Bridgwater Town Council has welcomed the long awaited go ahead for works to install lighting to Bridgwater’s Town Bridge which will start next week (Monday 30th July). This architectural lighting will be programmable to change colour for different times of year and for different events etc.Works on site will take five working days to complete by 3rd August. There will then be a period of commissioning and programming which will take a week or two.
A Sedgemoor Spokesperson said “The scheme is one of the projects within the Bridgwater Town Centre Support scheme, supported by CIM funds from EDF Energy.An official launch will take place later in the year when the nights are drawing in. ” Continue reading “Town Bridge Finally to get Lit Up”
It was only a few years ago that the Bridgwater Cultural Partnership was set up in the wake of the Big Bash Festival in the town’s historic Castle street and people basically said ‘This is what we want’. Bridgwater Town Council has set aside £7,000 funding for the last two years to help make it happen. Even more funding came in from Sedgemoor and through a CIM funding bid. What we have today is the Quayside Festival which will be held this year on Saturday July 21st . An exciting free outdoor arts summer festival for Bridgwater, Sedgemoor and Somerset and celebrating local culture and diversity with national, international and local performers, artists and musicians.
Organisers, Fuse Performance, are creatively producing a professional programme of extraordinary performances in the Town Centre of Bridgwater for all the family to enjoy.
Diogo Rodrigues and Emma Rathbone at the Tourism Forum launch event
At a well attended meeting packed with positive energy and enthused with a ‘can do’ spirit, Bridgwater Town Council and its partners launched their new Tourism Forum, inspired by presentations from UWE students entitled ‘Thinking Big in Bridgwater’ and a talk by sales manager of the new Mercure Hotel, Emma Rathbone, which described tourism as a major opportunity for the town to ‘up its offer’ for both tourists and residents alike.
Town Council Leader, Cllr Brian Smedley, said afterwards “The meeting was a great success. The architecture students used Bridgwater as a template for their ideas and came up with some great solutions which shows that people can be inspired by our town and think outside the box. The Mercure is one of several hotels that have recognised the renaissance occurring here in Bridgwater and this gives us the perfect opportunity to create things for the influx of tourists to do in the town and at the same time establish a legacy for the people who live here. Bridgwater is a creative town and we need to build on our Cultural Partnership, our heritage offer and our abundance of waterways and we’ll create a very special offer for a Bridgwater of the immediate future.”Continue reading “Bridgwater Tourism Forum Launched”
Every year for the past 3 years Bridgwater Town Council has sponsored a week to celebrate the 5 international twinnings that we have with France, Germany, the Czech Republic,Malta and Italy. This year Twinning week is launched on Saturday 26th May at Bridgwater Library where there will be a permanent display throughout by all the Town Twinning Organisations which will be launched at 11am and will finish on Saturday 2nd June with a ‘Talking Twin Towns’ event where people can drop in and chat to the people involved.
On Saturday 2nd June there will also be a major event at the Bridgwater Arts Centre from 7.30pm. The evening will feature entertainment by the globe-trotting ‘Voice of the People’ choir and a singalong with the ‘Dave the Milkman Big Band’ plus on stage presentations by the 5 twinning groups, an Internationalist quiz and a Portuguese finger buffet provided by Bridgwater’s new Mayor Diogo Rodrigues. All this, which includes free entry in the raffle, will come to £5 and tickets can be bought on the door.
Internationalism, youth and promoting tourism are some of the priorities of this year’s Mayor. Cllr Rodrigues, Bridgwater’s youngest ever Mayor at 28 and Britain’s first Portuguese Mayor launched his term in office by visiting students at Chilton School where a dozen Portuguese students were there to meet him along with a group of students elected to serve on his new ‘Youth Council’ project designed to enthuse young people with a sense of civic involvement. Diogo followed this by a trip to the Czech Republic where he took part in an international funding conference in Bridgwater’s twin town of Uherske Hradiste and visited the Portuguese Embassy while he was there. For a full report click here.
If you would like to find more about Bridgwater’s twinnings and how you can get involved drop in at the Library during the week, come to the Art Centre event on 2nd June or take a look at the twinning website here.
After a weekend of uncertainty and pressure from all sides, Bridgwater’s Eastover Post Office has been given a stay of execution and has re-opened with everyone involved pledging to work together to maintain the service.
A Post Office spokesperson, said: “We are pleased to announce that Bridgwater Post Office has re-opened this morning with a temporary Postmaster at the same location, the branch had been temporarily closed since Saturday. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the temporary closure, which was beyond our control. We have worked hard to restore service to the area as quickly as possible. We are also looking for a permanent solution. The vacancy is advertised on our website https://runapostoffice.co.uk – we would encourage anyone interested in this new business opportunity to get in touch with us.”
