8 Aug

Seed The Day Festival in Castle Street on Saturday 7th September

seed the dayBridgwater Town Council took a big step forward in their work on the climate crisis and voted to hold an Eco festival in the towns historic Castle street to be called ‘Seed The Day’ . The ‘Green’ Festival came as an initiative from the last Climate Change Forum and  will take place  on Saturday 7th September from 10am to 5pm. Entry is free and everyone is welcome. The event is being organised by Climate Change Portfolio Holder Cllr Li Gibson (Westover).

Seed the Day

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Cllr Li Gibson

Cllr Li Gibson added “Not only will the event bring a vibrant and dynamic street fair and indoor market to the town it will also explore issues around climate change and investigating greener living,  sustainability and diversity. There will be  bustling indoor and outdoor markets with stalls, offering delicious plant-based hot street foods from around the world, deli foods, cakes, chocolates, fermented drinks, wine and ethical eco-products. Find out more about local and national charities working to improve the environment and protect our wildlife. A program of talks and demonstrations will be running throughout the day. The historic Bridgwater Arts Centre will host a bar and hot drinks cafe on the day raising much needed funds for this fantastic space. Local musicians will be  performing throughout the day on the outdoor stage . Come along, share ideas and join in the fun. Any positive action on climate crisis needs to come from the grass roots. Everyone needs to be involved as we’re all part of this.”

seed the day

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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