23 Nov

South Bridgwater Pantry celebrates two years of fighting food waste and tackling hunger

Hamp Councillors Leigh Redman and Liz Leavy with South Bridgwater Pantry in background on Rhode Lane

On Friday, 25th November, the South Bridgwater Local Pantry celebrates two years of fighting food waste and tackling hunger. One of six pantries dotted across the county, the South Bridgwater Local Pantry opened its doors for the first time two year ago.  Now, the pantry now has fifty members, an increase from the original thirty and has helped 183 households.  Many of these families have gone on to support themselves or into paid work. Cllr Leigh Redman (Bridgwater, Hamp) was a founder supporter and fellow councillor Liz Leavy (Mayor of Bridgwater) are long standing volunteers. Leigh says  “With the dissolvement of SDC, Hamp Community Association (HCA) are looking to take the pantry on, we already operate as a bank for them, holding and generating cheques, we hope they can be a sub committee off of the community association. The pantry in South Bridgwater is based in Hamp and run by Becky & Terri, two amazing local ladies who volunteer to keep the service running.”

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17 Nov

Bridgwater Aid Lorry to Leave for Ukraine This Saturday

Lorry bound for Ukraine ready to leave Bridgwater

Bridgwater people have been inundating the Town Hall with donations for the latest Ukrainian relief lorry which will leave from the town this Saturday 19th November taking much needed supplies to the frontline of the war with Russia in Kharkiv. Town Council Leader Cllr Brian Smedley says “We have been overwhelmed by the generous response from the people of Bridgwater. But we expected this. We now ask for a pause in donations  to thew town hall as we see how the situation develops over the winter period. The people have been bringing sleeping bags, torches, medicines, thermals, coats and gloves by the bag load and we’ve stored them at the Town Hall throughout but now they’re ready to go, and that’s directly to the people who need them in the newly liberated areas of Ukraine. We’d like to thank everybody for their generosity because we know that Bridgwater people share this common decency and sense of solidarity. especially in the face of the horrors that have fallen into the lands of the Ukraine.”

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14 Nov

Red, Black and White – Poppies Unite

Poppies, like people, of many colours

Remembrance Day is a big date on the civic calendar. First observed in 1919 it was designed to commemorate Armistice Day -11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, in 1918 when the guns ‘fell silent’ at the end of the Great War. Of course the guns never fell silent and the Great War just became known to history as the ‘First World War’ soon to be followed by a ‘Second’ and thereafter by many more to this very day and probably beyond. At Kings Square in Bridgwater well over 100 people attended what is always a crisp sunny day to lay wreaths of red poppies on the cenotaph, listen to ‘Jerusalem’ , the ‘Kohima epitaph’ and the ‘last post’ followed by a lowering of banners, a bugle call and a raising of banners ready for the next one. The square is always full of youth in uniforms upon whose shoulders ‘the next one’ will fall. But if you look closely at the King Square monument this year you won’t just see red poppies you’ll also spot a couple of white ones and  newly laid, for the first time ever, a ‘black one’. What does this all mean?

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4 Nov

Bridgwater Together Saturday 12th November 2022

Bridgwater Together-a room full of flags

Bridgwater Together is now an annual feature of Bridgwater’s Community Events . Organised by the Bridgwater Together committee led by Michal Puzynski from Poland and Vivyan Rybertt from Chile, the project is sponsored by Bridgwater Town Council, Somerset Diverse Communities, Somerset Film, Fuse performance, HPC Community Fund, UNITE the Union and Bridgwater Trades Union Council. The event was staged in Bridgwater Town Hall. In the Charter Hall, there were a range of talks and in the main Hall 26 different stalls from community groups, live music on stage and food of any nations served up from the kitchen. On top of this, Somerset Film had a room set aside for filmed interviews and there were even people offering Covid jabs plus a special room dedicated to Prayer (not related). Several hundred people passed through the Town Hall during the course of the day which ran from 11am to 3pm.

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4 Nov

Bridgwater History Day 2022 set for Saturday 19th November

The historic Bridgwater Arts Centre in historic Castle Street will be the scene once again for Bridgwater’s popular annual ‘History Day’ where several local historians will pick a topic from the town’s history and present it to an audience who not only get free entry but get a free lunch. Organiser, Town Council Leader Cllr Brian Smedley, says “Bridgwater people are justifiably proud of their history.  This will be seventh history day we’ve run and with 7 speakers a year that’s 42 talks on Bridgwater History we’ve got through and always with a packed room. As usual there’ll be some historic food done for us by Purplespoon and this year there’s an additional ‘cider’ theme to the event. The Day runs from 1030 to 4pm and it’s free. Everyone’s welcome, our history belongs to all of us.”

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