Fishponds Voice December 2022

Lighting up the dark nights

year. More pictures: Page 9

Bus services hit by more cuts

BUS operator First has announced it is cancelling more than 560 journeys through Fishponds and Eastville every week.

The announcement of cutbacks on the 24, 48, 48a and 49 routes, introduced with immediate effect on November 16, came less than six weeks after the company introduced a new timetable in October, which in itself included cuts in frequency for the 48.

First blames driver shortages for the

cancellations, which it says will remain in place for at least five months, until the next major change to timetables planned for the beginning of April next year.

Passengers had already been complaining of rising numbers of cancellations, at a time when demand for services is expected to rise, with Bristol's Clean Air Zone charges on older cars taking effect at the end of November.

Turn to Page 3

Lifesaving device for park players

The family of Chris Wicks, who died of a sudden cardiac arrest while playing football in 2005, have raised money for a defibrillator for Eastville Park. PAGE 23

Community set to lose post office

Stapleton is set to lose its post office when the McColl's store in Frome Valley Road, Begbrook, shuts in the new year. PAGE 5

Container yard plan unveiled

Plans have been put forward for a container businesses development on the car park of the Crafty Egg in Fishponds Rd. PAGE 10

People living in and around Hillfields joined together for a lantern parade between their local library and park. The parade was organised by volunteer groups to light up one of the dark nights before the end of the

fishpondsvoice

EDITORIAL

Ken McCormick 07715 770377 news@fishpondsvoice.co.uk

Linda Tanner news@fishpondsvoice.co.uk

PUBLISHER

Brookfield Publishing Tel 07540 383 870 sales@fishpondsvoice.co.uk

Facebook fishpondsvoice

ADVERTISING

Shaun Edwards

Tel 07540 383 870 sales@fishpondsvoice.co.uk

Twitter @fishpondsVoice Instagram fishpondsvoice

JANUARY DEADLINE

To ensure your news or letters are included, please contact us by Wednesday December 14. Advertisers are asked to contact us by the same date.

LOCAL INFORMATION

Bristol City Council http://www.bristol.gov.uk 0117 922 2000

Police www.avonandsomersetpolice.uk general enquiries: 101 Emergency: 999

Fire www.avonfire.gov.uk General enquiries: 0117 926 2061 Emergency: 999

COMPLAINTS

NHS 111 Safer Stronger team sscg@southglos.gov.uk 01454 868009

Anti social behaviour team asbreporting@southglos.gov.uk 01454 868582

Streetcare/litter/vandalism etc streetcare@southglos.gov.uk Environment/trading standards 01454 868001

Well Aware Health and social care information www.wellaware.org.uk Tel: (freephone) 0808 808 5252

Despite our best efforts, we sometimes get things wrong. We always try to resolve issues informally at first but we also have a formal complaints procedure. If you have a complaint about anything in the Kingswood Voice, contact the publisher using the details below. We aspire to follow the Code of Conduct of the NUJ (National Union of Journalists), which holds journalists to a high standard of behaviour. Further details of the complaints process can be obtained by contacting the Publisher.

A member of the

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Fishponds Voice is independent. We cannot take responsibility for content or accuracy of adverts, and it is advertisers’ responsibility to conform to all relevant legislation. We cannot vouch for any services offered. Opinions are not necessarily those of the editor. Fishponds Voice is distributed each month to local residents in Fishponds and the surrounding areas. If for some reason you do not get a copy, please get in touch or collect one from local pick-up points. Feedback is welcomed, call Brookfield Publishing on 07540 383870 or email news@fishpondsvoice. co.uk. This month 8,000 copies will be distributed in Fishponds and the local area.

Voi cuts Russia ties

E-SCOOTER operator Voi has confirmed that two of its shareholders with links to Russia have been removed.

Metro Mayor Dan Norris had called on the e-scooter provider to reconsider its controversial shareholders with Russian links following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Businessman Alexander Eliseev, the founder Globaltrans Investment Plc, which has been suspended from the Stock Exchange, reportedly owned about £10.8 million worth of shares in Voi.

Gabriel Yushevaev, who was on a list of more than 200 politicians and 96 oligarchs with links to Putin drawn up by the US government, reportedly had a 2.9 per cent stake.

Mr Norris held face-to-face talks in Bristol earlier this year with the boss of the Swedish scooter operator, Fredrik Hjelm, who pledged to try to get the two Russian investors to part with their shares.

He said: "I welcome this news from Voi. West of England residents told me time and again that they don’t support links with the murderous Putin and his cronies and they wouldn’t feel comfortable associating with a company with questionable shareholders."

Despite the move Voi could end up being replaced as Bristol’s e-scooter operator from next year.

The company's current contract is for a trial of the scooters, which started in 2020.

Now e-scooter operators are being asked to bid for a long-term contract to run a scheme across the West of England, where more than 280,000 people have used e-scooters, taking more than 6m journeys since the trial started.

Voi could bid for the new long-term contract but other companies are also expected to bid.

Mr Norris said: “The trial has had some notable successes with over a quarter of a million local people using them — which is record-breaking nationwide. But there have also been challenges, including safety."

Kicking off the tender process, WECA has issued a prior information notice to the market, in its search for a company to take on the e-scooter scheme.

A new operator could potentially also bid to run electric bikes and electric cargo bikes, as well.

Voi will run the current e-scooters until the new contract is awarded, so there will be no gap in provision whatever the outcome of the bid process.

By Alex Seabrook, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Pilates classes in Fishponds Suitable for all levels

Mondays 18:45 & 19:55 at The Life Church Saturdays 9.15 at All Saints Church Hall

Please contact Emily to book your place on 07974252486 email: info@teachmepilates.co.uk or find me on facebook and Instagram: Emily Osborne Pilates

To advertise, contact Shaun Tel 07540 383 870 Email: sales@fishpondsvoice.co.uk Got News? Call Ken On 07715 770377

Hundreds of bus journeys axed

From Page 1

The service worst hit by the changes is the 48a to Blackberry Hill and UWE's Frenchay Campus.

First has cancelled 28 of the service's 72 weekday journeys from the city centre and 28 out of 71 in the opposite direction.

It has also cut six out of 26 Saturday journeys from the city centre to UWE and seven out of 26 in the opposite direction.

That adds up to a total of 293 out of 767 journeys a week cut on the 48a route - more than one in every three buses.

First is also cutting seven weekday 48 services in each direction between Emersons Green and Bristol city centre via Downend, along with eight Saturday and ten Sunday services in each direction. In total, 106 out of 588 services on the 48 route each week are being cancelled - more than one in every six.

On the 49 route the company is cutting two weekday, 13

Saturday and 13 Sunday services from Lyde Green to the city centre via Staple Hill, along with one weekday, 16 Saturday and ten Sunday services in the opposite direction. In total, 67 out of 716 journeys by the 49 are being cut - more than one in every 11.

The 24 service, which links Eastville to Southmead Hospital and Ashton Gate, is also being cut back.

Nine out of the 59 weekday services from Southmead are being cut, along with four out of 49 Saturday and four out of 31 Sunday services.

Eight weekday services to Southmead out of 59, plus five out of 50 weekday and four out of 29 Sunday buses, are being cut on the route.

In total, 102 out of 749 journeys on the 24 each week are being cut - around one in seven.

That means that the total number of bus journeys through Fishponds and Eastville each week is being cut by 568 - more than one in three of the 1,450

First has confirmed that it is dropping across its whole network.

The 17, 47 and metrobus services are not affected by the changes.

The company says it is currently 150 drivers short, despite an "active recruitment campaign", but will still operate 95% of journeys.

A company spokesperson said: "We are extremely sorry for the problems customers are experiencing with our services as a result of the ongoing shortage of drivers.

"We appreciate the changes will cause some disruption to our customers. But by giving customers advance notice of cancellations, we want to make it easier for customers to adjust their travel plans if need be.

"The driver shortage is a nationwide problem which is not just affecting First."

A full list of the cancelled services is on First's website.

Campaigners calling for bus services to be franchised by the West of England Combined Authority and the region's councils, taking scheduling out of First's control, are planning a protest outside the next full meeting of South Gloucestershire Council on December 14.

West of England Shared Transport and Active Travel Network (WESTACT) members are calling for people to join them with torches, hi-vis clothes and glow paint outside Kingswood Civic Centre at 6.15pm.

The call for franchising has been backed by Eastville ward

Green councillor Lorraine Francis, who said: "There is a developing crisis in bus services across Bristol and the wider region.

"Some of the most vulnerable groups across the city, including residents in my ward, face being cut off from jobs, friends and services due to cuts to well-used services.

"I am also concerned about the impact of bus cuts on residents who may have both a visible and or invisible disability, who are essentially left to manage their own transport needs.

“Both First Bus and WECA Mayor Dan Norris state they are committed to improving things – but both seem to be laying the blame for this state of affairs at each other’s door!"

Eastville ward Labour councillor Marley Bennett said he was "bitterly disappointed" by the announcement, and the fact that Fishponds and Eastville services were worst hit, and is bringing a motion on the situation before the next council meeting.

He said: "First has already cut crucial routes like the number 5, leaving the entirety of Stapleton without a single bus service.

"This will only compound things further and leave people stranded.

"Bristol deserves a highquality public transport offer but this simply is not the case currently. I will be pressing for updates on this and seeking assurances that lost services and routes will be reinstated as soon as new drivers are trained."

Bid to recruit Ukrainian drivers

THE West of England Combined Authority led by Mr Norris has strategic responsibility for transport planning and is funding a four-person bus driver recruitment team helping local operators find new would-be drivers.

New recruits will be given a tailored training programme.

Mr Norris, pictured at a recruitment day for Ukrainian drivers held by operator Stagecoach, said: "I hope Ukrainian drivers can be part of the solution and that while they are staying here, they enjoy a rewarding career."

Metro Mayor Dan Norris is urging Ukrainian refugees who have moved to the Bristol area to become bus drivers

Murder police want to trace this man

POLICE investigating the murder of a Fishponds man have released a picture of someone they want to question.

CCTV picture they have released.

Detective Inspector Laura Semple said: “We are making good progress with our investigation into Takayo’s tragic death, which has naturally left his family devastated.

from a strong family unit.

"His son was born on November 9 and although this should have been a happy occasion, it was bittersweet.

Takayo Nembhard

The appeal came as the family of Takayo Nembhard revealed that the baby he and his partner were expecting when he died has now been born.

Takayo, aged 21, died in hospital after being stabbed on the evening of August 29 in Ladbroke Grove, London, as he attended the Notting Hill Carnival with his sister and friends.

The former Bristol Rovers academy footballer and Bristol City Council apprentice was building a career as a rapper, recording and performing as TKorStretch, before he was killed.

The Metropolitan Police have already arrested four people in connection with their murder inquiry but say they "urgently need to speak to" the man in the

“However, we really need the public’s help to tell us who this person is in the CCTV image we have issued and anyone with information – no matter how small - about the murder to come forward.

“If you can help, please get in touch immediately.”

The man in the image is wearing a navy blue baseball cap with the word 'Yankees' printed in white at the back. He appears to be young - in his teens or 20sand black or of mixed race.

The family of Takayo, who attended St Matthias and Dr Bell's Primary School as a child, said the son he had been expecting with girlfriend Oshian Edwards has now been born.

They said: "Takayo’s death has left a painful ache for all who loved him and still love him.

"He was so looking forward to being a dad and would have made a fabulous one, as he came

"Our family, which includes his girlfriend, continue to struggle with coping without him on a daily basis.

"Our family beg the public to provide any info they may have, be that videos or photos that were taken on August 29 in the Ladbroke Grove area.

"Please help us to bring Takayo’s killers to justice and therefore some comfort to us knowing he didn’t die in vain."

Police arrested three people in Bristol - two men, aged 23 and 18, and a 17-year-old boy - on suspicion of murder in October. A 20-year-old woman was arrested in London on suspicion of assisting an offender.

The 23-year-old man has been released under investigation, while the others have all been bailed pending further enquiries.

Anyone who recognises the person in the picture or has information, video or pictures taken in the area at the time of

to trace

the attack - around 8pm - should call the incident room on 020 7175 2206 or visit the dedicated page set up for the inquiry on the Metropolitan Police section of the mipp.police.uk website.

Information can also be given anonymously to Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or by visiting www.crimestoppers-uk. org.

Crimestoppers never ask for personal information and do not track devices.

A fundraising website to help Oshian and the family, which has raised more than £10,000, can be found at gofundme.com/f/tohelp-the-mother-of-his-unbornson.

More could be liable to pay council tax

ABOUT 18,000 of Bristol’s poorest households could be forced to pay towards council tax for the first time in years because of the local authority’s funding crisis.

Bristol City Council is proposing to cut £3 million from its council tax reduction scheme as part of a range of cost-cutting measures to meet a huge financial shortfall.

It means the 18,000 families who currently pay nothing could be asked to contribute 10 or 20 per cent from 2024, a council meeting heard.

A further 5,000 workingage adults claim a discount, based on income and benefit allowances.

About 13,000 pensioners in the city receive support to reduce or cover their bills, which is not under threat

because of government policy, although this has to be paid for out of council coffers, amounting to £13m this year out of the scheme’s £42m total costs.

Bristol is the only major city to have kept the full reduction in place, but the authority is proposing £45.7m of cuts to services in its annual budget, which will be set in February, as it faces a funding gap of up to £87.6m for the next five years.

Deputy mayor in charge of finance Craig Cheney (Lab, Hillfields) told a budget scrutiny meeting on November 23 that the reduction scheme had been a "red line" for the administration.

He said: "When we were in trouble in the past we looked at it briefly but as soon as we

realised we had additional business rate income we were able to pull back from a saving.

“We don’t want to do this again.

"It’s a saving for next year, which gives us the opportunity to work through how that might work and how we as a council work a way of delivering something that is still helpful to citizens, at a time when we just don’t have the money to do what we’ve always done before.

“It’s something close to my heart personally, it’s something I’ve fought for and argued for over a number of years, and to have to put it forward is emotional.

“But we are where we are. This is our biggest area of discretionary spend and we just need to consider it.”

Opposition councillor

Martin

said: “It’s a measure of how dire things are that this is back in consultation. To cut this support is really worrying.”

Other cost-cutting plans in the budget include reducing business rate relief for charities from 100 per cent to 80 per cent and halving the authority’s contribution to the local crisis prevention fund, which provides discretionary emergency payments for essentials and household goods for people in financial hardship.

Cllr Fodor said the measures combined showed the financial situation was “desperate” and “disturbing”.

By Adam Postans, Local Democracy Reporting Service

The man police want

Fodor (Green, Redland)

Stapleton to lose McColl's and post office

The counter is inside the McColl's convenience store in Frome Valley Road, Begbrook, which is one of 132 owner Morrisons is shutting across the country.

The announcement came less than six months after Morrisons bought McColl's from administrators in May.

Morrisons would not confirm the number of people working at the branch but said it was one of 55 with post offices, whose closure was being delayed "to enable them to serve their communities through Christmas and to allow the Post Office additional time to make alternative arrangements".

A spokesperson said: "We are currently working with the Post Office to see if nearby McColl’s or Morrisons stores could be part of the solution and we are currently looking at a number of potential stores for replacement Post Office counters."

Post Office Ltd, which calls the counter its Beech Hill Post Office, said: "We will undertake an assessment of the local area and will be working closely with nearby postmasters to support them with the likely increase in footfall for both their Post Office and their own retail services, and will review requirements for the local community.

"In the New Year, we advise that customers use Fishponds Post Office located inside the Coop. It’s open Monday to Saturday between 9am and 5.30pm and is

The McColls store in Frome Valley Road.

a short bus ride away.”

The closure is another blow after the loss of the area's 5 and Y4 bus services in October.

Bristol East MP Kerry McCarthy is asking residents to fill in a survey, via her Facebook page, on how the closure will affect them.

She said: "Many say having a local Post Office has been a lifeline and they will struggle to get to another one, especially as Stapleton has recently lost its bus service.

"The closest Post Office

branch in Fishponds is still some way away and is closed in the evenings, so it is important another branch opens in the local area.

"I plan to meet with Post Office representatives and make this argument to them. I will also pass to them the many suggestions I have received from residents about possible sites for a new branch, to see what is feasible."

Frome Vale city councillor Amal Ali, whose ward includes the store, said she was writing to Morrisons and the Post Office to ask them to reconsider.

She said: “The closure couldn’t come at a worse time. Closing it means the nearest one, on Straits Parade, is now a 20-minute walk away.

"With transport costs rising and an unreliable bus service, local people, especially the elderly or disabled, will find it especially difficult to get there. This really isn’t good enough."

CHRISTMAS is hurtling toward us and the season brings with it good news and bad for our eyes.

For a start, turkey is surprisingly good for your vision. That may not immediately feel like the case when you’re struggling to keep your post-dinner eye lids open for the King’s speech and the Bond film.

But lean protein is great for your retinas and the calcium and zinc within the meat help create melanin, the pigment that gives your skin colour and acts as a bodyguard to your eyes, protecting them from harmful rays and radiation.

Where do you stand on the sprouts debate? I love them, which is fortunate as they are about as good for your eyes as anything else you can put in your mouth.

They contain phytonutrients, which not only help to reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s but also help protect your eyes from cataracts and macular degeneration as you get older.

And don’t forget to put a dollop of cranberry sauce on your plate. Cranberries are a great source of vitamins A and C, which help prevent damage to your eyes and reduce the risk of cataracts.

As for chocolate, the jury’s out. Some studies suggest dark chocolate can be beneficial to your eyesight as it contains antioxidants that could bring down the risk of macular degeneration. But there’s never been a study big enough to give dark chocolate an official medical endorsement.

So for now, my advice would be to enjoy chocolate in moderation – just don’t expect it to guarantee you eagle-eye vision!

And now the bad news. LED lights are everywhere at Christmas and some studies have suggested that they are bad for your eyes. Exposure to LED lights has been linked to premature retinal tissue ageing and macular degeneration.

However – this sort of damage would only be caused if you’re staring non-stop at LED lights for a long time so having your lights up for a couple of weeks in December is unlikely to cause you any problems.

Christmas coincides with the shortest days of the year and usually involves a lot of driving around to see relatives. Headlight dazzle and the low sun reflecting off snow, puddles or the car in front are regularly blamed for driving accidents during the festive season.

It’s well worth discussing the options for sun and glare protection with your optician and don’t forget to book your thorough eye examination every two years to find out if you need prescription lenses in your sunglasses.

Looking for a last-minute gift?

A voucher toward a stylish pair of designer glasses makes an excellent Christmas present. At Turners, we have dozens of frames from designers including Tom Davies, Ted Baker and Ray-Ban. We offer gift vouchers in whatever denomination you need to make someone’s Christmas extra special. Just call in at our Henleaze or Fishponds branch and we’ll take care of the rest. To book an appointment, call 0117 962 2474 or 0117 965 4434.

Have a great Christmas everyone!

Peter Turner is a Senior Optometrist at Turners Opticians in Bristol, with a specialist interest in visual development and visual performance.

Turkey, chocolate and sprouts – are they really good for your eyesight?

A "PREDATORY" rapist who attacked a woman in Fishponds has been given a seven-year custodial sentence.

Gabriel Nomafo targeted the woman after spotting that she had separated from her friends after a night out in Bristol city centre.

He followed her to a house, where he attacked her.

The 28-year-old defendant was charged more than a year after the incident, which happened in March 2019, after forensic evidence linked him to the police investigation.

He denied rape but was unanimously found guilty by a jury at Bristol Crown Court in August, following a trial.

Nomafo, of no fixed address, was sentenced to a seven-year hybrid hospital order by a judge in November.

Avon and Somerset Police said the order means he will be detained in a secure hospital "for his own health and safety" but if doctors decide he no longer needs hospital treatment he will

Rapist sentenced after attack on woman in Fishponds

be transferred to prison to serve the rest of his sentence.

He will not be eligible for early release from his sentence because of the nature of his crime.

After Nomafo was sentenced the officer in charge of the case, Detective Constable Mike Coleman, praised the courage of his victim, who was 21 at the time she was attacked.

DC Coleman said: "I am pleased with the verdict.

"The victim in this case has shown a huge amount of courage and resilience throughout this investigation and the trial.

"She deserves credit for this and I hope she can draw some degree of closure from the court result.

"Nomafo's actions on the night of the offence were

predatory and opportunistic.

"He identified the victim as having separated from her friends and followed her.

"We will always take crimes such as these very seriously and rigorously pursue the offenders.

"I would like to thank the Crown Prosecution Service and the trial barrister for their hard work and professionalism in bringing this case through the courts."

Police are urging anyone who has been a victim of rape or sexual assault to come forward, and say it is never too late to report offences.

Anyone who wants help and advice can contact The Bridge, a Sexual Assault Referral Centre available 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

For more information visit

Gabriel Nomafo was described as "predatory and opportunistic" by police

www.thebridgecanhelp.org.uk or call 0117 342 6999.

Details of other charities and organisations who can provide expert support for victims can be found at www. thisisnotanexcuse.org.

FRENCHAY Christmas Tree Farm is home to 40,000 Christmas trees spread over three fields of around 18 acres of green belt land next to the M32 motorway. This year, the first crop is being harvested from the third and newest field, eight years after it was first planted with sapling trees. Owner Simon Maughan is thrilled at the prospect: “After all the years mowing, tending, pruning and shaping, the Nordmann and Fraser Firs in our new field are looking wonderful, and it’s going to be very pleasing watching families taking them home for Christmas this year.”

The Fraser Fir is a popular alternative to the top-selling Nordmann Fir. Like the Nordmann, it keeps its needles really well over Christmas, but it has a stronger fragrance and a slightly narrower shape, making it a practical choice in a smaller home. They can be difficult to grow and need careful pruning, but because they reach maturity about two years sooner than the Nordmann, they’re much better value.

“While tagging up our trees ready for cutting this season, we found plenty of evidence of

What’s New at Frenchay Christmas Tree Farm

martins will take up home in the newly installed nest boxes, and by letting some Christmas trees grow to maturity, they might not only provide homes for wildlife, but capture carbon dioxide and pollutants from the nearby motorway.

Many people make informed decisions nowadays about the things that they buy, wanting to support local businesses, reduce road miles and be environmentally ethical. Readers can find out more about the wildlife and the Christmas trees, the planting programme and the ethos behind the farm at: www.

frenchaychristmastreefarm.co.uk

thriving wildlife: badger setts, mole hills, mushrooms, wildflowers, bird nests and wasp nests to name a few. We always strive to work alongside nature on the farm, whether that’s leaving wild

grasses and flowers to grow over the summer months to attract insects, or mulching up trees after Christmas to spread on the fields.”

Owner Simon Maughan hopes that one day swallows and house

Frenchay Christmas Tree Farm is open every day from 9am to 5pm from Saturday 19th November. You can visit in person, or order your tree, stand and wreath online either for delivery or click and collect.

Thanks to Alex at Above Horizon Photography for the drone photo

Lantern parade lights up Hillfields

ABOUT 180 people lit up the night in Hillfields with the estate's first ever lantern parade.

Led by Bright Sounds community street band, children, families and other residents snaked from Hillfields Library in Summerleaze, along Maple Avenue and Quadrant West, across Thicket Avenue and into Hillfields Park, where they completed a circuit in the darkness before heading up to a stall for free hot chocolate at the community garden.

The parade on November 19 was organised by volunteers from Hillfields Community Garden and Friends of Hillfields Library with non-profit group Imayla, and followed two lantern-making workshops in the weeks leading up to it.

Sarah Rogers, who helps run both Hillfields groups, said: "As we left Hillfields Library and made our way to the community garden lots of people came out of their houses to wave and see what was going on.

"We also welcomed lots of people who

hadn’t made lanterns and handed out spare LED lights and lanterns, so they could join in.

"The reactions from everyone were amazing - everyone coming together to banish the dark days before the winter solstice.

"Whilst we were walking we saw lots of signs of the change of season. We were encouraged to take a moment to breathe in the cool air, because before we know it will be spring again, and the cycle of the seasons continues.

"This joint project between Hillfields Community Garden and Friends of Hillfields Library has been possible thanks to the hard work and dedication of our volunteers.

"If you would like to be part of either of these fun new groups then please get in touch because we're already starting to have fun

planning next year's groups and events."

To get involved with the groups, email friendsofhillfieldslibrary@gmail.com or hillfieldscommunitygarden@gmail.com.

Bright Sounds band had lights as well as music

Volunteers at the free hot chocolate stall

The lantern parade heads along Quadrant West

Container plan for Crafty Egg back yard

A PIZZA kitchen, deli, microbrewery and pop-up shops could be set up in containers behind a popular Fishponds Road cafe.

Plans to install three 40ft shipping containers behind the Crafty Egg, previously the New Moon pub, have been submitted to Bristol City Council.

The application, by Crafty Egg owner Ben Bennett, is for temporary permission for up to five years for the containers.

They would have a variety of business occupants, according to the plans, including a pizza kitchen, bike repair shop, pop-up deli and bakery, pop-up vinyl shop and a microbrewery.

Container developments are already a success on Bristol's Harbourside, where Cargo at Wapping Wharf hosts 36 businesses including a variety of restaurants, beer and wine merchants, a hair salon, jeweller and a yoga studio.

The development in Fishponds would be on a smaller

scale, with the containers all being on ground level at the sides of the yard behind the licensed cafe at 780 Fishponds Road, which is currently used as a car park by the Crafty Egg as well as neighbouring Coffee One, whose spaces would not be affected.

Writing on behalf of Mr Bennett, planning agents SN Consultants said the site was a "suitable location for a change of use" as it is within a commercial area.

The shipping containers would be 12.03m (40ft) long, 2.33m (7ft 7in) wide and 2.9m (9ft 6in) high, and would sit under trees backing on to the boundary wall with homes on New Station Road.

The consultants said the trees "will not be impacted by the proposed development," which "does not require any disturbance to the ground".

They said the trees would provide a "visual barrier"

between the development and back gardens and homes on New Station Road.

The consultants said they did not expect customers to arrive at the new businesses by car, saying: "There are parking restrictions along Fishponds Road, it is therefore anticipated that users of the proposed development will be visiting on foot."

They said that although parking spaces are currently marked out for Crafty Egg users at the site, it was currently used by "random members of the public", adding: "There is currently a lot of antisocial behaviour in the area, which will be eradicated."

The containers would be energy efficient, including double or triple glazed doors and windows.

Comments on the proposals can be made on the planning section of Bristol City Council's website by searching for application 22/05272/F.

WE ARE LOOKING TO APPOINT A FULL TIME

Care Co-ordinator

TO JOIN OUR GP PRACTICE TEAM

37.5 hrs per week, Good rates of pay, NHS Pension, secure parking, regular social events, supportive and friendly team based in spacious, purpose built, Health Centre in Fishponds.

For more information, job description and application form please email sarah.monteith@nhs.net or see the vacancy page on our website www.beechwoodmedicalpractice.co.uk

Closing date 9th December 2022.

The container development would be set up in the yard and car park behind the Crafty Egg, accessed via a side lane

Eastville man jailed for riot violence

AN Eastville man has been jailed for violence during a riot in Bristol city centre.

Christopher Hind was one of two people jailed at Bristol Crown Court on November 11 for actions during disturbances in the city centre in March last year.

The violence followed a 'Kill the Bill' demonstration against the restrictions on the right to protest in the government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

Hind, aged 38, admitted a charge of violent disorder.

An Avon and Somerset police spokesperson said: "The court heard how during the riot, over a period of two hours, he was caught on footage displaying aggressive behaviour, as well as pushing and kicking out at officers."

Another man, 28-year-old

Tyler Overall, of Filton, also admitted a charge of violent disorder after being seen to "goad and attack officers, grabbing at police shields using force, as well as kicking out at officers".

Both men were sentenced to 21 months in prison each.

A woman from Montpelier, Fleur Moody, aged 26, was sentenced to an eight-month suspended prison sentence, a rehabilitation order and 80 hours of unpaid work after admitting a charge of affray.

Police said her actions "included urinating next to officers, as well as kicking out at officers".

So far, 23 people have been jailed in connection with the riot.

Police say a combined total of 81 years and three months of prison sentences have been

handed down - an average of three and a half years for each person jailed.

Superintendent James Riccio said: "Three more people have been brought to justice for their actions on that shameful night.

"They all displayed criminal behaviour and admitted offences due to the significant amount of material, particularly moving footage, which has been gathered, reviewed and assessed, during the course of this ongoing investigation."

During the riot Bridewell Police Station was attacked, officers were assaulted and several police vehicles were vandalised and set on fire.

The investigation into the riot is one of the biggest ever carried out by Avon and Somerset Police and has involved 86 arrests, with 47 people charged with offences

including criminal damage, affray, violent disorder and riot. Some cases have yet to be heard and police are also appealing for help in identifying 22 people who were captured on camera during the disturbances. Their images can be found at bit. ly/3fZsY46.

Christopher Hind

Speeding cabbie loses taxi licence

A BRISTOL cabbie suspected of multiple speeding offences has been stripped of his taxi licence, after blaming a friend he said had rented his car.

The private hire driver was also accused of using laughing gas and littering, which he denied.

But city councillors said the incidents indicated a pattern of behaviour that raised doubts about his suitability to hold a permit and showed his standards had fallen “well below” those expected.

They revoked both his driver and vehicle private hire licences, after hearing he was convicted by Bath magistrates earlier this year of speeding in April, and failing to provide driver’s identification in relation to another speeding offence in January.

They ruled that he dishonestly tried to pin three previous speeding offences, in a six-week

period in 2021, on a fellow driver who rented his vehicle but who was unlicensed and should not have taken passengers, because of a previous conviction for failing to provide documents for an offence.

Recently-published minutes of the Bristol City Council public safety and protection sub-committee said Avon and Somerset Police’s taxi compliance officer had raised concerns with the local authority in June about the “fit and proper” status of the driver, who was not identified.

The papers said three speeding offences, in June and July 2021, were committed either by him, or a man he nominated to drive the car on his behalf.

Whoever was behind the wheel had “failed to provide appropriate identification when required to do so and may have conspired to pervert the course

of justice”.

The papers said the driver had rented his car to the other man "to enable him to support his family” after being badly affected by covid.

He had admitted to a licensing panel that he was the driver for the speeding offence in April, but "could not remember whether or not he was driving the vehicle" for offences in June and July last year.

The sub-committee panel added: “However, it was noted that it was likely he was, since Uber identification was usually required before he would be able to use the vehicle."

The minutes said the cabbie was recently convicted at Bath magistrates court of a speeding offence committed in April and failing to identify a driver for a speeding incident in January.

The councillors did not consider his explanations for the

other offences to be "credible", and said they believed he had "acted dishonestly by giving the incorrect details, that he was the driver of the vehicle and had been speeding on all three occasions" last year.

They concluded he was not a "fit and proper" person to hold a private hire driver’s licence, saying: "The overall picture presented...was a licensee whose standards had fallen well below the high standards the council is entitled to expect from those whom it licences.

“There had been multiple offences over a period of time which gave rise to a greater cause for concern and demonstrated a pattern of inappropriate behaviour."

By Adam Postans, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Great

AN after-school club in Eastville has been praised for its extremely well-behaved children and high quality care.

Ofsted visited Little Gems at Glenfrome Primary School in early October and its report, published in November, said the club had met all of its requirements.

Inspector Charlotte Adcock said: "Children behave extremely well and show they understand the behaviour expectations.

"All children at the club interact with each other and staff politely and calmly. They show a good understanding of the club's 'golden rules' and follow them well.

"Children of all ages play well together. They are self-motivated and engaged throughout the club session.

"Children form strong friendships and enjoy each other's company. Older children support younger children as they settle into their new environment."

The report said staff ensured excellent supervision of children by making sure they were in the right place, taking part in activities and games with "enthusiasm".

Regular praise from staff meant children felt proud of their achievements in activities, while they were also asked for their views on what they like doing, ensuring planned activities are tailored to the interests of the children attending each session.

The inspector said: "The provider and staff are excellent role models. They work together to make sure children feel happy and safe while attending the club.

"The experienced provider is passionate about providing highquality care for children. She knows the children's personalities very well and shares this information with staff."

Little Gems was founded ten years ago by Sheila Kaur, who was working locally as a childminder when parents told her about the need for an after-school club at the school in Cottisford Road.

As the club has expanded, catering for 69 children from Reception up to Year 6, she has been joined by her mum, Kalwant Kaur, and Kazal Rekha.

Sheila said she was pleased that the inspector had noticed her passion for what she does.

She said: "They've changed the way they do inspections, so they are less focussed on the paperwork and more on how the kids are with each other and with the staff.

"I liked how the inspector noticed how the kids were interacting with each other, no matter what age they were."

“The impact from engaging with Future Bright, on all aspects of my life, has been life changing.”

Leaders Sheila Kaur, Kalwant Kaur and Kazal Rekha with children at a Little gems session

Pupils open post office

CHILDREN at Minerva Primary Academy in Hillfields have opened their own post office.

Early Years pupils are learning about buying and selling, writing and sending letters, expanding their vocabulary and knowledge of geography as they pretend to be postmasters and customers.

Early Years teacher Verity Creed said: “It is lovely to have such a wonderful outdoor environment which the children can use in all seasons.

"Having a space outside for them to pretend to work in a post office allows the children to be fully engaged in their learning together, building social skills, practising conversation, and representing aspects of familiar life outside of school.”

Police shut down problem flat

A FISHPONDS flat has been shut by court order after complaints about drug use, "criminality and antisocial behaviour".

Avon and Somerset police worked with social housing provider Stonewater, which owns the flat in Wharf Road, off Fishponds Road, to resolve problems at the flat without going to court but when these efforts failed, police went to Bristol Magistrates Court in late October and secured an order to close it for three months.

A police spokesperson said: "We received multiple reports of suspected crime or antisocial behaviour linked to the address between March and August this year and a number of messages from community members concerned about what was happening."

A raid during the summer by officers who secured a search warrant found "evidence suggesting drugs were being used by people entering the property".

Neighbourhood Inspector Kris Harris said: “We are delighted magistrates have supported our application for a three-month closure order at this address, because we’d heard several residents tell us the distress the issues were causing them.

“Within 24 hours of the order being confirmed we received a message of thanks from one member of the public who said it was a ‘relief’ to learn it had been granted, adding ‘it’ll take a while to sink in’.

“Nobody should have their life made a misery because of antisocial behaviour or crime, so we’d continue to urge anyone who is experiencing such difficulties in their neighbourhood to report it to police over the phone or on our website.”

Good rating for nursery Charity shop needs help

A CHARITY shop in Fishponds is looking for new volunteers to join its team.

The St Peter’s Hospice shop in Fishponds Road raises funds to support the Bristol area's only adult hospice, which provides care at home and virtual groups in addition to the inpatient care it provides at its base in Brentry.

A spokesperson for the charity said: "All roles are flexible to work around your lifestyle and offer a chance to form friendships, build confidence, and most importantly support the local hospice and give back to your community.

"We are looking for people who would enjoy being on the shop floor and interacting with customers, along with hanging and steaming.

"Este and her team are ready to welcome you and organise a trial shift to give volunteering in a charity shop a go!"

Anyone who is interested can visit the volunteering page on the website www.stpetershospice.org or drop into the store.

A SPEEDWELL nursery has been rated 'good' in all areas by Ofsted.

An inspector from the education regulator visited Stepping Stones in Whitefield Road in August.

Her report praised children's behaviour, relationships with staff and "positive changes" to the curriculum, teaching and sharing of information with parents made by new manager Michelle Ioannou.

Inspector Anita McKelvey said the nursery's quality of education, leadership and management, children's behaviour and personal development were all good.

She said children enjoyed rhymes, songs and playing with toys indoors, while in the outdoor area they could "explore and experiment", supported well by staff.

The inspector said: "The new manager is working with staff to embed the curriculum to inspire children to achieve and grow. She has reflected on what was working well and not so well.

"She is making positive changes. This includes supporting staff to improve teaching for the children."

The inspector said parents now felt they received more information about what their

children are doing, were kept informed about improvements and asked for their views.

The inspector said staff were putting a new curriculum into practice, encouraging children to choose what they wanted to do and planning activities after learning what children like and enjoy.

But she said teaching was not as effective as it could be and staff missed chances to adapt activities to make them more engaging or challenging.

Ofsted's visit was its fifth inspection of Stepping Stones since the nursery opened in 2009: all of its previous visits have also resulted in 'good' ratings.

Michelle said: "We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded a ‘good’ rating following our recent inspection by Ofsted.

"The amazing nursery team we have here at Stepping Stones work exceptionally hard to ensure the children in our care are nurtured, inspired and have fun every day, and to have this recognised by Ofsted is just reward for their efforts.

"We’d like to say a huge thank you to all our families for their continued support of the nursery."

Take a fresh look at caring with Home Instead

Constituency changes are a step closer

PLANS to redraw MPs' constituencies, which would see the Fishponds area at the centre of a new Bristol North East seat, are moving forwards.

The Voice reported last year that the Boundary Commission for England had proposed a new, extra seat for Bristol as part of a review to ensure all Parliamentary constituencies in the country are of a comparable size.

The Bristol North East seat, which has now been through two rounds of consultations and is undergoing a third, would include the Eastville, Frome Vale, Hillfields and Lockleaze city council wards, combined with the Staple Hill & Mangotsfield, New Cheltenham, Kingswood and Woodstock wards in South Gloucestershire.

The Bristol East seat, which currently covers the area and is held by Labour's Kerry McCarthy, would move its boundaries southwards and westwards, to add Easton and Lawrence Hill – currently part of Bristol West – and Knowle, which is currently part of Bristol South.

The current Bristol East constituency stops at the M32 in the north west and does not cross the boundary with South Gloucestershire.

But although the new seat would include areas covered by both local authorities, it would end the current situation where constituency boundaries cut through the middle of some council wards: at present the Staple Hill & Mangotsfield ward is split, with Staple Hill in the

Marvin might contest seat

BRISTOL Mayor Marvin Rees is considering running for Parliament in the new Bristol North East constituency at the next general election.

Mr Rees's second term as mayor finishes in May 2024, seven months before the end of the maximum term of the current Parliament.

Asked whether he would consider standing in the new seat, if it is in place in time, the mayor said he would “throw his hat into the ring”.

Speaking to John Darvall on BBC Radio Bristol in November, Mr Rees said: “I would admit that, after talking to my family, I do kind of feel that there’s a little bit more in my political journey.

“If there’s an opportunity to step into politics in Parliament and do something for Bristol, and do something for the country and the world, then if people choose me, then yeah, I’ll throw my hat into the ring.

“This is my city. For me it’s about politics in Bristol.

"The fact that the boundary review does create a space in Bristol, a platform in Bristol, to do more work with Bristol is an incredibly interesting alignment of events.”

Labour would be considered the favourite to win the Bristol North East seat: all four of the South Gloucestershire wards it would contain currently have only Labour councillors, while the Bristol wards are represented by four Labour, three Green and one Tory councillor.

Last year when the new boundaries were first proposed, Bristol East's Labour MP Kerry McCarthy indicated she intended to stick with her current constituency.

She told the Voice that, while it was a "shame" the Fishponds area could be moved from her constituency, she would be "gaining familiar ground" with some of the areas being added and planned on "continuing doing what I have always done, working tirelessly on behalf of local people as their Member of Parliament, for as long as I still am".

By Alex Seabrook, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Filton & Bradley Stoke seat and Mangotsfield in Kingswood.

Bristol West will be renamed Bristol Central under the plans - and the Kingswood seat, created in 1974, would disappear altogether.

Kingswood MP Chris Skidmore announced on November 26 that he would stand down as an MP, saying: "With no alternative seat, I have decided that I do not wish to fight another constituency elsewhere in the region or country, especially with a very young family who deserve to see more of their father in their lives."

The changes, proposed by the Boundary Commission for England, aim to take account of population shifts over the past 15 years.

The new Bristol seat is one of three extra proposed for the South West to recognise the increased size of the electorate:

Bristol West is currently one of the most populous constituencies in the country, with an electorate of more than 84,000 – over 10,000 above the UK average.

People are invited to view and comment on the new constituency map online at bcereviews.org.uk by December 5, with the final recommendations due to be made next July.

But with no confirmed timetable for implementing them after that, they may not be in place when the next general election is called.

Neither the Privy Council Office, which is responsible for putting the plans through Parliament, nor the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which is responsible for implementing them, would give the Voice an estimate of how long it will take the plans to get through Parliament and into law.

A PUPIL at a Fishponds primary school has had her head shaved to raise money for charity.

Blossom Geear, who is in Year 5 at Avanti Gardens School in College Road, braved the shave after complaining about having to wash and brush her curls.

Mum Sharshi Gee said: "It began with Blossom having enough of having her curly hair brushed and washed, so I suggested she shave it off. She rose to the challenge!

"I then thought it would be great to do it for charity and we thought about which charity to choose. She had been aware of Little Princess Trust and decided that they would be a great charity to support."

Little Princess Trust make wigs for children and young adults who have lost their hair through chemotherapy treatment or for other medical reasons, using donated hair.

While Blossom's tresses were too short to donate, she collected sponsorship online: more than £300 had been donated as the Voice went to press.

Her hair was cut and shaved at home, and was filmed.

Blossom braves the shave

Blossom said: "I had my hair shaved off because I always had to brush my hair and wanted to donate the money to LPT because I feel sad that other children don't have any hair, and know the charity needs money to make wigs for them."

embrace it and remember how brave she was to do it.

"We feel this has made her a stronger person."

A spokesperson for Avanti Gardens praised her challenge as a "kind thing to do."

Earlier in the year Blossom, sister Ivy and dad Alex Gear

Blossom Geear before and after her head shave

The project is due to end by March 2023 and funding is limited and in high demand, so please complete registration questionnaire by following the QR code below! If you are unable to scan the above QR code, please visit energyservicebristol.co.uk/funding

School stars in Children in Need appeal

YOUNG singers from an Eastville primary school were among the stars of this year's Children in Need charity appeal.

The choir from Glenfrome Primary School in Cottisford Road were filmed singing on nearby Purdown for a special segment screened during the BBC's marathon fundraising programme, which raised around £35 million for a host of good

causes.

Glenfrome was picked to represent the region in the Children in Need Choir performance, singing Keane's Somewhere Only We Know along with schools from Suffolk, Ceredigion, the Isle of Man and Falkirk.

Head teacher Inger O'Callaghan said: "We were really delighted to have been

asked be part of the Children in Need Choir this year.

"We didn't quite realise in the beginning that we would be the only school in the South West!

"The BBC were brilliant and supported us really well with the whole process.

"We already sing the song as a school, but the arrangement, with the harmonies, was new to us. "Luckily there was an

online tutorial, and a Live Zoom rehearsal one evening, which all the children joined in from home.

"The BBC crew came to record the audio one day, then we filmed on another day up on Purdown, which is just a short walk from our school.

"The children worked really hard and were so proud to be taking part.

Academy pupils

Members of the Glenfrome Primary School Children in Need Choir during a break in filming on Purdown

The choir recording their part in school

School librarian Helen Harman also organised a sponsored Big Read, which will add to the total amount raised so far, recreating the appeal mascot Pudsey in cake form for pupils who took part.

Pictured left: Bristol Metropolitan Academy's librarian Helen Harman, Principal Cameron Shaw and students

Stay alert when Christmas shopping online

AS we start to approach the festive season, when lots of people are furiously trying to get their Christmas Shopping done online, I would like to remind you to remain vigilant and be cautious.

Be on the lookout for fake shopping sites and scams that fraudsters will use to take advantage of you.

Fraud continues to grow significantly and now represents more than a third of all estimated crime.

It doesn’t just affect victims’ finances but can also have an impact on mental health, with 74% of fraud victims reporting being emotionally impacted.

As the national Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) lead for economic and cybercrime, I am passionate about educating local people on how to spot the signs of fraud, to prevent you becoming a victim in the first place. There is lots of information on my website about how to protect yourself. Please do take a

look.

I also want to talk to you about some important things happening in my office over the festive season.

Firstly, we will launch our annual council tax policing precept consultation.

Your police service is funded partly by central government, which gives about 60% of the annual budget, but also partly through your local council tax bill, which covers the other 40%.

This survey asks your opinion on the amount I am going to ask you to pay in addition to your current annual council tax bill in the next financial year, which is one of the main responsibilities of a PCC.

It is very important that you let me know your views, particularly when times are extremely financially challenging for everyone.

Secondly, if you are looking for a new challenge in the New Year, we have also launched a volunteer recruitment campaign

to ask people to empower their communities and join us as independent advisors on one of the OPCC’s four scrutiny panels or other inspection schemes.

It’s an important way to provide transparency and public accountability around the monitoring and scrutiny we do of the service provided to our communities by Avon and Somerset Police.

For more information visit www.avonandsomerset-pcc.gov. uk/get-involved/apply-to-be-avolunteer.

Lastly, if you run a community group or you work with an organisation on projects that help reduce crime and anti-social behaviour, I would encourage you to apply to my Commissioner’s Crime Prevention Fund.

Launched earlier this year, the fund is a partnership between the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Somerset Community Foundation and Quartet Community Foundation,

which aims to support community projects and activities across the force area that help reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.

I know the organisations and groups of residents who have already applied and received a grant have found the extra funds really beneficial in supporting their work to prevent crime in their communities.

Please visit my website to find out more.

With Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Shelford

Family's campaign provides lifesaving device

LIFE-SAVING equipment has been installed in Eastville Park after a fundraising campaign in memory of a much-loved husband and father.

Bernice Wicks and daughters Chaka, Mireille and Kiri started crowdfunding to buy a defibrillator last year.

They started their campaign last year after Danish footballer Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch after suffering a cardiac arrest during a European Championship game.

The event brought back painful memories of when Chris Wicks, who was 48, died of a sudden cardiac arrest while playing football with family and friends – including two of his daughters – in Eastville Park in 2005.

Chris was fit, with no known health issues at the time of his death.

An automated external defibrillator can be used to deliver electric shocks to keep someone who has suffered a cardiac arrest alive until paramedics arrive.

The family's crowdfunding campaign to buy one hit its target within a week, thanks to

the generosity of friends, family and members of the Friends of Eastville Park community group.

The Friends then set to work obtaining the required permissions and approvals from Bristol City Council and, a year on, the installation of the equipment is now complete, with the equipment available for use

in an emergency, 24 hours a day throughout the year.

It has been mounted in a prominent position in the car park at the end of Park Avenue, on the external wall of the council yard, and is bright yellow to make it easy to spot.

The defibrillator is registered with the ambulance service,

which means that when needed a 999 operator can provide the code to unlock the cabinet and talk the user through the procedure step by step.

It can be used without training and is fully automated.

Andy Gee, from the Friends, said: "The family's determination to provide this life-saving equipment will undoubtedly reassure park users that if ever the need arises, help is at hand and someone's life may well be saved because it's there.

"If you ever find yourself in the position of being the first person on hand with someone experiencing a cardiac arrest, the defibrillator will without doubt increase the chances of survival while the emergency services are on their way.

"The Wicks family would once again like to thank everyone who supported the appeal and made it all possible.

"We hope that what we believe to be the first 24/7 public access defibrillator in a Bristol park will lead to many more being installed across the city’s parks and green spaces in the near future."

The Parkie: Page 33

'Terrifying' lack of emergency staff in city

AN “absolutely terrifying” lack of emergency planning staff could leave Bristol vulnerable to major incidents and catastrophes.

Just five city council officers are responsible for planning how to respond to floods, tower block fires, terrorist attacks and other potential disasters, the authority's audit committee heard.

Ahead of an “extremely challenging winter”, the committee explored the growing threats to the city and the risk of the council “failing to deliver effective emergency planning”, during a meeting on November 21.

As well as energy blackouts and skyrocketing inflation, other threats facing Bristol include the risk of a major fire in a council tower block, and widespread industrial action such as striking nurses and firefighters, which combined could potentially prove catastrophic.

City operational planning and response manager Jim Gillman said: "The winter is going to be extremely challenging.

"The desire for resilience needs to be realistic and the reality is we are living through extremely uncertain times.

"The delivery of the Bristol City Council

emergency management system depends on a small but skilled Civil Protection Unit, and the team has worked incredibly long hours over the last three years.

“It’s a significant responsibility the team has, with a very small resource. It’s the team that activates the council’s emergency responses, whether that’s setting up rest centres, calling out emergency carpenters, closing roads, whatever the appropriate response might be.

“If we need to open rest centres, we’re dependent on volunteers.

"As the council shrinks, our volunteer pool shrinks as well. We’re just about maintaining volunteer levels but it’s becoming increasingly difficult and many of our volunteers aren’t in a position to get up at 3am and respond to a call because we’ve had a fire in a high rise. The challenge of getting a large response out in a timely fashion is significant.”

Five people currently work in the council’s Civil Protection Unit, with one of those on a fixed contract ending next June.

Over the past few years the council’s emergency planning has been repeatedly

tested with the pandemic, a fatal explosion at a recycling plant in Avonmouth, several water outages, severe weather and major protests.

The risk of another fire at a council tower block has become more stark recently, following fires at Twinnell House in Easton and Eccleston House in Barton Hill.

Avon Fire and Rescue Service said the fire at Eccleston House was spread via flammable polystyrene cladding, which is found in more than half of council tower blocks across Bristol.

Mr Gillman said some residents who can’t pay their bills might resort to using open flames in their homes to keep themselves warm, adding to fire risks.

Labour councillor Fabian Breckels said the staffing levels were “terrifying” and asked whether tower block residents could be warned of the risk of lighting open flames, potentially through social media.

He said: “I find the fact we only have four officers monitoring the situation 24/7 absolutely terrifying and it must be incredibly exhausting for those guys."

Alex Seabrook, Local Democracy Reporting Service

By

Chris Wicks’s daughters Chaka, Mireille and Kiri with the new defibrillator. Picture: Andy Gee

Change in climate, change in the garden

LAST time I wrote for the Voice we were still in the grips of the pandemic.

For me, at least, that feels like a lifetime ago, or maybe just another life altogether. Certainly, things are very different now; maybe it’s just being a few years older, or maybe the experience has given me a new outlook.

We’re pushing towards winter now and that, for me, is always a time of reflection.

The garden isn’t listening to a word I say but it is telling me a great deal about what’s happening around us.

This year has been exceptional, partly due to the extreme heat we experienced in July, but also because we have seen some of the driest

winter and spring months on record.

The Royal Horticultural Society has conducted a survey to assess which plants have been most affected by the heat.

The results of this will hopefully give us an insight into how we might change the plants we grow and how we should change our habits as our gardens warm up.

I’ve waxed lyrical about the environmental impact we create, from a horticultural view, many times in the past.

Our changing climate is something that nobody can deny, but we have an opportunity to make small differences that, en masse, can add up to something great.

There was talk of introducing a hose pipe ban if the dry weather continued for much longer, but do we really need to be banned before we stop using them anyway?

Yes, my garden was looking decidedly brown and crispy round the edges, but for me, this is an opportunity to look at it differently.

The honeysuckle that has been a mainstay in the vista from our seating area has bitten the dust. It's always been living on borrowed time but this year, partly due to not holding up too well in the summer heat, it has gone.

This is the 44th article that I’ve written for the Fishponds Voice. I've had good feedback but would really like to include some of your questions and comments in future.

Email any gardening questions or tips you’d like to share to fbvoice@gracelands.garden and

City Gardener with Tim Barton

I’ll pick some to show in future publications. There may be more than I can include, in which case please don’t be disappointed.

Some jobs for the garden this month:

• Plant bare-root roses and other deciduous shrubs, plus ornamental trees

• Check stored bulbs and corms regularly for any signs of rot

• Move plants in pots to a sheltered spot if conditions turn very cold, as their roots are more exposed to the elements

• Hang bird feeders near roses to attract hungry birds that will also pick off any overwintering pests

• Leave plants that are dying back until Spring to allow bugs to have somewhere to hide

• Harvest leeks, parsnips, winter cabbage, sprouts and remaining root crops

• Take hardwood cuttings

Working in partnership with We Care Home Improvements and Lendology CIC, the partnership takes the stress out of funding and finding contractors for home repairs, improvements or adaptations.

If you are a homeowner, of any age, and need to make essential repairs to your home, call us today for more information. Works covered under the scheme include roof repair, electrical and plumbing work, damp and structural remedies, heating installations or replacement, amongst other works.

For an informal chat about the loan scheme and eligibility, call Lendology on 01823 461099, email loans@lendology.org.uk or visit www.lendology.org.uk

For more information on the services provided by We Care Home Improvements, call 0300 323 0700 or visit www.wecr.org.uk

*Subject to eligibility. **A maximum reduction of £1,000 from an approved loan over £2,000. For loans £2,000 or less, the reduction will be 50% of the loan value. Budget is limited and will be awarded on a first come, first served basis. Typical Example (4% fixed interest rate, Typical 4.2% APR). Borrow £5,000 over 60 months. £92.08 monthly repayments. Total amount repayable = £5,544.96, including £20 fee for registering the Title Restriction. Missing payments could affect your credit rating and ability to obtain credit in the future. Loans are subject to status and are typically protected by a Title Restriction. This means that you may not be able to sell your home without our permission unless the loan is fully repaid. This is a financial promotion approved by Lendology CIC.

Lendology CIC is a trading name of Wessex Resolutions C.I.C.: a community interest company limited by guarantee, registered in England, company number 4512225.

Registered address: Heatherton Park Studios, Bradford on Tone, Taunton TA4 1EU. Wessex Resolutions C.I.C is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (675263) for credit regulated activities.

Did you know Bristol City Council fund a loan scheme for homeowners? *

Up to £1,000 OFF the cost of works to your home**

The Fishponds Voice welcomes back local horticultural expert Tim Barton

Crowds enjoy the free display

2,000 at fireworks

MORE than 2,000 people are believed to have headed to Speedwell to watch Barton Hill Rugby Club's free firework display.

Drizzle on the night did not deter the crowds who attended the annual event at the club's ground in Duncombe Lane on Bonfire Night, which also included a funfair with rides and games, food stalls, bars and ice creams.

A bucket collection was held towards the cost of staging the event and the Barton Hill RFC Charity Cafe sold teas and coffees, raising money for mental health charity Mind and local families who need help to buy specialist equipment for children with disabilities.

The cafe is currently raising funds for a specialist wheelchair.

Resident Sam Sargeant, who was at the event, said: "The display, as always, was absolutely fantastic.

"My son really enjoyed himself and the guys lighting the fireworks were incredible.

"Thank you to everyone who helped to put this amazing community display together."

Annette Stacey said: "It was absolutely amazing.

"I really hope they can continue to provide this free event for the area, as they are few and far between."

The following morning members of Baton Hill RFC, including chairman Nick Groves and club president Paul James, were out in the field from 7.30am ensuring all litter was removed and the area returned to normal.

Census figures show our changing roots

THE latest census has revealed fascinating details about where Bristol's residents were born.

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics show that one in six residents of England and Wales on census day last year - a total of ten million people - were born outside the UK. That is up from 7.5 million in 2011.

Over the ten years from 2011 to last year, the percentage of Bristol residents born outside the UK rose from 14.7% to 18.8% - just under one in five.

In total, 383,495 of the city's 472,400 residents (81.2%) were born in the UK, and 365,336 (77.3%) residents were born in England.

After Wales (11,722), the next most common nation of birth was Poland (8,770), followed by 5,303 people from nine nations which joined the EU from 20012011 and are grouped together by the ONS, including the Czech Republic and Cyprus but excluding Poland, Romania and

Lithuania, which are counted separately.

The most common non-UK or EU nation of birth in Bristol is Somalia: 4,654 residents of the city were born in the East African country - more than the 4,626 who were born in Scotland. By contrast, only 85 residents of neighbouring South Gloucestershire were born in Somalia.

The other most common countries of birth outside the UK for Bristol residents were India (4,381 people), Romania (3,782), Spain (3,616), Pakistan (3,586), smaller pre-2001 EU member countries, including Benelux and Scandinavia (3,543), Italy (3,123) and China (2,638).

In South Gloucestershire just under nine out of every ten residents - 259,757 of 290,400 in March last year - were born in the UK.

The most common nonUK nation of birth for South Gloucestershire residents was Poland (3,320), and there were

also more South Gloucestershire residents who were born in India (2,958) than in Scotland (2,667).

The other top places of birth for south Gloucestershire residents were the the nine 2001-2011 EU nations grouped together by the ONS (2,551), Romania (2,084), Germany (1,101 people), 'other European' (non-EU) countries (1,065), South Africa (1,062), South American countries (997), the Republic of Ireland (977) and Nigeria (841).

In South Gloucestershire the proportion of residents born outside the UK rose from 6.6% to 10.6% between 2011 and 2021, and in B&NES it had gone up from 9.3% to 12.1%.

Nationally, the most common country of birth outside the UK

is India, followed by Poland, Pakistan, Romania, Ireland, Italy, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Germany and South Africa. The number of Romanian-born UK residents rose from 80,000 in 2011 to 539,000 in 2021.

Census deputy director Jon Wroth-Smith said: “The census paints a picture of how the makeup of the population has changed in the past decade.

"We can see Romanians have been a big driver in this change, while there have also been increases due to migration from India, Pakistan and Poland, as well as southern European countries such as Italy."

In 2021, more than 4 in 10 (40.6%) London residents were non-UK born.

We're younger than our neighbours

BRISTOL'S population is among the youngest in the country, the 2021 census found.

The city's median age of 34 is well below the England average of 40, and the proportion of people aged between 18 and 41 is well above average, while numbers of 47 to 85-year-old residents are below average, as are six to 17-year-olds.

The city's large student populations, with Bristol University located entirely within its boundaries and many of the University of the West of England's students also living here, has created a bulge in the city's young adult population: it starts at age 18 - the first year group which is above the national average - and peaks at 20 and 21.

However the number of younger people who stay in the city after university or move here for work means that the city has above-average numbers of people at every age up to 42, at which point numbers return to the average, then fall away below it from the age of 47.

South Gloucestershire's population more closely matches the national average age range than anywhere else in the country.

The district's median age of 40 is the same as the England average and the percentage of people in each age group closely matches the distribution of ages nationwide.

B&NES has a median age of 39 and a large spike of 18 to 23-year-olds, representing the city's large student population relative to its size.

By contrast, North Somerset and the three nearest districts of Gloucestershire - Stroud, Cotswold and the Forest of Dean - all have median ages between 45 and 49, with numbers of over-50s noticeably above average and numbers of 18 to 40-year-olds below the England average.

The area with the youngest average age is Tower Hamlets, in London, where the median age is 30, while North Norfolk has a median age of 54.

Naseem meets King and Queen Consort

A FISHPONDS environmental and social campaigner has attended King Charles III's first reception as monarch.

Naseem Talukdar and fellow campaigner Moslek Uddin were among 300 people invited to Holyrood Palace, the King's official residence in Edinburgh.

The event in October was held to recognise the contribution members of British south-east Asian communities have made to the health service, arts, media, education, business and the Armed Forces.

Naseem founded Projects Against Plastic (PAP) to find ways to reduce single-plastic use, starting in the hospitality sector.

He is also active in UK Curry Connect (UKCC), founded by Moslek, which tackles skills shortages in the Asian food industry.

Naseem, who has worked with representatives from mosques in Bristol to find sustainable ways to serve food and drink while breaking fast during Ramadan,

said: "His Majesty was keen to learn about the challenges and accomplishments of the plastic pollution campaign.

"The Queen Consort was impressed to learn about PAP’s activity over the past few years.

"She was keen to learn more about the Plastic Free Ramadan campaign – set to be a nationwide event to enable the faith communities to reduce food

waste and plastic waste."

Moslek is a PAP trustee and uses reusable metal containers, called tiffins, for food orders at his takeaway in Weston-superMare.

Moslek and Naseem, who manages the Rajastan Royal takeaway in Downend, have hosted 'Curry and Conversation' workshops with Weston Chamber of Commerce to

encourage others to reduce their single-use plastic usage.

Naseem is director for social responsibility and sustainability for UKCC and helped to deliver free hot meals to key workers and vulnerable people during lockdown with the campaign group. He has also worked with UKCC to highlight environmental issues.

The UKCC has consulted with the Migration Advisory Committee on issues surrounding recruitment within the industry and the various challenges they face since the outbreak of Covid-19.

The team also worked with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for ethnic minority small business owners to raise concerns of those working in the field.

For more information on PAP visit the website www. pap.org.uk and for more information on UKCC visit www. ukcurryconnect.co.uk.

Are you a passionate, empathetic, hardworking person, who likes to make a difference in children’s lives, if so, we have exciting opportunities to work at our rapidly expanding Special School in a variety of roles.

Briarwood is a Bristol Special School, based in Fishponds and Barton Hill, committed to providing a high quality of education, care and life skills for children and young people with severe learning difficulties and complex needs including autism and sensory impairment from 3-19 years.

Temporary HR administrator required, term time only, 37 hours/week (negotiable), until 21st July 2023, please contact HR for more details. Please visit our careers page on www.eteach.com/schools/briarwood-school-25106 or contact us via emal on HR.briarwoodsp@bristol-schools.uk

Briarwood School, Briar Way, Fishponds, Bristol BS16 4EA www.briarwood.bristol.sch.uk

To advertise, contact Shaun Tel 07540 383 870 Email: sales@fishpondsvoice.co.uk Got News? Call Ken On 07715 770377

Naseem Talukdar with the Queen Consort

A Christmas message for everyone

IT has got to that time of year when the adverts for Christmas are out.

Even though we are only just into December, we have been living with the retail build-up to Christmas for at least three weeks.

That pivot point often happens for me when I start to clock the Christmas TV adverts, which seem to take on a competitive life of their own. The big wait for the multi award winning creations, miniHollywood films some of them, is much anticipated, and when it arrives they often tell of some heartwarming story.

This year in one of these adverts a family prepares to receive a foster child into their home. The dad’s endeavours to make a genuine connection by learning to skateboard were full of good intentions and his injuries proved his commitment to this new child.

In some ways it is easy to be cynical. This retailer, alongside

others, is just trying to pull on our heart strings to make us buy more. Well, true…but there is also something deeper in these ads.

Is it perhaps that they are trying to remind us of what the search for life is really about? Maybe that is what sells - what really matters to us?

Christmas around the world is celebrated by people of many faiths, and none. It has a cultural depth and magnitude that traverses countries and often creeds. There is something heartwarming about a story of a baby.

But for Christians, the reality of the story is found in the details.

It is the young unmarried mother in Mary; it is the frightened but dependable Joseph.

It is the story of light and music and mystery, of the angels and their message.

It is the poverty and invitation of the shepherds, as well as the kings to come and see this child in

a remote and hostile place.

It is the story of a family in refuge, fleeing from the violence that follows them from Bethlehem all the way to Egypt.

It is the strangers and angels on the way that guide and guard and protect these refugees.

And it is the knowledge that they do find safety - for a while at least.

But I get ahead of myself in the story of Jesus, who is for Christians the hope of the world.

For Christians the heartwarming story of Christmas is found in the same way as it is in the adverts. It is the truth of what we know to be good and true and honourable. It is the message of love that lights up the world.

My “Christmas moment” always comes when I sing the carol It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, with its amazing lyrics about “angels bending near the earth”: my heart literally swells as if it might burst.

It is that gentle image of when

heaven and earth collide, where wonder and mystery are wrapped up in a baby.

I wonder, what is your “moment” when it all suddenly makes sense?

People of Fishponds, may you all have a blessed and heartwarmed Christmas.

Revd Lizzie Kesteven

Vicar of All Saints Church and St Marys Church, Fishponds

Austerity 2.0 is the wrong choice

AFTER months of uncertainty and upheaval, the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has sought to reassure people – and the markets - with his autumn statement.

Unfortunately there wasn’t much by way of good news. As the country heads into recession, analysis from the Treasury suggests that more than half of British households will be worse off next year.

As well as raising taxes to the highest level since World War II, the Chancellor is also looking to make cuts to public spending.

This will hit councils like Bristol hard. Nine out of ten councils are facing a funding shortfall, with Bristol City Council facing an £87.6 million funding gap over the next five years.

There comes a point when there simply aren’t any more ‘efficiency savings’ to make.

Local authorities will be forced to raise council tax, in a bid to keep essential services running. In the middle of a cost-of-living

crisis, this will come as another blow to people struggling to make ends meet.

The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that real household disposable income per person will fall by more than 7% over the next two years.

As I said in my Commons speech in response to the Chancellor’s statement: "Cuts have consequences. Councils can’t take this level of financial pressure anymore and my constituents can no longer shoulder the burden.”

I also spoke in the debate about the growing impact of labour shortages, which we’re seeing in the NHS, transportation, hospitality, food growing and many other sectors.

In Bristol, the birthing unit at Cossham Hospital has been temporarily closed – not for the first time - due to a lack of midwives, whilst First Bus has cancelled numerous bus routes because of the post-Brexit HGV

driver shortages.

I’m in regular contact with First and WECA about what can be done to resolve this recruitment crisis and restore bus services.

The Government has launched a ‘review’ to see what’s stopping economically inactive people entering the workforce, and will be encouraging people on Universal Credit to talk to their work coaches about increasing their hours.

Yet this is unlikely to have much impact unless some of the underlying issues, like a dire shortage of accessible and affordable childcare, are fixed.

I was pleased to see a good turnout for the recent “March of the Mummies” in Bristol, which is part of a Pregnant Then Screwed campaign for better childcare.

The answer to this crisis isn’t Austerity 2.0: squeezing wages, eroding public services, and taxing working people as living costs soar. It's about investing in public services, investing in

Kerry McCarthy MP for Bristol East writes for Fishponds Voice

infrastructure, and investing in British workers.

We’ve been told that austerity is a necessity, when in fact it’s a choice. Once again, I fear the Chancellor has made the wrong choice and people in Bristol East will suffer as a result.

Hannah More and the Lady of the Haystack

ONE of the most extraordinary stories I came across at Glenside Hospital Museum was that of the mysterious woman who, thanks to Hannah More, came to be known as Louisa, the Lady of the Haystack.

Legends abound that she was the illegitimate daughter of the Austrian emperor Francis I and thus half-sister to Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France. But she would spend the last years of her life in asylums, thanks to Hannah More's beneficence.

Evangelical poet, educationalist, and campaigner against slavery, Hannah More was born in 1745 in the slightly forbidding schoolhouse at the back of Fishponds Park. The fourth of five children to Jacob, the school master, and her Bristolian mother, Mary Grace, Hannah began her studies early. Her father taught her Latin and maths from the age of eight.

At 12 she moved to the boarding school run by her older sister Mary, behind Bristol Cathedral, and went on to teach there. She studied French, Italian and Spanish.

A precocious young woman, she wrote plays and poems and mixed with theatre folk and literary figures in the city.

Her first published play, The Search after Happiness, followed the ending of a six-year, on-off

With an annuity from her erstwhile suitor she moved to London to live in actor David Garrick’s house, vowing never to marry.

Hannah met with leading figures of all shades of opinion but remained a conservative Christian in hers.

Her diaries are a namedropper's dream. She was friends with Horace Walpole, Samuel Johnson and Edmund Burke, supporting his bid to become MP for Bristol, and campaigned with Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce to end slavery.

Her overriding concern was to promote Christian values. Shocked by rural poverty when she moved back to Somerset, she and her sisters set up a string of charity schools in the Mendips.

She came across the handsome woman who had wandered into Flax Bourton in a distressed state and set up home in a haystack in 1776. The ‘mad maid’ was taken to St Peter’s Hospital in Bristol but reacted badly to incarceration.

Hannah bought the haystack and the woman returned, decorating it with trinkets. She accepted milk and tea from the locals but foraged for other food, resisting offers of accommodation, as "trouble and misery dwell in houses".

"enough Mistress of her reason carefully to shut up from our observation every avenue that might lead to her secret".

Hannah announced “that her Father was a German, her Mother an Italian; that she has one brother and one Sister; that her father had a very fine garden full of olive and orange Trees.” Louisa’s accent and reaction to spoken German leant credence to this account, and to rumours that she was of noble birth.

in 1801.

engagement.

Taking it upon herself to investigate, Hannah dubbed her ‘Louisa’, reporting that she was

Bristol’s milkmaid poet Ann Yearsley, another of Hannah More’s pet causes, wrote: Beneath this stack Louisa’s haystack rose, Here the fair mania bore three winter snows, Here long she shivered stiffening in the blast; The lightning round their livid horrors cast; The thunders roared, while rushing torrents pour And add new woes to black affliction’s hour.

In November 1781 Hannah's article, A Tale of Real Woe, in the St James Chronicle excited the interest of the royal court, and raised enough money to allow her benefactress to pay for Louisa to be looked after in a private madhouse in Hanham.

But, as John Wesley found when he visited her, Louisa’s mental and physical health deteriorated. She was moved to St Luke’s Hospital for the insane in London, and then to Guy’s Hospital, where she died

This anonymous poem appeared in The Gentleman’s Magazine: In yonder dust, unmark’d for public fame, Low rests the relicts of Louisa’s frame! Poor hapless sufferer, of the maniac line!

Thy wrongs no more a tortur’d breast confine!

Enough for thee, that ling’ring Sorrow’s breath Found final rescue in the boon of death!

Consol’d be they, who sought thy soul’s relief!

Tormented they, who overwhelm’d with grief!

Accurs’d the crime, that ‘reft thy reason’s ray!

Though thou be ransom’d for eternal day!

And where frail Innocence would Vice repel May guardian angels thy sad story tell!

Her story remains a mystery to this day.

• Extended versions of these columns can be found at <www.mikejempson.eu

Mike Jempson examines a little known incident in the life of Fishponds' most famous daughter

Painting of Hannah More by Cornish painter John Opie

Hannah More’s birthplace in Fishponds.

An 1805 engraving of Louisa

Let's take over the buses ourselves

IN your story on car parking rises being agreed by cabinet members of Bristol City Council (Voice, November) I read their reason for this rise is to encourage the public to use the broken bus service which we have in place.

I am at a loss as to this explanation, as these members surely don't use the broken bus service themselves: if they did, they would know how broken it is.

The centre of Bristol is OK - in fact, it has too many buses running - but outlying bus routes such as Clevedon have the worst service ever, with cancelled buses and bad timekeeping now part of the normal running of our services.

No reasons are given for cancellations and bad time keeping is always down to lack of drivers.

I am wondering how much longer First Bus can keep churning this out?

Dan Norris doesn't listen or has no clout in this matter, so why keep

paying him?

Last of all, let's get rid of First Bus and run it ourselves.

A Bus User

Thanks for helping remember Martin

WHEN we started out planning an evening in memory of Martin Brown, who died of motor neurone disease (Voice, October), we were not sure what to expect.

However the support from Christ Church Downend, where Martin and Myra had worshipped for many years, was amazing. Their refurbished building is a great space for musical events.

The Riff Raff choir and the Music Train were happy to provide first-class entertainment for us, and created a great atmosphere.

We sold out of tickets a week before the event and added extra seats: over 330 tickets were sold, and more at the door, so it was a full house.

Soon there was singing along, clapping, dancing and wide smiles all round: it was a wonderful

evening and the feedback has been tremendous.

We raised £5,200, which will go to the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Some people also gave directly to the MNDA, and a donation page (which has raised more than £1,450) is still open at justgiving. com/fundraising/MartinBrowMND.

It was a successful and memorable evening: thank you to everyone who supported us.

Dr Peter Moore Downend

No to veterans on streets this winter

SINCE the start of the pandemic, charities have seen a rise in the number of homeless Armed Forces veterans seeking their help – some report an increase of 50%.

When someone has served their country, the least we can do is support them when they make the move back to civilian life. Yet every year thousands of veterans end up sleeping rough, sofa surfing or living in unsuitable hostels,

because they’re unable to access housing and slip through the net. The cost-of-living crisis will only make the situation worse.

The Armed Forces Covenant states that anyone who has served should face no disadvantage and that veterans who are especially vulnerable should be prioritised for support.

It’s vital that when someone needs help with housing, they are asked whether they’ve served in the Forces. Once identified, they can be directed towards support that’s available.

We are concerned that without action, things will get much worse. A more coordinated approach between local authorities, housing providers, homelessness charities and veterans’ organisations is needed.

No one wants to see more veterans on our streets this winter. Those that have served, often through the most trying of times, deserve better.

Richard Gammage, No Homeless Veterans Campaign (www.nohomelessveterans.org. uk)

Chester Park Infant & Junior School

OF EASTVILLE

AS 2022 draws to a close, many of us will be wondering how so much could possibly have gone so wrong since the beginning of the year.

We were all starting to think that we might be returning to some sort of normality following Covid, albeit with changes in working and shopping and the NHS close to buckling.

We all gasped when war broke out in Europe and convulsed when the wheels came off our government faster than a Formula One pit stop.

As if things weren’t already bad enough, with prices rocketing, most of the country is in the grip of fear that there is much worse to come.

Looming cuts to local services are inevitably going to result in hardship and pain for many of us.

Parks and green spaces would be particularly hard-hit in proposals put forward by Bristol City Council.

It looks almost inevitable that park maintenance will be stripped even further to the bone, with staff redundancies a given.

The council have floated the idea that community groups can make a major contribution to park maintenance, although the Friends are doubtful this is a realistic ambition that could have much of an impact on the overall budget.

But...friends groups across the city will continue to bring volunteers together to support the upkeep of their parks in any way they can, alongside the other activities that create a vibrant park community.

With all of this doom and gloom ahead, you’d think that the Friends of Eastville Park are dreading 2023 - far from it!

We look forward to building on what we have achieved this year. The successful renovation of the Nissen Hut has given us a great

A year of achievement at the Hub

underwater sounds with the Hear Water workshop.

There were Imayla ‘playdays’ with origami and wind chimes; inspiring black poetry from ‘Bridging Histories’; tea and cake with the Unpaid Carers Walk and Talk group; the People’s University of Fishponds’ fascinating talks; Capoeira workshops - and what fun we had celebrating both Kenya and Chile's independence days!

These are just some of the exciting things that have been going on, reflecting the diversity of this special part of Bristol and the special people who make up our community.

Whichever way you look at it, the Hub is fast becoming the place to support, explore and enjoy the many vibrant cultures that breathe life into our park and community.

opportunity to reach out and invite everyone to share this lovely space.

During this year, the fledgling Community Hub has thrived on a mix of pop-up cafes, children’s parties, yoga, community meetings and much else that makes great use of the space, with hire fees providing an income to maintain and improve the building, pay our bills and contribute to several projects across the park.

However, what has been most important to us is the room that the space has given to activities that promote the health and wellbeing of our community.

Throughout this year, we have regularly hosted groups dedicated to helping people who need the support and encouragement of others.

Having a warm and welcoming room in a safe setting has played

a very important role in two particular areas of need - mental health support and recovery initiatives - with agency-led activities giving hope to asylum seekers and refugees who are adapting to their new lives so far away from their families and homelands.

Without exception, much of the success of these support groups is attributable to a focus on activities that spread out into the park and engage with our natural environment.

Some highlights from 2022: fascinating plant dye artwork with the Bluebell Perinatal Group; branch and twig sculptures at Your Park’s ‘Roots to Well-being’ sessions; a Somali feast at Bristol Refugee festival; leaf screen printing from St Mungo's; elderflower cordial with Duke of Edinburgh students and

Before the end of this year, we’ll be celebrating Christmas at the Hub with our traditional lights display, which will be even bigger and brighter than last year!

Every evening in the 12 days leading up to Christmas you’ll be able to bring the family down to see some seasonal characters in their own Winter Wonderland.

On Saturday 17th, from 3-7pm, we invite everyone to a fabulous Christmas Son et Lumiere with live music, carols, mince pies, hot chocolate, mulled wine and marshmallows toasted over an open fire.

Eastville Park FoodClub will continue every Friday between 12 and 1pm throughout the Christmas period.

We wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and thank you all for your amazing support throughout the year.

The Parkie

Gourds at the Eastville Park FoodClub

Fighting for space

IT'S an old saying, especially used by someone selling land, that they are not making any more of it.

The Dutch may beg to differ, but in any case, pressure on land use has come to the fore in the varied visions put forward for the country.

We have had theoretical rural battles between solar farms (to deal with the energy crisis caused in part by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine) versus the need to produce our own food (brought about in part by the same event).

At this point it is worth pointing out that agriculture was given planning primacy in the post-war period specifically to allow the country to be selfsufficient in food production. Since then, the issue has dropped down the list of priorities, except when it comes to concern over food miles.

At the time of writing, work was underway to redefine guidance on using agricultural

land so that the grade used for most solar farms - known as 3b - is included with the best grades that should not be lost to food production.

In an urban setting, battles over available land are nothing new.

Whether towns and cities expand outwards or intensify within current limits is a longstanding debate, with passionate proponents on either side.

Whether inside or outside the Green Belt, councils are obliged to demonstrate a five-year supply of housing. Our own council has recently said it will ignore these government housebuilding targets.

For context, the target has already been missed for the last two years and it is fair to assume this year won’t be any different. Of course, expanding the city outwards means increasing the numbers in neighbouring authorities.

These arguments could come to a head in the New Year, with more and more people expecting planning reform.

When it comes to targets, I predict dry arguments about ratios, formulas and fairness in 2023. In the end it will all come back to the availability of land.

When two political aims clash, there is often a clamour for a good, old fashioned compromise: ensuring solar panels are widelyspaced to allow sheep to graze between them, for example.

But planning and politicians are often resistant to this: when it comes to land use, it is often a case of all or nothing.

There is another important factor at play - who owns the land, and what do they want to achieve? In the face of inflexibility, deregulation is often seen as a potential solution. Sometimes this can bring about the desired results, but it often has unintended consequences.

Next year will be 75 years since the first Planning Act established town and country planning: the irony is that many of its original themes are coming around again.

The primacy originally allowed to agriculture in the postwar rationing years is back with a bang as a political football, now being influenced in many ways by the climate emergency.

As the French would put it, plus ca change…

Have a happy Christmas.

Chrisgoslingplanning@gmail.com

The Beautiful Game shows its ugly side

THE World Cup is upon us.

For fans, it’s usually a time of nervous anticipation. I’d like to be having chats about the formation Southgate will play. Have the team been practising their penalties?! Could we follow the success of the women’s team, and this be the year England finally goes all the way?

This time however, sadly like many other West of England sports fans, I find myself with very different questions on my lips.

How can we celebrate the beautiful game in a state that abuses its own peo ple? Why has Qatar been awarded a global platform to promote itself? What is the world doing in the face of Qatar censor ing and jailing journalists and cosying up to Putin? How can we best call out the terrible human rights abuses, blatant hom ophobia and lack of women’s rights?

There wasn’t a single death in the work to build the London Olympics, which should be a huge mark of pride for our great country. It was the safest Olympic

build in history. In contrast, the current tournament has broken bodies, killed doz ens and maimed and crushed the hopes of abused foreign workers.

And let’s not pretend the Qataris won the hosting rights through merit alone. FIFA’s decision-Making, 12 years ago, was surrounded by rumblings of corruption and bribery. It’s been controversial from the off, because money talked louder than football.

So, what should we do? Of course, I always want my teams - Bristol City and England - to win.

As Harry Kane leads his men out, I hope we can use the power of football to inspire.

We know the World Cup can motivate young people to go out and exercise. We know great cup runs can bring our nation together. The excitement of Euro 96 or reaching the 2020 final last year. It’s also a great chance to back our hospitality sector at local pubs.

But we must also use this tournament

to keep human rights issues firmly in the public eye and to campaign for stronger workers’ rights.

These high-profile international sport ing events come with great kudos and attention for any host country. But it’s the people’s game - so they should come first.

Let’s hope in future the football author ities never place us in this position again where we love our football but are deeply troubled by the circumstances of the tournament.

Metro Mayor Dan Norris writes for the Voice

CHRISTMAS! The season of fun, festivity… and food intolerance?

More and more people are discovering the true meaning of that age-old saying: you are what you eat. And, at this time of year, many have to think even more seriously about their diet.

This leads me on to introduce you to a wonderful human being called Philippa Parish. For well over 10 years I have been sending patients to her for nutritional support.

As often happens, she was recommended to me by a satisfied patient who had amazing results with her skin condition after working with Philippa, having some blood tests for her food intolerances and taking appropriate action.

Because of her interesting approach to nutrition, I started to refer patients to her and they all came back with similar positive stories. So when my poor little lad Harrison, at just two years old, had constant skin conditions all over him, with obvious links to food, I took him to get the Philippa treatment! Sure enough, the foods we knew were a problem for him were highlighted and a good number of others revealed themselves too.

So with a change of diet and a few positive suggestions about food alternatives, Harry soon got better and has been good ever since. Now he is nearly seven and his food intolerances have really reduced as his gut has matured.

Recently, when an opportunity arose for Philippa to come and work with us at Cleve Chiropractic and Physiotherapy Clinic, I jumped at the chance and now I

simply send patients upstairs!

Without my recommendation, a long-standing patient who had GERD – or acid reflux – went to Philippa in the clinic. At his next chiro appointment, he told me that she had cured his acid troubles and suggested I should give it a try, as we have moaned about suffering with the same problem for years.

Those of you who know me well, realise I have suffered with GERD for maybe eight or nine years. Why I haven’t found the time to visit Philippa personally only the part of my brain that writes excuses professionally can tell you! So I went. Actually I went, determinedly, on my birthday in September.

Sure enough, the things that I know swell my belly, like bread and cows’ milk, showed up strongly on my tests but there was more. The two ‘biggies’ were oats and eggs… which was not great news. I was having porridge (complete with oat milk) for breakfast every day – and if not porridge, then eggs! I was a bit shocked but, as I thought about it,

if my stomach is rebelling against oats, then imagine what a big bowl of porridge sat there every morning was doing to me.

So I listened to everything Philippa had to say, read all the information she gave me and replaced my normal breakfast with very Scandinavian things like gluten free bagels, smoked salmon and goats’ cheese with sauerkraut and a couple of good bacteria capsules. I have followed the diet religiously and it gets easier each week as I find my way around the supermarket reading all the packets and learning what surprisingly few products don’t contain milk, eggs, oats or wheat!

After about 10 days, as I walked past my bedroom mirror, towards the shower, I noticed how my body actually looked. Not a thing you do often when you are over 40, but I noticed that my stomach had deflated and my little round belly had flattened. I must have been in university the last time I had a flat stomach.

I rushed to the scales and, sure enough, I had lost nearly a stone. I was eating what I would consider a similar amount but I had lost weight and truly felt better physically and mentally. As I take medication twice a day, it’s hard to judge how my acid is doing but, at the time of writing, I can no longer feel the GERD symptoms before my tablet is due. I even went a few hours without tablets for the first time in years the other day because I left them at home by accident.

The programme is designed to be strict for three months to allow the stomach to heal and then we can go from there. So here’s

hoping that, as I approach the New Year, I can reduce or even go without the medication.

If you have any stomach/ intestine issues, skin conditions, sinusitis or even types of arthritis and auto immune conditions, I would urge you to book an appointment with Philippa at the clinic. All of her packages are on the website but the simple blood test with consultation was only £125, which I now know is a bargain. So please, if you or anyone you know, is suffering in silence, there could be another way.

I have another appointment booked this month so let’s see what advice she has for Christmas breakfast, dinner, pudding, supper, drinks, canapés… Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year from all of the staff at your favourite clinic!

n WHAT’S ON IN OUR

December 3

AVANTI GARDENS WINTER FAIR, 11am - 3pm

Delicious Food & Refreshments

Christmas Crafts Market Wreath Making & Craft Workshops Grotto, Raffle, Bring & Buy Sale

Avanti Gardens Primary School, Oldbury Court Road entrance, Fishponds, BS16 2JG

All Welcome! Free on road parking, Bike racks onsite avantigardens.pta@gmail.com

December 3

n CHRISTMAS FAIR, St Mary's Church, Manor Road, 11am-2pm. White elephant, tombola, cakes, books, raffle, crafts, plus Light refreshments. Christmas music provided by the church choir.

December 3

n FILTONES CHOIR 40th anniversary Christmas Crackers concert, 7.30pm, Filton Community Centre, Elm Park. Tickets £8 including refreshments, accompanied children free. Tickets from Dot Bryant on 07870 984760 or on the door. Raffle and retiring

AREA

collection in aid of charity Sense.

December 5

n HELI LAUGHS COMEDY NIGHT for Great Western Air Ambulance Charity, Bristol Old Vic, 7pm. Compere Stuart Goldsmith, headliner Matt Richardson, with Dani Johns, Priya Hall, Morgan Rees, Pravanya Pillay and Firuz Osari. For tickets and VIP packages visit: greatwesternairambulance. com/comedy.

December 11

n WINTER FISHPONDS CLOTHES SWAP, Snuffy Jack's Ale House, Fishponds Road, noon-3pm. Bring up to 10 items of clothing, take away double the amount. £3.50 on the door - all proceeds to homeless charity Caring in Bristol. More details and pictures of some items on Instagram @ fishpondsclothesswap.

December 14

n HILLFIELDS COMMUNITY GARDEN Wild Women, 6-8pm. A look at nature around the Winter Solstice. Mindfulness and nature activities, seasonal snacks, creative activities. No need to book, just turn up. Open to women of all

ages. More information from hillfieldswildwomen@gmail.com.

December 16

n FREE LUNCHTIME CONCERT at St Mary‘s Church, Manor Road, Fishponds. Refreshments served from 1230. Music by Bristol Veterans Brass Band from 1-2. This will have a festive feel so Christmas jumpers optional.

REGULAR EVENTS

Monday

n BARTON HILL RFC CHARITY CAFE, Duncombe Lane, Speedwell, from noon until 3pm. Food and drink, bargain donated goods, friendly and welcoming place to meet, staffed entirely by volunteers raising money for charity.

Tuesday

n PHOENIX ART CLUB meets on Tuesdays at Stapleton Church Hall, Park Road, from 10am to midday.

Wednesday

n BARTON HILL RFC CHARITY CAFE, Duncombe Lane, Speedwell, from noon until 3pm. Food and drink, bargain donated goods, friendly and welcoming place to meet, staffed entirely by volunteers raising money for charity.

n DOWNEND FLOWER

ARRANGING CLUB meets at 7.30pm on the first and third Wednesday of each month from September to June, at Lincombe Barn, Overndale Road, Downend. Call Genise on 0777 245 1217.

n BRISTOL SCRABBLE CLUB meets every Wednesday evening at 7pm until 10pm at Filton Community Centre, Elm Park, Filton BS34 7PS. New members welcomefirst visit free so come along and give us a try. For further information contact Sheila on 01179570792 or 07435316458 or email shinett@ blueyonder.co.uk

Friday

n EASTVILLE PARK FOODCLUB

OPEN FOR COLLECTIONS, every Friday 12-1.30pm. To enquire about membership, email eastvilleparkfoodclub@gmail.com or call 07591 748548.

n FRIENDS OF HILLFIELDS

LIBRARY Silver Explorers social group for retired people living in Hillfields. Weekly group running until April, 10am-noon. Activities include talks, music, crafts and history. Free tea and coffee. More information at friendsofhillfieldslibrary@gmail. com or friends' Facebook page.

We are now enabling close contact visits in the home, every resident is able to have an essential care giver, and there is no isolation required for new residents from the community. We still have a varied activity schedule which keeps life interesting and happy.

staff wear PPE at all times and we have ensured a high volume of supply

• Skilled nurses are on site 24/7 and respiratory equipment is at hand

• Safe face-to-face visits where possible

Mya jumps for joy after title win

AN incredibly busy month for Downend Boxing Club saw 16-year-old Mya Das win her first title.

Mya faced the tough Rachael Morris, of St Ives, Cambridgeshire, in the semi-final of the England Boxing National Development Championships Female Junior A, Under 50kg division in Banbury in late October.

After three action-packed rounds, the Downend boxer booked her place in the final, held the next day against Rose Pidgley of Christchurch, Dorset.

In an excellent match, neither girl gave any ground, but a sustained attack by Mya in the third brought about a protection count from the referee and a 3-2 split decision brought the title to Bristol.

Coach Craig Turner said: "We are all delighted that Mya took the development title, which is the first step on the rung to full national honours."

On the same night Mya won her title a tournament at the club's Harry Crook Centre in Fishponds saw 13-year-old Caleb Rees follow in his father into the ring for his first skills contest, against Mason Messenger of Norton Radstock.

Caleb's proud dad and Bristol Mayor Marvin was there, and presented trophies afterwards.

Also making skills debuts were Essah

Zaman (13) and Daniel Thomas (14).

International referee Mike Hemming, who was in charge, described the contest between Downend’s Tommy Pring (12) and Mackenzie’s Dolton Lee as "brilliant": a points decision went to the Dorset boxer.

Classy boxing from Elijah Sanchez (12) earned a unanimous points decision against tough Sturminster Newton boxer William Saunders, and eye-catching shots from Sam Pavey (14) took a split decision win against Lydney’s Ollie Williams.

Debutant Jack Foster (16) dug deep to take a split decision win against Dylan Osman of Lydney in a fast-paced bout.

Unlucky were 16-year-olds Mackenzie Lawrence, Tom Davies and Arthur Tipping who, after boxing well, lost out on narrow points decisions.

Back in the ring after an absence of six years was Downend’s Buster Williams, who faced St Austell’s Connor Morgan and took a split points decision.

Tommy Pring and Elijah Sanchez, both 12, set off to Ireland for the Wexford Box Cup on November 11.

Tommy followed a points win over Callum Leonard of Gorey boxing club, County Wexford, with a narrow points defeat in his semifinal against Southside Glasgow' Michael Campbell.

Elijah beat Oscar Reid of Arklow boxing club, Co. Wicklow, with the referee stopping the contest in the first round, before a high-paced final against Patrick Kane of St Mark's, Wexford, who came out on top by the narrowest of margins.

Coach Conor White said: "The guys had a fantastic time in an international setting most boxers don’t experience until they are far older - the future looks very bright for them both."