|
The final public meeting of the Sea Mills & Coombe Dingle Community Project will be on Tuesday 4 November at St Edyths, starting at 7:30 pm. |
Community Voice
|
| (VB) |
Coffee, tea, soft drinks, cakes, chocolate and bouncy castle will be on offer on Saturday March 22nd on the Square. St. Edyth's church will be raising the tent again & opening up the Easter café from 9 am - 12 noon. So come along, bring a friend and enjoy!
| (GS) |
Shulah and Mary from the Library were invited by Sea Mills artist Simon Gurr to the Jan 24 launch of the world's first ever city read The Bristol Story at the Art Gallery & Museum. Simon and writer Eugene Byrne have created what they themselves call 'a graphic & (mostly) true history of the greatest city in the world'!
When the time came only Mary could join the 200 guests. During the pre-lunch get-together she chatted to Chair of Heritage Lottery Fund's South West Committee Adrian Tinniswood, who expressed his excitement at how The Bristol Story will get everyone looking at the city's past. Local schools are already involved, eg creating exciting banners on the Museum walls, more of which are seen in the city centre.
Simon and Eugene are already well known for their very successful 2006 graphic biog of Brunel, after which Simon wrote in The Community Voice 'Luckily I live just down the road from Sea Mills Library and found enough material for my illustrations'.
This is the first time Bristol's Cultural Development Partnership has commissioned its own book. The Bristol Story is the 2008 Great Reading Adventure.
Everyone will get a free copy, and on the back page are mentioned all those sponsors who helped launch this un-put-downable story of Bristol.
| (MW) |
October 2006's Local Government White Paper Strong and Prosperous Communities outlined proposals to 'rebalance the relationship between central government, local government and local people'. This means giving Local Government and local people more power to bring about changes.
So Bristol City Council is introducing Neighbourhood Partnerships.
The Kingsweston and Avonmouth partnership covers Sea Mills, Lawrence Weston, Avonmouth & Shirehampton. Chaired by Avonmouth councillor Terry Cook, it was launched at the Public Hall in Shirehampton on Jan 9 when over 50 local people turned up to find out more.
Cllr Cook emphasised it wasn't getting in the way of any existing structures, but would help residents, groups & the council mutually. Andrew McGrath, of the Community Engagement Team, said such partnerships were a way for people to discuss issues with departments & local councillors, being a long-term commitment reinforced by legislation. Cheryl Coles of the Safer Bristol Part-nership emphasised the benefits of work-ing within existing community safety groups such as SMART (Sea Mills Action for Residents & Tenants - see p 3).
Participants considered issues affecting their community, selecting the one most important to them. These have been discussed at a second meeting at Weston Park Sch, Lawrence Weston.
In order to enable these partnerships to usefully influence BCC departments &c it is beneficial for Sea Mills & Coombe Dingle to have a strong & representative voice within the partnership structure. So get to the SMART meetings (see p 3)!
For more information please contact Sam Parker on 0117 9039768 or email sam.parker@bristol.gov.uk.
Janet Braithwaite & Ruth Gillett would like to thank all who gave their time collecting for St. Peter's Hospice last year in Sea Mills, and the kind people who donated so generously.
It is over 30 years since St. Peter's first began caring for the people of Bristol and many of us will have experienced their amazing help, directly or indirectly.
Last year Sea Mills raised £768.99 plus £70.00 in donations. Perhaps this year you would like to help? If so please tel. 0117 9681782. Thank you.
| Ruth Gillett |
To add to our p 1 story, another local resident, Bristol's Art Librarian Anthony Beeson, took part in a recent Time Team programme at a dig on a Roman villa at Coberley, Cheltenham in his capacity as an authority on Romano-British art.
Some of us will remember Anthony spending autumn of 2000 in Bristol's City Museum entrance hall piecing together the fragmented Orpheus mosaic from Newton St Loe.
After three days of excavation at Coberly the team uncovered most of a mosaic which featured two canthari or wine mixing urns.
Following a very enjoyable experience, Time Team has invited Anthony back to future Roman excavations.
Courtesy of Central Library Bulletin editor
Priority Youth Housing, 101 St Georges Rd (midway on left between Jacobs Wells roundabout & Central Library) would welcome any surplus household equipment you have after spring-cleaning, &c.
The Project provides emergency accommodation for young homeless people (18-25) and helps them acquire independent living skills to go on and maintain their own homes.
They would be very grateful for all items of household equipment, eg curtains, bedding, duvets, pillows, cutlery, china, cooking utensils but not furniture, thank you.
St Georges House is open all day so can accept items at any time. While delivering you can park on double-yellow lines and they will assist in carrying in items.
| (DR) |
I hope many of you have already seen me out and about. I'm fairly new to the beat and am just finding my feet. I am here to deal with any neighbourhood issues you may have. Please feel free to come and talk to me.
An update on what's been happening around Sea Mills and Coombe Dingle... Unfortunately there's been a slight rise in anti-social behaviour with some youths in the area. If you witness this behaviour please let me know. You can contact me or PC Mark Savage, the area's Beat Manager, through the force service centre on 0845 4567000. Thank you. Tessa Pritchard, Your Police Community Support Officer
Little Monsters Pre-school, based in the Boys and Girls Club in Bluebell Close off Woodleaze got their Ofsted Report after inspection in Dec 2007.
It's really pleasing as Ofsted says the 'quality and standards of the nursery education are good' and the 'quality of teaching and learning is good'.
We're really pleased with this result, but won't be sitting back relaxing. We wish to continue to improve and will be looking at ways we can do this. We've just been awarded the 'Bristol Standard' for the third year running and so will be looking at this to help us make improvements.
The full Ofsted Report can be seen on their website at www.ofsted.gov.uk.
Val, Tracy & Lucy at Little Monsters can be contacted term-time 8.45-12.15 on 0117 9685167.
| (VB) |
Telling people bad news is always difficult. If you had a serious life threatening illness would you want to know? I've had a few patients who don't, yet they are very much in the minority. But how they are told is very important.
You should ideally do it in a quiet room in an unrushed manner. Finding out what people already understand is wrong with them is a good starting point and then reflecting back to them to make sure they understand you realise their plight.
Information is power, and the patient ought to be the key person in charge of their own destiny.
These days we tell people about their cancer diagnosis or if they have HIV, but would you tell people they were developing Alzheimer's disease? Would you want to know - or remain in ignorance?
In one medical paper Conor & colleagues reported that 83% of family members accompanying patients with Alzheimer's disease to a memory clinic did not want the patients informed of the diagnosis, despite 71% of relatives stating that they would want to know themselves.
Write in and let us know what you feel about this.
| (MMcG) |
acta have funding from The Big Lottery Fund for 'Playful Ideas' - three magic day events over the next three years. The first one will be in April 2008. Magic Day creates innovative play for children in the Lawrence Weston area of Bristol. It is delivered by acta, working in close partnership with local children's organisations.
Magic Day involves children in exploring their imaginations through a range of interactive activities including drama, role-play, creating whole environments, digital and sound technology, visual arts, participatory storytelling, music, shadow and light. Magic days this year will be 17-19 April at City of Bristol College, Lawrence Weston.
If you'd like to get involved, come along to one of the following sessions:
Sea Mills Action for Residents & Tenants (or 'SMART') has been set up to replace our old Action Forum under the new Neighbourhood Partnership (see p 2). It needs lots of local residents to get involved, so do come to Moorgrove House, Aldercombe Road on as many of these dates as you can manage:
Sea Mills Community Centre recently hosted an exciting and invigorating event, a Hafla, more commonly known as a belly dancing show.
Led by Natalie Chow, 20 women from the local community performed a variety of dances to an eager and expectant audience. The dancers kicked off with a lively group dance, followed by a stick dance to the Egyptian music 'Daqt el Mizmar' by Mokhtar al Said. Other dances during the evening came from belly dancing teacher Natalie, as well as several guest dancers, including one from Cardiff and a male Egyptian dancer. The Sea Mills dancers showed off a variety of moves, including one named 'the camel', as well as hip drops, grape vines, hip twists, shimmies, and saidi-dances.
The evening provided fantastic entertainment for all, and Lorraine, one of the dancers, told Community Voice, 'We all had great fun. Although lots of us had never been on stage before, our enthusiasm certainly made up for it!' The Hafla raised over £200 for Tracey Pye, last year's UK belly dancing champion, who taught the Sea Mills group before her accident in the summer (see #25 Letters).
Currently, around 20 women from the local area attend a weekly class in which they learn to belly dance. The group are always looking to welcome new members, so if you are interested, please come along to Sea Mills Community Centre at 7.15 on a Thursday!
| (VB) |
An Idea! We could have a sign for people to see as they come into Sea Mills - 'Welcome to Sea Mills Garden Suburb'.
We should build on our Garden Suburb status. Perhaps link with Hampstead. (Anon)
This note, from our postbox at the Library, suggests an interesting idea. What do people think? Let's have your views and further ideas before next issue's deadline (see p 4). (Ed)
I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your efforts in getting your interesting and informative newsletter through our doors. Having lived in Sea Mills for almost 30 years, I've often felt there's a lack of information about the regular clubs and meetings held in the area. It would be great if, besides the list of 'extra' events - fairs, jumble sales &c - there was a list of the 'regulars' so people knew where & when cubs/scouts is held, days and times of regular events at the Community Centre, details of playgroups, slimmers' clubs &c. If there was also a contact name/number that would be great. This could benefit both those who have lived in the area for some time, as well as newcomers. Many thanks. (SN)
Excellent suggestion, SN! Although difficult to keep up-to-date, our Handbook will be revised this year, meanwhile p 4 has some updates. (Ed)
I have trained in martial arts from an early age, concentrating on Karate (open hand training), Kobudo (wooden weapons training) and Kenjutsu (Japanese sword).
I hope to see (a) if there is any interest in running a community dojo (training hall) where for a small price people can learn the secrets of martial arts, and (b) to open minds to the true purpose of martial arts.
After years of training, a karateka develops self-discipline and self-esteem, but more importantly the sense of community will be enhanced, rather than diminished by unacceptable aggression.
The perfect age to begin training is 10+. Yet a person of 60 could easily start, although the emphasis will be different. For those orientated towards the modern life there's an internal self-defence system called Atemiwaza (pressure points techniques). With these techniques we can act if called upon to do so - we can walk on in peace as we have nothing to prove, but the protection of our loved ones will always be paramount.
Families are also welcome in small groups of 2, 4 or 6 - hence a whole family could train regularly together. With enough people we can organise the community dojo - as family unity is its ultimate purpose.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If you are interested please contact Sensei Lawrence Wollacott for further details on training schedules at Lw007s2283@blueyonder.co.uk
Tel 07760 215799
Scouts, Cubs, Beavers: Jumble Sale Scout Hut, Bluebell Close, Sat 10 May 2pm; Summer Fair Scout Hut Sat 5 July 2pm.
Sea Mills Community Centre: Live band 'Stoneface' Sat 10 May 7.30pm. Tickets Adult £4, Child £1.50 incl 1st drink & raffle ticket. BBQ and BYO drinks. Telephone Jane on 07817 959 340 for tickets. Watch local notice boards for details of further forthcoming events at the Community Centre.
Sea Mills Infant & Junior Schools: Car Boot Sale at Sea Mills Juniors Saturday 26 April, 10-12 noon. £5 per car. Please telephone either school to book. 'Pirates & Princesses' Summer Fair Junior School Saturday 21 June, 11 - 1 pm.
In response to the letter on page 3, here are the updated contacts for some of our local clubs.
| Monday |
Mums & Toddlers 10-12 noon Yoga 1.30-3pm Camera Club 7.30-9.30pm |
| Tuesday | Yoga 7-8pm |
| Wednesday | Kids' Drama 5.30-7pm |
| Thursday |
Art Class 10-12noon Belly Dancing 7.15-8.15pm |
| Friday | Ballroom Dance 5.30-7pm |
Further details: Jacky Trivitt, 0117 987 7963.
126th Scouts, Scout Hut, Bluebell Close, off Woodleaze, Sea Mills.
| Tuesday |
Beavers 5-6.30pm Cubs 6.45-8.15pm |
| Thursday | Scouts 7-8.30pm |
Further details: Ian Churchill, 0117 968 3447.
Rainbows meet in Shirehampton. Tel Helena Green 07966 187433 for details.
Brownies meet Weds at Sea Mills Methodist Church. Tel Brown Owl 07949 491224 for details.
Guides meet at the Guide Hut, St Mary's Road, Shirehampton. Tel Helena Green 07966 187433 for details.
Sea Mills Boys & Girls Club Bluebell Close, off Woodleaze.
The Club is open Tuesday-Friday evenings 6.30-9pm. There's a range of activities on offer so please telephone Jane on 968 5167 for details.
This was a question young people from the Crypt Youth Group asked residents in the February school holidays.
Out they went into the cold for 2-3 hours, videoing their results. Their research included asking people what they liked and didn't like about Sea Mills.
The video will be sent to the Council for comments. The young people were proud of their results & impressed all who they met.
For now it's hoped the video will be shown in Sea Mills in the summer.
| (GS) |
Our AGM in October will mark 10 years of the Sea Mills & Coombe Dingle Community Project. We intend to have an attractive agenda with plenty of ideas to float, new members to introduce and past achievements to reminisce about.
In the meantime our next Open meeting will take place on May 20. We hope to make it 'summery' and enjoyable, with refreshments, so as to celebrate those 10 years in style. We'll soon finalise arrangements, so please watch local notices in shops and the Library for venue etc.
| (FW) |
Wallace & Gromit attended assemblies for each year group on Feb 13 to launch The Portway Grand Appeal. Students have pledged £5000 to Wallace and Gromit's Children's Foundation which raises funds to help improve the quality of life of sick children in hospitals and hospices across the UK.
Representatives from each tutor group were presented with a 2ft coca-cola bottle in which to save pennies between now & Wrong Trousers Day on June 27 - when fund raising activities end. Community groups, local churches, local shops and 'friends' of the schools such as Skills Force and Connexions have all taken a bottle.
On the evening of 27 June the Year 10 Health and Social Care students have organised a Gift Auction for students and their families. We'll send out further details closer to the time. If you would like to join the Appeal & take a bottle, please contact Mrs Murtagh at the school.
For readers interested in knowing more about Oasis their website address is www.oasiscommunitylearning.org.
A series of 4 Open Days were held in Sea Mills before Christmas, where local residents were offered the opportunity of seeing plans indicating the possible layout of the new development. A total of 166 people attended the Sea Mills events. A summary of the feedback will be published in the PRC Newsletter soon to be distributed.
There has recently been some confusing media coverage regarding the proposals to redevelop the Parkinson PRC homes in Sea Mills. Bristol City Council would like to assure affected tenants that the proposals have not changed. Please contact Beth Ridley, Project Officer, on 0117 352 5253 if you would like more information.
| (Alison Napper) |
John Bees & Judith Price, councillors for Kingsweston Ward, hold surgeries on the 4th Saturday of every month at Sea Mills Library, from 11.15 until 12.15pm
Next Project Open Meeting May 20; time & venue tbc.
Next deadline for the Voice will be 6 June. Email communityvoice1@hotmail.com or use our postbox at Sea Mills Library
|
Comments? Feedback? Let me know what you think. This page last updated: 30 March 2008 Copyright © 2008 Sea Mills & Coombe Dingle Community Project. You are welcome to create a link to this page or to print it for your personal use, but if you would like to use some or all of the content in any other way, please contact me first. |