seen in the map below from 4pm today (Wednesday 7 August) until 7am tomorrow (Thursday 8 August).

“A Section 34 dispersal zone has also been authorised for the same area which will give officers powers to move on groups or individuals causing – or who are likely to cause – harassment, alarm or distress to others.

“I want to be honest with people, we do not know exactly how many people are planning to demonstrate or how they intend to express themselves.

“What I can say is that we will respond swiftly and dynamically to any incidents of disorder, should they occur, and will use all the powers and tactics available to us to maintain order and keep people safe.

“I urge people to let us deal with anyone who is violent, damages property or commits offences motivated by hate. We will not tolerate this behaviour and people can be reassured we will keep you safe.

“Those who engage in criminality, will be held accountable and will face the full force of the law.

“We have had a lot of people asking us to give advice on whether to open or close their business, whether to board it up and avoid the area.

“This is not something we would ever advise on. We will provide people with what we know and want be honest about what we don’t, to enable people to make their own informed decisions.

“Finally, I want to reiterate how proud we are to be able to serve all the diverse communities of Bristol.

“Many of our officers are from, or live and work, in the city and understand and appreciate its uniqueness and richness.

“Together, we will not let those who seek to cause unrest divide us. They will not win.”

🌟Competition Time! 🌟

Local postman and fellow Bristolian Colin Payne has just released his first book, an illustrated children’s story called ‘The Hiccuppy Puppy’.

Colin described it as, “A silly story about a puppy’s first experience with hiccups and his attempt to get rid of them using various methods leading to all kinds of mishaps.”

WIN! Two copies of the Hiccuppy Puppy to be won!

Enter now for your chance to win a signed copy of The Hiccuppy Puppy, worth £7.50!

TO ENTER: For your chance to win, simply email [email protected], putting the words ‘Hiccuppy Puppy competition’ as your subject line, and tell us the answer to the following question:
Q. What is the name of Colin’s eldest child?

The closing date is midnight Friday 9 August 2024. PS! Don’t forget to tell us your
name, address and contact details!

New community hub for East Street!

Last month Share Bristol officially opened its new Library of Things location, at the entrance to St Catherine’s Place on East Street, Bedminster. This provided a welcome boost to East Street, but now the previously empty shop is going to host a lot more activities, which will be free or low cost for any young people or adults wanting to get out and about more.

Share Bristol is now looking to employ a part-time Community Hub Coordinator, and is seeking organisations who might want to deliver activities from the Hub or people who might want to volunteer. You can find out more at: www.sharebristol.org.uk
or contact them at: [email protected]

To read the full article go to page 5 of our August issue please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

Everyone at Redcatch Community Garden is deeply saddened by the loss of their “beloved and gentle Alfie cat” who has passed away.

Alfie was not just a cat, but a cherished member of RCG. His presence brought joy and comfort to everyone who visited the garden and he will be dearly missed by all.

In honour of Alfie’s memory, RCG will be having him cremated and returned to the garden. “We also plan to create a beautiful memorial carving of him to remind us of the love he brought to our community. Rest in peace, angel Alfie. You will always hold a special place in our hearts,” said Kate Swain, CEO, RCG.

If you would like to contribute to Alfie’s aftercare and memorial, you can donate can via: www.redcatchcommunitygarden.com

Welcome to our brand new Local Sports page!

This page highlights all sporting achievements, events and tournaments in South Bristol!

To read the full article go to page 19 of our August issue please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

Bristol South Pool needs volunteers on 28 July 🏊

Friends of Bristol South Pool will be volunteering again on Sunday 28 July, from 10am to 2pm. Why not join the team then to continue painting the main railings outside on Dean Lane and by Dame Emily Park?

The team will also be planting in the main tubs outside to keep sprucing up the local area. All materials will be provided. Please do pop along, even if for an hour – every little helps!

If you can’t make it on 28 July, consider going along to help out on the last Sunday of another month instead between the same times, eg 25 August.

Join the WhatsApp community to stay updated: tinyurl.com/SouthBristolPool

What's on this August? 📅

To read the full article, go to page 8 of our August issue.
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

Now that school’s out for summer, why not go out and explore many of the lovely things to do in and around South Bristol.

My family would recommend a park tour - take a picnic and start at one park. After an hour, move to the next local park, and have a snack and play, before repeating the process and rating your favourite parks. We managed 11 parks in South Bristol in one day a few summers ago and it makes for a fun, low-cost day out.

We look set for some sunny days, so go and enjoy it and keep watching the skies – we can’t wait to see some more hot air balloons prior to the International Balloon Fiesta (9-11th August) at Ashton Court.

Businesses rally to help beat holiday hunger in South Bristol.

A BRISTOL-based Community Interest Company is calling on businesses to join their mission to support families in need in Bristol, unlocking 6,000 more places for holiday support.

Since setting up in 2016, Community of Purpose has worked with some of Bristol’s best-known businesses to support thousands of young people from across the city region.

Their Break Free programme offers the chance for children from disadvantaged backgrounds to receive hot meals outside of term-time, keep active and nurture friendships, strengthening their social skills and self-esteem.

For more information and to discuss supporting Community of Purpose and its projects, please get in touch with the team at [email protected]

To read the full article go to page 19 of our July issue please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

Bristol Bike Night raises £4k for charity 🏍️

JUNE’S Bristol Bike Night at Fowlers Motorcycles attracted hundreds of riders and raised a whopping £3,950 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

The charity was chosen by Jamie Cox, who works in the company’s Internet Sales Department and is personally affected by the condition.

The next Bike Night will be held on Friday 5th July 5.30pm-8.30pm. Free entry. No booking required. Fowlers Motorcycles, 2-12 Bath Road, Bristol BS4 3DR (10-minute walk from Temple Meads Station) www.fowlers.co.uk

To read the full article go to page 15 of our July issue please follow the link below!
https://issuu.com/southbristolvoice

Sports teams, we want to hear from you! 🫵

We are creating a local sports page from next month onwards, so if you are part of a local club, please make contact with us so we can share your highs and lows with the
rest of South Bristol.

If you are interested in being showcased in South Bristol Voice on a monthly basis, please send us an email to [email protected]