1 Aug

Bridgwater Town Council August Meeting Takes Forward Progressive Agenda

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Bridgwater Mayor Cllr Tony Heywood chairs the meeting

Bridgwater Town Council at it’s meeting tonight pushed forward with it’s progressive agenda to  tackle Climate Change, take up Transport issues, promote Culture and Diversity , engage with the Economy and to further reach out into the wider population with grants to youth, community, the environment and heritage. The council passed draft motions on Single Use Plastics, opposed Fire Service Cuts  and set up a Multi-Agency Liaison Group with the Police to tackle issues raised across the town. Town Council Leader, Cllr Brian Smedley and Deputy Cllr Kathy Pearce (both Westover) agreed after the meeting that council was ‘keeping its promises, sticking to its manifesto, engaging with the public and moving forward’.

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22 Jul

High Scoring Drama in Bridgwater-Syria Soccer Re-Match

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Smedley in action/inaction as goal number 1 looms

In October a scratch Bridgwater International squad took on a team of locally based Syrian refugees on the town’s new Northgate astroturf and won in a close 4.3 finish with world class  team captain and man of the match, Cllr Smedley, scoring the winning goal. And writing this article. It was time for a re-match. So when better than during the weekend of Quayside Festival and Bridgwater Twinning Week. This time the game would be in Taunton but the competitiveness was in overdrive-despite the rather more ‘basic’ facilities on offer at the St Georges Catholic Primary School.

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1 Jul

‘Standing Up Against Bullying’ at The Engine Room on July 6

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Anna from the Engine Room

Anna Niedzielska from Bridgwater’s Engine Room has organised a public event to highlight the problems of and responses to the issue of ‘Bullying ‘  with the backing of community Group ‘Bridgwater Together’. The event would take place at the Engine Room in Bridgwater on 6th of July  from 11am to 5pm. The aims of Bridgwater Together are to promote & celebrate diversity within our (Bridgwater) community, to facilitate equality and community empowerment and assist towards removing barriers preventing equality & equal access to opportunities and facilities, to engage people in the diverse cultures, which exist in the Bridgwater area.

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24 Jun

On This Day in History: July 12th 1990 the Victoria Anti-Poll Tax By-Election

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July 12th 1990 and Labour wins the Victoria By-Election with the backing of the Anti Poll Tax Union

In 1381 the Government brought in a ‘Poll Tax’. The people rose up, formed a peasants army, stormed London and executed the ministers responsible. Here in Bridgwater they did the same, storming the houses of the guilty, destroying the bond papers that held feudal Britain together (or at least the poor in their servitude) and dragged out the poll tax collectors, placing their heads on spikes on the town bridge. You’d have thought they wouldn’t be doing that again in a hurry. But they did. In 1990 Margaret Thatcher’s Tories had been in power for 11 long years and, having ‘changed the face of Britain’ (to their benefit) now wanted to put the final nail in the coffin of socialism  and decided a poll tax was just what was needed. The people fought back. And here in Bridgwater we fought back too.

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17 Jun

Bridgwater’s First Climate Change Forum Launched at Town Hall

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Ecologist Jamie Kingscott with Climate Change councillors Li Gibson, Julie Cordiner and Glen Burrows at Bridgwater Town Hall

The latest Community Forum set up by Bridgwater Town Council was launched today and is to focus on Climate Change. Chaired by Cllr Julie Cordiner (Victoria) and assisted by Cllr Glen Burrows (Eastover) and Executive Portfolio Holder Cllr Li Gibson (Westover) the Forum met at Bridgwater Town Hall and was attended by members of the public and set out to develop a Climate Change Strategy for Bridgwater. Key speaker at this inaugural meeting was ecologist and wildlife release co-ordinator Jamie Kingscott from Secret World Wildlife Rescue, described by Cllr Cordiner as being ‘on the frontline of climate change’. Recommendations from the Forum will be taken forward by the Climate Change group of Town Councillors and put to the full council.

In the interests of openness and transparency  a full report of the meeting is recorded below. Continue reading “Bridgwater’s First Climate Change Forum Launched at Town Hall”